Beetle Juice

Quite possibly the most bizarre and flat-out surreal effort of Tim Burton’s career, Beetle Juice details the post-death exploits of happily-married couple Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis) – with the majority of the proceedings devoted to their efforts at scaring away the new family that’s moved into their expansive home. Though his character provides the film’s title, Michael Keaton’s Beetlejuice remains a surprisingly periphery figure for the majority of Beetle Juice‘s run-time – with Burton instead using Adam and Barbara’s oddball shenanigans as a springboard for a series of thoroughly creative set-pieces and interludes. The inevitable realization that Michael McDowell and Warren Skaaren’s screenplay isn’t actually about anything is subsequently not nearly as problematic as one might’ve feared, as Burton has – along with production designer Bo Welch and composer Danny Elfman – infused the movie with a funhouse-like sensibility that proves instrumental in capturing (and sustaining) the viewer’s enduring interest. And while there are admittedly a few lulls within the narrative, the consistent inclusion of eye-popping sequences – ie the infamous “Day-O” musical number, a confrontation with an enormous sandworm, etc – does assure that such instances of downtime are often short lived and easy to overlook. Keaton’s scene-stealing performance remains an obvious highlight, yet it’s hard to deny the effectiveness of the supporting cast’s uniformly strong work (in addition to Baldwin and Davis, the movie boasts appearances from Jeffrey Jones, Sylvia Sidney, and Winona Ryder) – with the end result an unapologetically silly and endlessly inventive exercise in style.

*** out of ****