4K Blu-Ray: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The Film

Beetlejuice was Tim Burton’s second film. Yet it might be his most recognizable one. It doesn’t have the heart and melancholy of Edward Scissorhands, nor is it as artfully constructed as Ed Wood. But it encompasses everything that makes Burton, well, Burton.

Some thirty-odd years later, at the height of this godforsaken legacy sequel craze, Burton returns to Beetlejuice. I was worried, to say the least. The original means so much to me. It’s an island in time. It ignited my love for Burton, a crush for both Winona Ryder and the hysterical Catherine O’Hara. As a film, it’s pure Burton, and, for a time, all that I was, too.

The first ten or so minutes are a rough landing. Bits work, but there’s a natural ambivalence to everything else. The film spends time picking up pieces of the last three decades and, for a moment, doesn’t go anywhere. Even if a delightful stop-motion sequence does elicit a smile.

The moment in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice where I knew the film would work comes soon after. Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton, crazy as ever) recounts his past with Delores (Monica Bellucci). Only his voice comes through in as a Spanish mono track, and the picture turns black and white. As if we were watching an old Spanish horror film from the 1950s. No explanation is necessary. It’s just fun.

That same freewheeling energy permeates through the film. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice doesn’t make a lick of sense, yet it doesn’t matter. It piles in ideas, gags, and surprising moments of poignancy to an overwhelming degree. Ask at any point where a character went, and you’ll likely come out confused.

For example, Astrid (Jenna Ortega), Lydia’s daughter, meets and falls for a boy. He has secrets of his own. To uncover them, our characters must travel to the afterlife, which isn’t exactly the afterlife. Instead, there’s a soul train (with literal music to boot), and an entire immigration office to numerous hereafters. Rules upon rules, most of which don’t matter. It makes you appreciate how lean and brutally efficient Beetlejuice was.

Elsewhere, there’s the mystery of what happened to Astrid’s father. Will Lydia marry the sleazy hanger-on she’s living with. Willem Dafoe shows up as a dead actor playing to be an afterlife cop. Beetlejuice still wants to marry Lydia for reasons unknown.

It’s a lot.

A lesser film would stumble under so much plot. Yet here the chaos feels part of the madness. It’s charming instead of overbearing.

That’s largely thanks to the game cast, who relish the opportunity to play in Burton’s playground. The great Catherine O’Hara, returning as Delia, is a particular highlight. She’s an art house nightmare. The very essence of maximalist hysteria for profit. Yet O’Hara makes her endearing, even lovable. It’s a wonderful balancing act of pantomime and sincerity.

The same is true for Ryder and Keaton, playing to their strengths as Lydia and Beetlejuice. Keaton hasn’t aged a day, and his “ghost with the most” still delivers the biggest laughs in the film. My initial fears that his return would feel like a lazy victory lap proved unfounded. If anything, it’s a case of a talented actor mining one of his most famous parts for new material without falling into repeats.

Ryder, in turn, proves once again what a unique talent she is. Lydia is in a poor place when we meet her again. The odd teenager now an odd adult, but without the safety net that youth brings. In a surprising move, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice allows itself a chance to slow down and deal with darker material in its first half, and Ryder is there for it. Her desperate attempts to connect with Astrid and the world give the film much of its heart and soul.

The rest come from the wacky and demented humor, which hearken back to Burton’s youth. There’s a gag involving a demonic baby that I never thought I’d see again in his films. It’s anarchic, liberated, and laugh out loud funny.

But for all the wildness and looseness, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is surprisingly sincere. Like Burton’s previous return to his past, Frankenweenie, it never laughs at its legacy. It might smile knowingly, a tad embarrassed at all the things we did in our youth. But it’s never mean, and it doesn’t shy away from who or what it is.

There’s an immense comfort to that. A sense that, like Lydia and Astrid, we can find our place without forsaking who we are. Burton’s talent is speaking for the oddballs and misfits. Us, who belong to the island of lost toys. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is like seeing old friends, and a warm reminder that sometimes, you can go home again.

Technical Specs & Presentation

The Nordic edition is frustratingly once again missing the 2-disc variant everyone else gets, and we don't get a slipcover either. Instead, this is a frankly solid and well-made release. Just without any of the flair you'd expect from Tim Burton.

Video

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice looks amazing. No ifs, buts, or any quibbles about it. This is a reference quality disc with perfect blacks, beautiful highlights (which there are many), and amazing color reproduction throughout. You could watch this on one of those old magic lantern devices and it would look incredible.

For best possible reference, take a look at the soul train and after life processing sequences, where Burton really lets his set design go bananas. Every detail from costume design to lighting shines. You could spend ages going over the film frame by frame and come away even more spellbound after each pass.

This is how you release a film on physical media. Everyone else, take note.

Audio

The Dolby Atmos mix is big, loud, and super punchy, but also surprisingly nuanced when the film occasionally dips into quieter moments. Listen, for example, to how well it picks up background clatter in Beetlejuice's office, or how immersive the music and train sound in the soul train musical number.

No matter what part you choose for demoing, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice won't disappoint. Like on the video front, the audio on this disc is some of the best you'll hear all year, and probably the next one, too.

Extras

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice isn't on par with the likes of King Kong or Lord of the Rings, but in this day and age the bar is so low that it passes with flying colors.

The commentary by Tim Burton is a particularly welcome addition, especially as he's open and honest about the long production time and numerous changes they had to make over the years. He spills the beans on the film references he's buried into the film, and how it was getting Micheal Keaton to go ham as the titular ghost with the most once again.

All in all, this is a solid chatter track, one that I thoroughly enjoyed.

The featurettes are more of a mixed bag, though I'm still glad they exist. The longest of the bunch is The Making Of, which is around a half hour in length. It's more of a press kit type of deal, where everyone is happy to be here, and it's very marketing-heavy.

Beetlejuice Returns is a short featurette on Keaton's work in the title role, and it's mostly just clips of him acting like a goofball on set. There are some wonderful archival clips of the original film, but it would have been cool to hear more about how the approach to the character has changed even on the writing front during the 30-year absence.

Shrinkers Everywhere is another five-minute breeze about the shrunken heads used in the film. Similarly superficial is the Stop-Motion Art of Beetlejuice, which is ten minutes in length. Both deserve their own hour-long docs, at least, and it's a shame we don't get more of the artistry that goes on in crafting Burton's wild visions on-screen.

The same goes for The Handbook of the Recently Deceased, which is a talky 10-minute look at the set design and practical effects of the film. Naturally, everyone talks about how there was no CGI in this, which isn't true, and it's a shame companies refuse to allow their cast and crew to celebrate the artistry that goes into even set extensions. Again, fun and light, but frustratingly short.

Finally, there's 'Til Death Do We Park, which is all about the big finale involving the demented musical number of MacArthur Park. It's fun to hear Burton's thoughts about the inclusion, but I wish, like with all the other extra material, that we got a bit more. Or that these were combined into one feature documentary instead of little nibbles like this.

Grumbles and all, this is still a solid package, and I'm so glad we get even a bit of extras to tide us film fans over.

Overall

There's no reason that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice should work this well, yet it does, and it's even more of a miracle that the 4K Blu-Ray is one of the best we've seen all year. The audiovisual presentation is flawless and it's lovely to see a good helping of extras as well.

It's a bit of a bummer the Nordics don't get the 2-disc edition everyone else does, but beggars can't be choosers. This is still a solid purchase that's easy to recommend to just about everyone.