Beetlejuice: Deluxe Edition
© Warner Home Video
Mania Grade: F
DVD: Beetlejuice
Rating: PG
Starring: Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Winona Ryder, Stephen Ouimette
Written By: Michael McDowell
Directed By: Tim Burton
Distributor: Warner Home Video
Original Year of Release: Deluxe Edition (2008)
Extras: Beetlejuice Cartoon Episodes: "A-Ha", "Skeletons In The Closet", "Spooky Boo-tique". Music Only Track. Theatrical Trailers of Beetlejuice and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Buy it now!
DVD: Beetlejuice
Rating: PG
Starring: Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Catherine O'Hara, Jeffrey Jones, Winona Ryder, Stephen Ouimette
Written By: Michael McDowell
Directed By: Tim Burton
Distributor: Warner Home Video
Original Year of Release: Deluxe Edition (2008)
Extras: Beetlejuice Cartoon Episodes: "A-Ha", "Skeletons In The Closet", "Spooky Boo-tique". Music Only Track. Theatrical Trailers of Beetlejuice and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
Buy it now!
DVD Review of Beetlejuice: Deluxe Edition
By: Robert T. TrateReview Date: Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Beetlejuice, Tim Burton’s insanely odd and hilarious film, is two decades old this year. The film was the world’s introduction into the macabre world of Tim Burton’s imagination. Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure established him as a director but it was Beetlejuice that helped to launch his career. Without that film he probably never would have been able to do Batman (1989). The title character is a Bio-Exorcist who helps ghosts get rid of the living. Geena Davis and Alec Baldwin play a recently deceased married couple who need his help. The catch is Beetlejuice wants to join the world of the living and to do that he has to get married. The film is packed with double crosses, yuppies, a Goth Winona Ryder and all the establishing trademarks that would become Tim Burton’s mantras. What is so incredibly disappointing about the Beetlejuice: Deluxe Edition DVD is that there is nothing deluxe about it. The special features included on the disc do outshine the original release of the DVD which featured an interactive menu, production notes and trailer. Yet, what is offered is not even on par with a standard DVD release today.
A music only track is great for those of us that don’t have Danny Elfman’s soundtrack. However, is this something that we are going to watch even once all the way through? Probably not. A commentary track by Burton, Elfman, Keaton or anyone from the cast would have been better. Even the likes of a film historian or a Burton biographer should have contributed to a commentary track.
This is an incredibly dark comedy. The dark moments are obviously tongue-in-cheek but how this film became a kids cartoon is still a mystery. Produced by both Tim Burton and David Geffen it ran for three years, thus allowing Stephen Ouimette to portray Beetlejuice longer than Michael Keaton did. For those of you that have not seen the Beetlejuice cartoon these three episodes will be an interesting if not cheap offering on this DVD deluxe edition.
Why have this incredibly weak deluxe edition? It is not like Tim Burton and Warner Brothers have a bad relationship. Batman, Batman Returns, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Pee-wee's Big Adventure all had better DVDs and included special features worthy of the phrases deluxe edition, special edition and so forth. Both the Batman and Batman Returns DVDs released in 2005 featured commentary by Burton as well as great features worthy of a re-release. Throwing the blame solely on Burton isn’t fair though. Warner Brothers created some great DVDs without any of Stanley Kubrick’s input. Why Warner Brothers? Why?
Beetlejuice: Deluxe Edition isn’t even being released on Blu-ray this month. If it were to be released the picture and sound quality would be the only reason to pick it up. It seems as if we will have to wait until the twenty-fifth anniversary of Beetlejuice to get a DVD worth owning. This barebones approach to Beetlejuice only cheapens Burton’s dark comedic romp through the afterlife. It should have fans celebrating its twentieth birthday not morning it.
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I always enjoyed the cartoon series when I was little, and I wouldn't mind going back and watching it. However, to put out a deluxe edition dvd where the only extras are 3 freakin' 20 minute cartoons is COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE! This release basically just pisses in the faces of all movie fans. It really tells us just what Warner Brothers thinks of their audience, "Hey why don't we just re-release the previous dvd, but this time we'll slap DELUXE EDITION DVD to the top of the case and everyone who bought the first release will go ahead and shell out another $15 bucks just for the words DELUXE EDITION!"
FUCK YOU WARNER BROTHERS!!