A bit of rose-tinted childhood nostalgia can evoke memories of when life felt less chaotic, and the future was full of unlimited possibilities. I remember seeing Beetlejuice with my friend Mark during sixth grade. I remember it distinctly because it was the first movie I saw in a theater without an adult present. My mom dropped us off before the movie and picked us up after. It would not be such a significant milestone today as it was then, as this was long before the Internet, let alone cell phones. We had to look up the movie times in the newspaper and guess the movie’s runtime based on when your film would start and when the movie after yours would begin. If there was an emergency or a miscommunication, you had to go to a pay phone and call your home’s landline, praying that someone at home would answer. I hadn’t thought about that day in years. With the 2024 release of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, I decided to revisit this Tim Burton (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) classic. My recent rewatch of Beetlejuice in preparation for the sequel brought back that fond memory.