Most critics respond warmly to Beetlejuice, with praise clustering around Tim Burton’s fanciful afterlife, the sight gags and the offbeat performances. Michael Keaton’s manic bio-exorcist is the most consistently admired presence, while the supporting cast helps make the supernatural comedy work beyond its visual tricks. The reviews also value the everyday irritations beneath the grotesque fantasy: this afterlife has recognisable problems, which give Burton’s flights of imagination something solid to work against.
The reservations concern how well that invention holds together as a story. Time Out finds the film enjoyable despite its disjointed stretches, while Variety considers the afterlife sequences more inventive than the conventional cat-and-mouse business above ground. The New York Times offers the clearest dissent, describing a comedy whose bizarre effects and timing may delight some viewers but leave others finding it unfunny and plotless. The dominant response remains enthusiastic, with less agreement about the plotting than the performances and visual humour.