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: 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. Via this 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 didn’t last very long. After Batman, Keaton did well with Batman Returns and some nice cameos in Out of Sight and Jackie Brown. White Noise? Yikes!

Of the two Keaton flicks in question, I find Beetlejuice to be the far more compelling film. 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. 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 nearly 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 for 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 Bueller’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!

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 letterboxed picture was reviewed for this article.Beetlejuice appeared as one of the earliest DVDs back in 1997, and this flawed presentation definitely showed its age.

Sharpness was mediocre at best. Close-ups usually looked fine, but anything wider became an iffier proposition. Many problems came from the heavy edge haloes that cropped up throughout the film. They gave elements a blurry, lumpy look that affected definition in a negative way.

Moiré effects became rather heavy at times, as many objects shimmered and strobed; check out the flashing exhibited by the sides of some buildings. Jagged edges appeared along the way, and print flaws marred the disc as well. I saw prominent grain during much of the movie, and quite a few digital artifacts interfered with it. Some speckles, scratches, hairs and grit rounded out the package.

Colors often came across as somewhat muddled and messy. These examples of runny tones marred much of the film, as the hues tended to seem too dense. For instance, skin tones appeared too brown much of the time. Black levels were acceptable, at least, but shadows tended to look cloudy due to the artifacts and grain; the low-light shots lacked great clarity. All in all, this was an ugly transfer.

On the other hand, Beetlejuice boasted a remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack that provided a nicely involving and active presence. Danny Elfman’s score emanated boldly from the various 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 strong, as the score continued to shine. Elfman’s music provided clean, robust tones that displayed fine dynamics. 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 offer additional crew biographies - and an option to watch the film with a music only soundtrack. The latter provides Elfman’s score with solid Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, which makes 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, due to the ugly image and the absence of supplements, Beetlejuice has too many problems as a DVD to merit a recommendation.

To rate this film visit the 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition review of BEETLEJUICE