Edward Scissorhands

A man created by an inventor is taken from the solitude of his home to live with a suburban family.

The plot uses elements of Frankenstein and Beauty and the Beast to great effect in a story that very much about the human condition. Tim Burton may not have intended to satirise suburban types as much as he did, but ridiculed they feel with the gossipy, trouble making housewives and bored gardening, golf playing husbands. Cars all leave for work at the same time, great pride is taken in gardens and most (save a few) ultimately see Edward as either a 'freak' or a 'cripple'. We see the real freak show does not lie in the decaying old Gothic mansion on the hill, but in the normal residential neighbourhood below.

Edward Scissorhands has a style that shows Burton at his quirky, gothic best. The colour of everything in the suburbia is some variant of pastel, and is contrasts brilliantly with Edward's black suit and ghostly white face. This fits perfectly with the themes of acceptance, isolation and fitting into social structures when you are quite different.

The protagonist family are all sympathetic, played likably by Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin, Robert Oliveri and in particular Winona Ryder. Edward's interaction with them is both hilariously funny and beautifully moving in a number of scenes.

There are also some strong supporting characters. Joyce, the lustful neighbour who talks in perpetual innuendo. Her scene of orgasmic joy on receipt of a new haircut is wonderfully funny. Jim the spoilt jock boyfriend sneers and lashes out every line with utter contempt. Vincent Price in a heart breaking cameo as the inventor is an excellent touch.

As the title character, Johnny Depp's performance is modern take on Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He says very little, but his eyes and facial expressions tell us everything we need to know. When he does speak it is the voice of a frightened and confused child. I feel so much sympathy that it pains me to watch.

It has a haunting soundtrack that stays with you after the final credits. Every time I think of falling snow, particularly when melancholy I think of that music.

What prompted me to give this one a higher rating than I had originally planned was watching it with my three and a half year old daughter. It held her from start to finish, which is a rare thing for a non-animated feature length movie.

For me it's an 8.5/10, but I round upwards.

There is absolutely no way I can view this film in even a remotely objective manner, so I won't even try. Like eveything I've seen by Tim Burton, this film is at one and the same time, warm and frightening, tender and heart-wrenchingly evil, uplifting and dark. The good and bad in humanity are shown in stark relief quite clearly for everyone to see. But in the final analysis, the most important message the film has to offer is this: Love truly does make the world go 'round and redemption and just living to see another day is a kind of victory. There will always be bullies, just as there will always be kind souls who actively try to make things better (and who sometimes make things worse through their efforts). The most important thing is to be true to yourself, treat others as you wish to be treated and that if the bad guys win, we all lose-including the bad guys. Excellent cast, fine script and just overall a worthy effort not to be missed. One of Vincent Price's last performances, if not the last. I love this film! Most highly recommended.

BIG SPOILERS.

"Give it to my loved ones?" - Edward Scissorhands.

Created by an inventor who dies before finishing his creation, and so leaving him with razor-sharp shears as hands - Edward Scissorhands (JOHNNY DEPP) isn't like other people.

When kindly Avon lady Peg Boggs (DIANE WIEST) finds him one day, hidden away in a Gothic mansion on top of a hill, she takes him under her wing and decides to take him back to the suburbs to live with her.

When we see Edward in this pastel paradise for the first time, it is apparent that he doesn't belong: his wild, dark and frightening appearance contrasting against the immaculate, sweetly colored people and homes of the suburbs. It's an ironic contrast too, as both of these 'worlds' reflect feelings and thoughts that should not associated with them - as Edward is a good-hearted person, whereas the people of the suburbs are unkind and intolerant.

When Edward arrives there he is welcomed and loved, due to the way in which he can sculpt hedges, dogs and hair into amazing works of art. But eventually, due to human trickery and greed, and Edward's want of acceptance and love, Edward is painted by the townspeople as a monster when he is told to rob a house by the boyfriend of Peg's daughter, Kim (WINONA RYDER), and he is ostracized by the town.

Throughout the course of the movie, Edward falls in love with Kim. Originally treating him as an outcast, she falls in love with him too, realizing what a kind and remarkable being he is. In the end, she is the only one who accepts him, when the entire town turns against him. Kim's boyfriend, Jim, enraged by jealousy of Edward, tries to kill him. In defense of Kim and himself, Edward plunges his scissor-hands into Jim's chest and kills him. Realising both that by what he has done they can never see each other again for his safety they share a final kiss and part ways, Edward remaining in his mansion and Kim returning to the shocked town below. The ending of this movie is one of the most wonderful I've seen. Poignant and bittersweet, it is hard to forget quickly.

Johnny Depp is outstanding as Edward Scissorhands, showing a kind of curious and bemused innocence within in the character, but at the same time a restrained passion. Every expression on his face is full of raw emotion: every cautious smile, and every time of hurt and confusion. Johhny Depp is Edward Scissorhands.

This is a wonderful fable from the brilliant imagination of Tim Burton. It's a twisted and sophisticated Gothic fairytale with a dose of comedy, and a good helping of morality, too. While a family movie, it's not really for kids - some things in there even shocked me.

This movie is amazing, and I was entranced by it the very first time I watched it. I'm not usually one for ridiculous hyperbole about movies, but there is very little wrong with this one. I love this movie.

10/10

I really cannot add too much more to the wealth of praise directed toward this film...much of it very deserved. Tim Burton really shows us his ability to transcend mere comedic situations(Pee Wee and Beetlejuice) and tell a story of humour love, pity, conformity, and so on in an eerie and entertaining way. The way this film is constructed is amazing...the sets are wonderful as they depict something so real and yet so far away. Burton takes us into a kind of fairy land of Suburbia...with a haunting, empty castle at the end of the block that just happens to house a man with scissors for hands. The music in this film helps create a great deal of atmosphere and really lends to character development; I particularly enjoyed his use of the music of Tom Jones. The acting in the film is superb on all accounts. Burton got a subtle and effective performance from Johhny Depp, whose talents cease to amaze me. A nice Burton touch was the use of Vincent Price in one of his final roles. Although only in three scenes, seeing Vincent again was a real joy.

This film shows us Edward, a humanoid created by a scientist who died before he could finish his creation. Because of this, Edward has big scissors instead of fingers and a strange looking, almost industrial. But he ends up being found amid the ruins of the mansion where he was born and taken to a suburban neighborhood, where life is always the same, made of perfection appearances. Directed by Tim Burton, has a screenplay by Caroline Thompson and counts on the participation of Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder.

This film is a modern Christmas tale and, for a decade, was very broadcast on televisions around this time of year. The story is very beautiful and touching, and makes us think about issues such as the right to be different from others, the difference between being and seeming, the exaggerated importance we give to appearances and the little importance we give to what is genuine, and how our society corrupts what is naturally good (Rousseau revisited?). Despite it usually have a parental rating accessible to children, this film seems to have been designed for public since the age of ten. The cast is reasonable but not surprising, except for Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder, actors who had, in this movie, the first major opportunity to shine, and where Depp inaugurated a long and fruitful partnership with Burton, which lasts until today. The photography and the visual effects are very good. The sets and costumes are interesting, helping to get the message proposed in the film, and the soundtrack is marked by the main theme, composed by Danny Elfman. This piece remained in the memory of the audience for its beauty and magic, becoming one of the most beautiful musical pieces made for film.