Beetlejuice

This movie has been my nemesis for a long time. It's chased me around and I finally was forced to watch this movie. But shockingly, it wasn't as terrible as I imagined. Don't get me wrong, it was still really gross and I'm pretty sure I will have nightmares tonight, but it wasn't exceedingly dreadful.

First we meet Barbara (Geena Davis) and Adam Maitland (played by the young heartthrob Alec Baldwin).  They are normal small town couple, just trying to have a little vacation time so they can work on their house. On the way back from a brief stop into town to grab some things, their car crosses paths with a cute little dog. They don't follow the proper rules of traffic, and instead of running over the animal, they swerve out of the way and teeter off a bridge. The only thing saving them is the counterbalance of the cute little pooch, who quickly scampers off in search of more mischief to cause. This sends the couple plummeting into the small creek in which they drown.

Then things get pretty confusing, and luckily they put two and two together that they are dead.  This is when the movie gets gross. Everything about the world of the dead is weird. People are discolored and creepy. Babs and Adam become ghosts, and just want to live peacefully in their house. Then the unthinkable happens. A family from NYC moves in and completely changes everything about their cozy country home. The dad is content with the country life, the stepmom is the one who hates it and changes everything, and the daughter Lydia (Winona Ryder) is a strange Goth girl who feels at home in the haunted home. She is actually able to see the ghosts since she herself is strange and unusual. They become fast bosom buddies, but that doesn't change the fact that they want the family to leave.

Due to their desperation, they call on the absolutely worst last case scenario, and call Beetlejuice. I'm grossed out every single time I see him, and I just can't believe its Michael Keaton under that make up. But, from an acting stand point you have to give him kudos, because he does not hold back at all with this character. He reeks havoc for a little while, but the Maitlands have enough and send him away for awhile.

The family then realizes that the house is haunted and plan on exploiting that for monetary gain. They host a big dinner party with investors, and raise the spirits the Maitlands. Something goes wrong and they start wasting away and no longer seem to be ghosts. Lydia freaks out and call Beetlejuice for help, only agreeing to marry him in return. Apparently by marrying, Beetlejuice's weird limbo will end. Babs and Adam try to say Beetlejuice three times to stop him, but are unable to. Babs is sent by the Juiceman to a land with a killer sandworm, and is able to wrangle it to attack Beetlejuice. He gets swallowed up and sent back to the neverending waiting room of death.

The Maitlands and Lydia's family are able to coexist, and Lydia gets the balanced family she always dreamed of, and the couple get the daughter they always dreamed of.

Just some quick thoughts about the movie:
I very much dislike stop motion, especially when it has to do with creepy things like in this movie.

The couple of scenes in which there is singing and dancing I actually really liked. They were fun!

I can't understand how the family (at least the dad and Lydia) seem totally fine with moving into a house full of dead people's stuff. I mean, their clothes and picture are still hanging throughout the house! Eww.

There's an F-Bomb in this movie, and its rated PG! Oh the 80's.

Will someone please explain to me why Beetlejuice is spelled that way in the title, but throughout the movie its spelled Betelguise?

Oh, if you ever go to Universal Studios, don't see the Beetlejuice show. It's just bad halloween costumed people singing songs from Glee.

Andrew's Closing Thought: Michael Keaton's finest performance

Up Next: Becoming Jane