BeetlejuiceMovie Reviews

Gifts + Promos

Fandango Gift Card

Give the gift of movies with Fandango Bucks Gift Certificates! Design your own gift card, or choose from our collection.

Avengers Gift Cards

Superhero fans! Don’t miss out on these Limited Edition Avengers gift cards!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 67 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
9 OK for kids 9+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    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

  • 100
    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] Read full review

  • 90
    Washington Post | Rita Kempley

    Not since "Ghostbusters" have the spirits been so uplifting. [30 Mar 1988] Read full review

  • 88
    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] Read full review

  • 80
    Variety |

    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

  • 75
    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] Read full review

  • 50
    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

  • 50
    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] Read full review

  • 40
    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] Read full review

  • 25
    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] Read full review

View more reviews for Beetlejuice on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says OK for kids 9+ Early Tim Burton is creepy, dark fun for tweens and teens.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that there are some serious themes in this outrageous film: a young married couple comes to grips with the fact that they're dead, and a teenager contemplates suicide. Because of this, it's not suitable for children younger than 9. But there's nothing here that older kids can't laugh at.
  • Families can talk about why Lydia was so sad. How did she deal with it, and was her way of coping effective? How do you deal with it when you're sad?
  • Also, what do you think of this bizarre take on the afterlife? What other movie depictions can you think of? Which is the most outlandish?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: The characters eventually learn to live together peacefully but this is more ancedotal than a deliberate positive message.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Beetlejuice is rude, crude and dirty. Lydia is depressed and occasionally suicidal. Barbara and Adam are good people understandably unhappy in their situation.
What to watch for
  • violence false2 Violence: A woman blows cigarette smoke out of her slit throat. An afterlife waiting room abounds with people in various states of deadness (but it's more funny than scary). Main characters are chased by giant striped worms in a desert. A teen shrivels up like a mummy in a matter of seconds. The teen also contemplates suicide.
  • sex false1 Sex: A miniature Beetlejuice finds a whorehouse in a model-sized city; some women invite him inside.
  • language false2 Language: A bit of mild cursing, plus one utterance of "f--k."
  • consumerism false0 Consumerism: Not an issue
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false0 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Not an issue
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook