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Tim Burton’s second feature. Recently-deceased couple the Maitlands (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) are now ghosts, learning the rules of...
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.
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Where to watch Beetlejuice
86 %65 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® rating
82 %918,071 reviewsAudience score rating
"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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Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert"The joy of Beetlejuice is its completely bizarre - but perfectly realised - view of the world."
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The Washington Post
The Washington Post"(Beetlejuice) is about as funny as a shrunken head - and it happens to include a few."
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The New York Times
The New York Times"An appealing mess."
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Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader"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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Time Out
Time Out"In the script... things above ground aren’t nearly as inventive as they are below."
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Variety
Variety"A surreal, demented delight."
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TV Guide
TV Guide"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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Slant Magazine
Slant Magazine"It's an experience, rather than another helping of the same old thing."
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Hollywood Reporter
Hollywood Reporter"A dazzling display of director Tim Burton's unique pop culture sensibility."
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Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times"Amazingly, it all still feels fresh, even though Burton has since become something of his own franchise since."
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Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine"An overly ambitious special-effects comedy…"
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Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune"The story almost comes off the rails, but Beetlejuice's charm lies more in the execution."
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The Guardian
The GuardianBeetlejuice | Details
- Rating
- 12A, moderate horror, sex and suicide references, infrequent strong language
- Runtime
- 92
- Genre
- Comedy, Fantasy
- Country of origin
- USA
