Back at the start of 1988, Michael Keaton's career had taken more than a slight downturn. Whatever spark he exhibited during his promising start in films like Night Shift and Mr. Mom seemed completely doused by the time he appeared in low-brow dreck such as Johnny Dangerously and Gung Ho. After only a few films, he seemed doomed to suffer the fate of a comedic journeyman more along the lines of someone like Bob Saget: year after year of mediocre comic piffle.
However, the events of 1988 were to alter that path, at least briefly. Keaton starred in two films that year - Beetlejuice and Clean and Sober. While the two films featured extremely divergent subject matter, they coalesced in one respect: the near-unanimous praise for Keaton's work in both pictures. Through one year and one National Society of Film Critics award as best actor - which was given to him as a result of his work in both movies - Keaton made it to "A"-list status with his starring role in mega-hit Batman. It seems extremely unlikely that he could have obtained that plum part as the Dark Knight had he not made such positive impressions with his 1988 output.
Of course, this comeback wasn't to last very long. After Batman, Keaton did well with Batman Returns and some nice cameos in Out of Sight and Jackie Brown, but other than that, he's not exactly set the world on fire. Jack Frost? Yikes!
But that's neither here nor there in the context of this article. I though it might be interesting to examine via DVD the work that Keaton did to make his late 1980s comeback.
Of the two films in question, I find Beetlejuice to be the far more compelling film. Ironically, though Keaton's performance still ranks among his best work, I feel that of his seven films, Beetlejuice is one of director Tim Burton's weakest efforts; in my opinion, only 1994's Ed Wood falls below it on my list.
This isn't to denigrate either of those films, not by a long shot; they're both solid pictures. However, such is the genius of Burton that his misfires are more compelling than most Hollywood hacks' successes. Again, not that I consider Beetlejuice to be a misfire, but I think Burton has made much better movies than it.
Also ironically, 1988 proved who the real creative force behind 1985's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure was. I loved and continue to adore Pee-Wee. Although many snobbishly dismiss it as piffle, few films have ever approached its level of creativity, wit, and manic energy; it easily remains one of the five funniest films ever made. I had always assumed that this was because of Pee-Wee himself; I figured it had to be Paul Reubens' show, right?
How wrong I was! Within a few months of each other, we saw the follow-up efforts from both Reubens and Burton. As already discussed, Beetlejuice was a delight and it performed well at the box office. Big Top Pee-Wee, on the other hand, was an absolute disaster. Man, I saw that thing opening night, and not only did it fail to reignite the sparks caused by Pee-Wee, it couldn't even muster any giggles. I didn't laugh once during the entire - mercifully brief - enterprise. In fact, I think the on-screen antics only provoked me to smile once or twice. Most of the time, I sat gape-jawed in horror at the putrid "comedy" shown before me.
Clearly, Burton was the real auteur behind the brilliant extravaganza that was Pee-Wee, though it took his subsequent films to establish that fact even more clearly. While most view Beetlejuice as superior to Pee-Wee, clearly I disagree; the former tries harder to be more of a coherent film - as magnificent as it was, Pee-Wee essentially amounted to a series of loosely connected gags - but it simply lacked the bizarre creativity of the earlier effort.
Nonetheless, Beetlejuice was and remains a thoroughly entertaining little romp through the afterlife. Keaton's work in the film has been justifiably praised; without his brash performance as the title character, the movie still would have worked well but it would have lacked the spark that took it to another level. Keaton pulls out all the stops in a necessarily over the top tour de force.
Through an amazingly successful job of casting, the film also features a shockingly high percentage of actors who went on to varying degrees of fame and fortune. Geena Davis, Winona Ryder, Alex Baldwin - all these actors were virtual unknowns when Beetlejuice was released. Only Davis had achieved any significant success with her minor role in 1982’s Tootsie. Interestingly, 1988 was a great year for her, as well as Keaton; she earned a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for that year's Accidental Tourist.
Really, the most prominent actors in the film other than Keaton were Catherine O'Hara and Jeffrey Jones, and one wouldn't exactly call them superstars. O'Hara was - and still is - best know for her consistently superlative work on the late, much lamented SCTV, though she also starred in 1990’s megahit Home Alone. Jones appeared in supporting roles in popular films like Amadeus and Ferris Beuller's Day Off.
No matter what their previous or future successes may have been, all the actors acquitted themselves well. To a degree, Keaton overshadowed all of them, of course, but that seemed virtually inevitable; most of his scenes were written so that the rest of the cast essentially acted as straight men for him. Nonetheless, all the other members of this amazing cast do terrifically well. I seriously doubt that the magnificent Catherine O'Hara could ever be less then delightful - though she couldn't save the first two Home Alone movies - and Winona Ryder played her role as Goth teen Lydia with a nice balance of spunk and misery. Jeffrey Jones supplies his usual level of low-key goofiness as well.
Actually, although it may seem otherwise, Keaton's really a supporting player in Beetlejuice; the film's mainly about the recently-deceased Maitlands (Davis and Baldwin) and their difficult adjustment to the afterlife. Both Baldwin and Davis play their roles as the only normal people in the film with charm and fine comedic timing.
As an aside, here's a fun Internet variation of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: while writing this review, I checked on all the actors' filmographies through IMDB. I think it's fascinating to see just how many times members of the cast crossed each others' paths in the future. For example, Glenn Shadix appeared with Winona Ryder in 1989's Heathers and with Keaton in 1996's Multiplicity, as well as performing a voice for 1993's Burton-produced Nightmare Before Christmas along with Catherine O'Hara. Well, I think it's fun!
The DVD:
Beetlejuice appears in both an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 and in a fullscreen version on this double-sided, single-layered DVD; the widescreen image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Only the widescreen picture was reviewed for this article. Beetlejuice appeared as one of the earliest DVDs back in 1997, and this moderately flawed presentation definitely showed its age.
Sharpness usually remained nicely crisp and accurate, as the movie offered very few examples of soft or fuzzy images. However, this came with a price, as the picture provided a myriad of additional issues. Moiré effects became rather heavy at times, as many objects shimmered and strobed; check out the flashing exhibited by the sides of some buildings. I also saw distinct examples of edge enhancement during the film. Print flaws marred the disc as well. I saw light grain during much of the movie, and quite a few digital artifacts interfered with it. Some speckles and grit rounded out the package.
Colors often appeared bright and vivid, but they could also come across as somewhat muddled and messy. Hues generally presented fairly satisfying tones, but these examples of runny tones marred parts of the film. On the other hand, black levels generally seemed to be deep and rich, and shadow detail looked nicely opaque but not overly thick. Since much of the film took place within gloomy interiors, these factors became especially important, and they help keep the movie watchable. Nonetheless, this was a disappointing picture that begs for a remaster.
Beetlejuice boasts one of Warner Bros.' beloved soundtracks that has been "remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1", as the DVD’s case so proudly tells us. Happily, it sounded pretty good. The soundfield mainly featured music, and it provided a nicely involving and active presence. Danny Elfman’s score emanated boldly from all five channels, and it added a great deal to the presentation. Some good ambience also appeared in the various speakers; the elements showed solid localization and they meshed together well.
In addition, audio quality appeared quite strong, as the score continued to shine. Elfman’s music provided clean, robust tones that displayed very fine dynamics. The score was bold and bright, and it demonstrated nice low-end as well. Dialogue was slightly stiff at times, but for the most part speech sounded reasonably natural and distinct, and I heard no problems related to edginess or intelligibility. Effects were also clear and accurate, and they showed no signs of distortion. Ultimately, this soundtrack may not compete with more recent fare, but it worked very well for its age.
Beetlejuice contains a minor array of supplements. We get the film’s theatrical trailer and the standard cast and crew biographies. The DVD also includes a few printed screens of semi-interesting production notes - many of which simply offered additional crew biographies - and an option to watch the film with a music only soundtrack. The latter offered Elfman’s score with solid Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, which made it a special treat for fans of movie music.
As a film, Beetlejuice doesn’t compete with the best work from Tim Burton, but that statement relates more strongly to the high quality of his other films, for Beetlejuice remains a funny and effective flick. As a DVD, however, this is a mixed bag. The picture shows many flaws and concerns, but the remastered soundtrack sounds quite good. The DVD lacks substantial extras. Ultimately, Beetlejuice is an acceptable DVD, but it really could use an update.
