For my first foray into the world of reviews and blogs , I am going to be looking at the ‘80s classic: Beetlejuice.
Beetlejuice is a dark comedy about the Afterlife and human exorcism. Starring Michael Keaton, Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin. With that cast and that plot, what could possibly go wrong? Fortunately for anyone who watches the film, there isn’t that much wrong with it.
Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin play Barbara and Adam Maitland, a very twee happy-go-lucky couple who die, about five minutes into the film after they drive off a covered bridge, trying to avoid a dog. They don’t actually know that they are dead until they find a strategically placed plot point , otherwise known as The Handbook for the recently deceased. We are then introduced to out title character, Beetlejuice (or Betelgeuse as it is spelt in the film), via a television advert that just happens to begin at the right moment. Beetlejuice is a human exorcist, that is he helps ghosts remove unwanted living people from their homes. It turns out that Beetlejuice just happens to live in Adams model town in their attic.
Using the plot point, they make their way to the afterlife only to find out, that the afterlife consists of case workers, offices and waiting room filled with many other realistic deceased people such as a man with a shrunken head and a Mr Creosote wannabe (see Monty Pythons The Meaning of Life.) Just when you think that this film can’t get any madder, a man who was flattened by a car comes into the room suspended by a track in the ceiling to tell the Maitland’s that Juno is ready for them.
They meet Juno, who warns our heroes against using Beetlejuice but , of course as is traditional in comedy movies, she is ignored and Barbara calls Beetlejuice in the only way possible: by saying his name three times. Before I continue, I must apologise as I have forgot to mention, that before they resort to calling Michael Keaton to the scene , a new, extremely obnoxious family called the Deetzes move into the Maitland home. The parents don’t seem to care about their daughter as they do not seem to pay that much attention to her at all, except when it is for their own personal gain. Once Keaton is on the scene, the stop motion madness commences with Beetlejuice turning into a snake and almost killing Mr Deetz. The best thing that Beetlejuice does to the family is during a business dinner, he possesses the entire table and makes them sing Harry Belafonte’s Banana Boat Song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQXVHITd1N4
This is possibly the funniest thing in the whole movie, because it is totally unexpected and is just totally crazy. By this point, the Deetzes Goth/Emo daughter , played by Winona Ryder is the only person who can communicate and actually see the Maitlands. The Deetzes decide to use the ghosts for their own personal gain. To do this Mrs Deetz’s best friend, Otho, holds a séance so that Mr Deetz’s boss can see that the ghosts exist, but the spell that Otho uses somehow starts to make the Maitlands ‘die’. Winona Ryder realises that the only person that can help is Beetlejuice, so she calls him in the usual fashion, but he makes a bargain that for him to save Barbara and Adam, she has to marry him. Seeing as the daughter seems to be about 14/15 years old, this is extreeemely creepy.
In the end, Beetlejuice is defeated by the daughter and the Maitlands and is sent to the afterlife, where he gets his head shrunk. The final scene is very confusing as it appears that Mr and Mrs Deetz have disappeared and the daughter lives with the ghosts. As it is never explained what happened to the parents , I like to assume that the Maitlands killed them for being so obnoxious and for being bad parents to their daughter, but more than likely they ran away and forgot about their daughter.
Overall, this is a pleasing movie, with some good old fashioned slapstick humour, mixed with some terrible jokes and some brilliant stop motion effects. I recommend this film to anyone who loves bad comedy or anyone with one and a half hours to spare.
NEXT TIME ON BAUMIES BLOG: THE SKELETON KEY!!
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