The Ghost with the Most

Tim Burton is considered a visionary director. I do not feel this way, note, and that is, in part, because I have never forgiven him for Planet of the Apes. Over the years, however, I have come to think of him less as an interesting director and more of a hack. Yes, he has an aesthetic he likes, but it feels less like his own thing and more like he just really wanted to be Goth and Punk and all the cool kids wouldn’t let him hang out with them. He drapes everything in a mix of classic movie style, 1980s weirdo design, and a whole lot of oddness. It works for some people. It doesn’t work for me.

While Burton got his start with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, his first directing gig, it was really Beetlejuice in 1988 (his second film as a director) that really gave us the Burton we all know. This film cemented the Burton style, and it proved to be marketable, with Beetlejuice making $74.7 Mil against a $15 Mil budget. That was enough to get Warner Bros. (the studio behind Beetlejuice) to agree to let Burton make Batman in 1989. And from there, well, the rest is Hollywood history.

But really, is Beetlejuice any good? At the time it certainly provided a lot of visuals that people hadn’t seen before. It’s an interesting movie, from a design perspective, with a lot of practical effects making the film feel “real”. But once you get past the flash, and actually focus on the story and the characters, there isn’t nearly enough to Beetlejuice to really qualify it as a movie. It’s an interesting idea, a lot of cool concepts, and a few solid laughs. Altogether, though, Beetlejuice is a threadbare collection of scenes that don’t really hold together all these decades later.

In the film we’re introduced to the Maitlands, Adam (Alec Baldwin) and Barbara (Geena Davis). The two are on a long vacation in their country home, working on renovating it to spend the rest of their lives there even though the local real estate agent, Jane Butterfield (Annie McEnroe), has an offer from a rich family out in New York who would be willing to buy the place. The Maitlands refuse, but when a car crash sends them suddenly into the afterland, Jane sells the property (once it clears escrow) to the Deetzs: Charles (Jeffrey Jones), Delia Deetz (Catherine O'Hara), and daughter Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder).

The thing is, while the Maitlands might be dead they aren’t gone. Adam and Barbara are still haunting the house and as they watch the Deetzs slowly renovate the house and take it away from the Maitland’s original vision, the ghosts get mad. They try everything they can to scare the Deetzs away, including making them dance to Calypso music, but when all of that fails, Adam and Baraba decide to talk to an expert: Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton). He’s a creepy, ugly, little poltergeist who could help them with their problems… if they can stand to be around him. However, their antics with the Deetzs might just push things forward and force someone to summon Betelgeuse before it’s all too late.

Two things about this film stand out as exceptional. The first is, yes, Burton’s vision for the film. It’s nice to go back and see a film that uses practical effects for all its shots. Everything in the film is done with puppetry, makeup effects, green screen, and stop motion, and it all looks pretty good. It’s impressive how much Burton and his team were able to do with their small, $15 Mil budget. They made it stretch, creating a very lived in afterlife and limbo, along with cool ghost and creature effects. This film is a real accomplishment when it comes to the art direction.

Secondly, Michael Keaton really sells the hell out of his character. While Betelgeuse is the title character, he’s also only in a select few scenes. The story wisely keeps the loud-mouthed character aside, using him to punctuate scenes and sell some fantasy horror. Keaton clearly had a blast playing the ghost, acting the hell out of the obnoxious character. This was a defining role for the actor and it’s hard to think of anyone else that could have played Betelgeuse as well or made him nearly as iconic as Keaton.

With that said, outside of the visuals and Keaton’s character, there really isn’t a lot going on in Beetlejuice to carry the film. The whole movie is based around the idea that the Maitlands want to get rid of the Deetzs. Except, right after a scene where they commit to doing it, to really scaring the other family away, Adam and Barbara immediately give up on that idea for, basically, no reason and decide they want to live in harmony with the Deetzs instead. What changed their mind? It’s not entirely clear. They just decide, “yeah, no, everything we wanted? Ignore that.”

The only real motivator they have is that they like Lydia, the one person in the family that can see them. They wouldn’t mind hanging around Lydia forever. Thing is, when they reach this decision they’ve only had two real scenes with her, so it’s not like the relationship is really developed. Baldwin, Davis, and Ryder have the charisma to almost make it work, sure, but there’s not enough substance in the film to sell the idea truly. If they want us to believe that these ghosts would give up having their afterlife to themselves for a girl they barely know then the film has to spend the time making us believe it.

There’s also a whole subplot about Adam and Barbara going into the afterlife to get assistance to help them scare off the Deetzs. They talk to their case worker, Juno (Sylvia Sidney), and eventually they’re told that they have to do it. That’s required… except then they just don’t. The stuff in the afterlife is visually appealing and it spices up the movie a lot, but nothing that happens there really matters to the story being told. You could remove it all and the base story of the film would remain the same.

Generally speaking, the film only comes alive when Betelgeuse is around. He adds in most of the laughs, all the chaos, and a big part of the energy of the film. Clearly the film can’t just be about him because he’s an antagonist. He’s there to motivate the change in other people. If you built the whole film around him, not only would his antics get annoying, but he’d have to grow and change as a character. That’s something he’s not meant to do. You need other characters to bounce off him, to learn from him, to be pushed to change. You need the Maitlands. I just wish the film knew what to do with them.

And just as an aside: what’s with the film’s obsession with Calypso music. It’s featured in multiple moments, including the film’s most iconic scenes. The music is catchy, but we never get a reason from why, especially, Adam is really into the music of Harry Belafonte. It seems so out of place in the moment, and even weirder when you see the characters all enjoying the songs. Just… I don’t understand.

Beetlejuice is maybe half of a good movie. It has great ideas, great design, and characters I want to like. The film needed more story, and more editing, to really work. It needed someone standing over Burton’s shoulder as he put it all together saying, “man, this needs a lot more of, well, everything.” I want to like Beetlejuice but, at the end of the day, I just can’t.