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Year One
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Beetlejuice
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 13 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 14 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Horror
Written by:
Warren Skaaren
Michael McDowell (also story)
Larry Wilson (story)
Tim Burton (story)
Directed by: Tim Burton
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 30, 1988
DVD: September 22, 1997
Running Time: 92 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG
Starring Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Jeffrey Jones, Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Robert Goulet, and Dick Cavett
Michael Keaton is the name in laughter from the hereafter as an obnoxious poltergeist conjured up to bedevil an unwanted family of oddballs. (Warner Bros)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: Batman Big Fish Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Ed Wood Edward Scissorhands Mars Attacks! Pee-wee's Big Adventure Planet of the Apes Sleepy Hollow Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street The Nightmare Before Christmas
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Washington Post Desson Thomson
Hilarious…The joy of Beetlejuice is its completely bizarre -- but perfectly realized -- view of the world, a la Gary Larson's "The Far Side," or "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy." [1 Apr 1988]
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
By the time this irresistible treat is over, it has created some of the funniest moments and most inspired visual humor and design we may expect to experience at the movies all year. [30 Mar 1988]
Washington Post Rita Kempley
Not since "Ghostbusters" have the spirits been so uplifting. [30 Mar 1988]
Read Full Review >Time Richard Corliss
Beetlejuice means something good: that imaginative artists can bring a fading genre back from the dead. [11 Apr 1988]
USA Today Mike Clark
So original that it'll be years before a major filmmaker attempts another one. We're talking black-belt cult-movie status here. [30 Mar 1988]
Variety Staff (Not Credited)
Beetlejuice springs to life when the raucous and repulsive Betelgeuse (Keaton) rises from his moribund state to wreak havoc on fellow spooks and mortal enemies.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Dave Kehr
For all the film's popped eyeballs and severed limbs, Beetlejuice retains an innocence that makes the grotesque humor very appealing. Burton has captured the sweet ghoulishness of a 12-year-old pouring over horror comics, dreaming of the greatest Halloween costume ever invented. [30 Mar 1988]
Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Only about half of the disconnected gags and oddball conceits pay off, but their gleeful delivery takes up most of the slack.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
The screenplay is foolish and Michael Keaton overplays the title role badly, but director Tim Burton gives the comedy a heap of visual imagination. [22 Apr 1988]
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
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.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Elvis Mitchell
Elaborate as this sounds, there really isn't much plot here, only a parade of arbitrary visual tricks to hold the film together. [30 Mar 1988, p.C18]
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
It's two hours of your life wasted, time once spent that can never be regained. Don't go. Don't do it. [30 Mar 1988]
What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 9.0 (out of 10) based on 14 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Shaun R. gave it a10:
Tthe first time I watched this film I was a kid, I laughed so hard at it that my lungs almost burst, I watched it yesterday, I still laugh so hard that it feels my lungs are going to burst 10 out of 10 one of those classic films that never get old.
Jim R. gave it a5:
Good production values, but no story/characters of interest.
Blake J. gave it an8:
Hilarious. Dark. Scary. Did I mention Hilarious? Tim Burton never fails...except with "Planet of the Apes", maybe.
Chitea A. gave it a10:
I loved this movie. Is a not stereotipically black comedy, and I liked it.
Michael gave it a10:
Beetlejuice has got to be one of the most enjoyable movies I have ever seen. Tim Burton does a most excellent job both editing and playing the role of Mr. Geuse. The characters are mostly stereotypical, yet somehow human and warm.
Samantha H. gave it a10:
I loved the movie i could watch it over and over again every day of my whole life.
Rob M. gave it a 10:
A quality show of it's time for a house haunting. The truth is that it is not fictional since these events happen every day. So many funny parts that I busted out in tears. Geena Davis is the best female actress to date. She really does a great job.
