Beetlejuice (1988)
Like so many people I decided to rewatch Beetlejuice for the sake of the sequel being released. And as not so many people, after all these years I found it… a little disappointing.
Beetlejuice is such a beloved film among so many people, that it is hard to even say that something is off. It was hard to watch and not love it right away. I felt cheated by the perception of my younger self.
For me, Beetlejuice wasn’t nostalgia-driven. I sure watched it quite early in life but it was already around 16 years of age and I had already established my love for Tim Burton’s creativity and style with his later films. I remember that I not as much loved it but I wanted to because I was supposed to. After all, it was a cult classic and probably one where Tim established his “strange and unusual” style.
And truly, the style and design of every single character or place is just extraordinary. This is without any doubt the greatest value of the film. We’ve seen Tim’s style develop in his other projects, changing and growing, but Beetlejuice was simply the foundation for all of it. Every element feels like it is planned: the world of the dead is eerie and mysterious with so many secrets hiding behind the corridor doors. It is different. It’s not an empty white area with a person in even a whiter suit. It is dirty and gruesome with all the bugs and all the curves. It is unpleasant and yet addictive and you’re truly excited to see what’s behind the corner.
The same goes for the characters. Every single one has its purpose and their own design that amplifies that purpose. They are alive and vivid. They make a stand as not just a piece of design but also in acting. Seriously, I will forever be impressed with the work put into the possession at the dinner scene. It is just fascinating to watch different impressions of each character.
Then what is it? Why am I disappointed?
I’m not exactly sure where it failed – if it was early in the screenplay or after production, in the editing room. But the film focused so much on the detail, to make every scene perfect, it lost the… flow of the story. Everything feels hazy and unexplained. The film was making the separate scenes as a whole rather than combining them into one story. It all felt like bits and pieces that needed a quick solution to glue them together and that felt quite cheap.
The crown example I am going to give is that I never remembered why Betelguise wanted to marry Lydia and how it actually developed. Now I know: it’s because it was said only once, with no impact whatsoever and then suddenly everybody is surprised that he wanted to execute the agreement. I get it, he’s the villain, but she’d just agreed to it in front of everybody a couple of minutes earlier. And now everybody’s surprised including Lydia herself.
The film is structured like this: here are the situations. How are we putting them together? Well, as conveniently as possible. Keep it short. Don’t waste the budget on the development of the story. Just give out a random reason, we’re fine.
It is still a good watch but I found out that when my mind starts to focus on the technical aspects of the film – there’s something not okay with the film. It isn’t flowing well enough to keep me occupied. And Beetlejuice is the type of film that should keep me occupied at all times.
