Say the name thrice and you’ll get something not so nice. Tim Burton’s ghoulish classic returns in time for its twentieth anniversary, but somebody forgot to bring any presents. Something that Beetlejuice wouldn’t put up with if he wasn’t down Hawaiian way.
Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam (Alec Baldwin) Maitland are a happy couple who have decided to go on working vacation and stay home and do work around the house. After avoiding the town’s real estate agent, intent on selling their home against their wishes, they go into town to get some supplies.
On the way back home they narrowly miss a dog and their car plummets off of a bridge. The two arrive at their house soaking wet but soon discover that they’re dead and confined to their home. The real estate agent succeeds in selling their house to the Deetzes.
Patriarch Charles (Jeffrey Jones) is interested in getting away from it all and cutting coupons. However his second wife Delia (Catherine O’Hara) is a flaky artist interested in changing the entire house, with the assistance of like-minded interior designer Otho (Glenn Shadix), to more suit her esthetics. The loony Delia grates on the Maitlands and they’ve taken to hiding in their attic.
Lydia (Winona Ryder) is the gloomy Goth daughter of Charles and who can’t stand her stepmother Delia. She is so gloomy in fact that she can see the Maitlands where the rest of the family can’t.
The Maitlands decide that they’re going to scare the Deetzes away, but their haunting skills fall well short of the mark. Against the advice of their afterlife caseworker Juno (Sylvia Sydney), they decide to call in the brash Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) to scare them away. A move that they’ll die to regret.
It may have started with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, but it was the box office success of Beetlejuice that catapulted director Tim Burton to stardom, as well as igniting Winona Ryder’s career.
It would lead to Burton’s gargantuan hit Batman and even greater recognition for Beetlejuice himself Michael Keaton. I can’t believe that it’s been twenty years, but it sure seems like it when you watch the movie and see how young Winona Ryder is.
A sequel called Beetlejuice Goes Hawaiian was supposed to happen but has been consigned to a special corner of development hell.
Some folks like to bring gifts to anniversaries, but Warner Brothers seems to have been shopping at a relatively cheap boo-tique - especially when compared to other releases of Tim Burton’s movies.
The only thing you really get is a collection of Beetlejuice cartoons and some other stuff (see below). I like the cartoon as much as the next Beetlefan, but it seems like somebody realized that it was the big guy’s anniversary and had to hastily throw something together.
If I were the Beetle dude I’d snap my fingers and make that person wear a powder blue polyester leisure suit. The movie still holds up after all these years, but maybe they should’ve planned better or released a 21st anniversary edition. I know I would’ve preferred some more insight from the director and cast.
Beetlejuice is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include three Beetlejuice cartoons, A-ha!, Skeletons in the Closet, and Spooky Boo-Tique (all 12 minutes apiece).
There are also trailers for Beetlejuice and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure (87 seconds each) and Danny Elfman’s wonderful score is presented on a music-only track.
A great movie given a middling DVD release, it seems like Warner Brothers could only manage to say Beetlejuice once or twice and not the required three times. The movie well deserves the five star treatment, but only gets about half of that with this release.
Beetlejuice (20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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