Danny Elfman
provides one of his most quintessentially
Elfman-esque
scores for one of
Tim Burton
's most quintessentially
Burton-esque
movies,
Beetlejuice
. The film's dark yet sardonically funny
"Main Titles"
is among
Elfman
's all-time best moments, bustling along with a dark joie de vivre (or is it joie de morte?) that defines the spooky fun of both this movie, and his collaboration with
Burton
. The score's stylized world also includes the ironically perky
"Travel Music"
;
"Incantation,"
a tensely percussive cue that unfolds into exaggerated brass and ghostly vocals and organs; and the eerily pretty but still whimsical
"Lydia Discovers."
The tip-toeing pizzicato strings and pianos, and the theatrical brass, organs, harps, and percussion that appear on every track -- most definitively on tracks like
"Enter...The Family / Sand Worm Planet"
-- underline the film's live-action cartoonishness, with the music's hyperactive shifts, and the addition of
Harry Belafonte
's
"Jump In Line"
and
"Banana Boat Song (Day-O)"
just adding another layer of quirkiness to the whole thing. A perfect mix of silliness and spookiness,
remains one of
's most consistent scores. ~ Heather Phares