Maurice is like the child friendly version of Beetlejuice

Agreed. I thought he tried acting and sounding exactly like Michael Keaton.

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I put it on for my son today and thought the EXACT same thing, it is the only reason why I came here, to see what movie came out first and Beetlejuice beat it by over a year.

Yes! As a kid I thought it was the man who played Beetlejuice. I remember how surprised I was when I saw it was Howie.

Uh, no, just the opposite. Beetlejuice was much more child-friendly. This was just gross and obscene.

I noticed that too. Maurice was more annoying though and less funny.

Well....the difference between Maurice and Beetlejuice is, Maurice genuinely wants to be friends with Brian, and even helps him and his other human friends when things get nasty. Maurice actually had a heart and cared about other people besides himself, particularly when he realized what he was doing was hurting his friends rather than helping them. Brian was very instructive on that level.

Beetlejuice (the movie version) has always been in it for himself, and doesn't care if he hurts the Living or the Dead, so long as he gets what he wants. He only pretends to be "goofy and nice," so long as it fools people into believing he's helping them. But he can't keep up that facade forever and eventually his true nature comes out.

To be honest, I wouldn't consider either guy to be very "child-friendly," whether in appearance or behavior. Both are not very attractive, love getting into trouble, and have gross habits and behaviors. It was their attitude and personalities that really define them.