a charming and offbeat cartoon

greg-glen

When I was a Ph.D. candidate at Queen's University and I worked out on the weekends, I would often tune the t.v. to cartoons. And I never missed an episode of the cartoon "Beetlejuice." It was - and remains to me - a charming and quirky cartoon with a lively sense of invention and a decidedly offbeat sense of humour. Some people compare this cartoon negatively to the movie "Beetlejuice." I don't think this is fair. Michael Keaton gave a positively volcanic performance in that movie and I continue to find the movie a classic of humour. Indeed, I often wondered why there wasn't a sequel - probably just as well given Hollywood's record with such things, but I think there was more comic potential waiting to be tapped. Questions of synergy aside(the Americans have nothing on the Japanese in this department), the cartoon is not just a ripoff of the movie. It's its own eccentric, squirmy little beast. It really was a lot better than it needed to be, so to speak. As with the movie, there's some romantic 'tension' between Beetlejuice and the goth girl, but the cartoon subdues this somewhat for the kiddies. It's a helluva lot better than some current cartoons aimed at the 'Goth' mindset, I can tell ya. I really loved this cartoon and miss it on t.v. Greg Cameron, Surrey, B.C., Canada

score 9/10

greg-glen 22 November 2008

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1979283/