Stars: 5/5

Tim Burton leads this story with a cheerful feeling, only to snatch it from the audience within minutes through unexpected death. Of course, being Tim Burton, he gives this feeling back as the story closes. He turns death into humor into romance and the satisfaction left behind is pristine.
Adam and Barbara Maitland (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis) display the relationship everyone wants. Not even the fatal car crash they are immediately faced with can fade their effortless teamwork.
After the wreck, the couple wakes up back in their home to learn they are ghosts. They find a handbook for the deceased and cannot leave their house without being eaten by sand monsters. Their lives are now limited to the inside of their house.
The simplicity of the characters creates a charming flow to the story.
The Deetz family buys the house and are more than eager to change everything. The annoying stepmother begins putting her questionable sculptors from New York around the house while the father agrees with everything she wants. Lydia (Winona Ryder) plays the “strange and unusual” teenage daughter that becomes friends with the Maitlands.
Adam and Barbara want the family gone and fail with a humorous attempt to spook them away. With nowhere to turn, they call Betelgeuse (Michael Keaton) for help. Betelgeuse is a banished ghost that can only return with 3 calls of his name. He acts like a demon and eventually sets out to rape Lydia. Adam and Barbara banish Betelgeuse when they realize he causes more problems than he solves.
The Maitlands fall in love with Lydia and become parent figures to her. They decide living with the Deetz family would not be so horrible.
Otho (William Glenn Shadix) is an interior designer and friend of the stepmother. He becomes fascinated with the ghosts during the Maitlands’ paranormal attempt to run the family off. It was not hard for him to convince the Deetz family to use their haunted house to make money. Lydia unwillingly becomes the messenger between the two families although the Maitlands want no part of the plan.
We all know the infamous “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)” well from this movie. In an attempt to lighten the mood of the paranormal dinner table scene caused by the innocent Maitlands, Tim Burton adds this song to make the audience want to dance while watching the Deetz parents and friends become possessed.
A sense of nostalgia comes with re-watching “Beetlejuice.” As with most movies, a new perspective changes the experience since being introduced to it as a child. It is the perfect film to indulge in while carving pumpkins just days before Halloween.