Roger Ebert
Beetlejuice gets off to a start that’s so charming it never lives it down. The movie is all anticlimax once we realize it’s going to be about gimmicks, not characters...
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Beetlejuice
Tim Burton’s second feature. Recently-deceased couple the Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) are now ghosts, learning the rules of the afterlife and preparing for their mandatory haunting of their marital home.
When an annoying yuppie couple move in, along with their goth daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder), the Maitlands prove ineffective in scaring them out. Lacking experience in the scare department, they hire the ‘ghost with the most’, Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) – a 'bio exorcist' and specialist spooker. Lydia's presence complicates matters as she forms an unlikely friendship with the Maitlands, while also finding her teenage self the target of Beetlejuice's lecherous intentions.
The wild effects (a mix of in-camera trickery and stop-motion animation) were BAFTA nominated, while the film’s make-up artists won the 1989 Oscar.
Less1988Rating: PG, contains coarse language 92 minsUSA
ComedyFantasy
- Director:
- Tim Burton ('Edward Scissorhands', 'Ed Wood', 'Big Fish', 'Alice in Wonderland')
- Cast:
- Michael KeatonWinona RyderAlec BaldwinCatherine O'HaraGeena DavisJeffrey Jones
Beetlejuice | Reviews
85%62 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
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The Washington Post
The joy of Beetlejuice is its completely bizarre - but perfectly realised - view of the world.
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The New York Times
(Beetlejuice) is about as funny as a shrunken head - and it happens to include a few.
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Time Out
Off-the-wall humour and some sensational sight gags make the movie, maddeningly disjointed though it sometimes is, a truly astonishing piece of work.
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Variety
In the script... things above ground aren’t nearly as inventive as they are below.
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Slant Magazine
No other movie in (Burton's) entire filmography stands as successfully on the precipice of mundane surrealism and candy-coated gothic whimsy.
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Los Angeles Times
A dazzling display of director Tim Burton's unique pop culture sensibility.
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Empire Magazine
Amazingly, it all still feels fresh, even though Burton has since become something of his own franchise since.
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The Guardian
The story almost comes off the rails, but Beetlejuice's charm lies more in the execution.
Full reviewBeetlejuice | Release Details
Beetlejuice is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV.