rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1990
Directed by Tim Burton; produced by Tim Burton, Denise Di Novi; screenplay by Caroline Thompson
Starring Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Alan Arkin, Vincent Price
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Edward Scissorhands' is a visual feast, like every other movie from Tim
Burton. His short film 'Vincent', 'Beetle Juice', both the 'Batman'-movies,
'Ed Wood', 'Sleepy Hollow' and 'Big Fish', to name a few, all have that fact
in common. But 'Edward Scissorhands' is more. It is a funny and a sad story
about a character created by a mad professor (Vincent Price). Before he
could finish the character named Edward (Johnny Depp) the professor dies and
leaves Edward with two scissors on the places where his hands should be. The
professor lived in a house on a dark hill and one day the house is visited
by Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), who wants to sell some makeup. She lives in the
colorful town down the hill, inhabited by many weird but friendly people, so
it seems. Peg finds Edward, feels sorry for him and takes him to her home
and makes him a part of the family that exists out of Peg, her husband Bill
(Alan Arkin), son Kevin (Robert Oliveri) and teenage daughter Kim (Winona
Ryder). Edward develops a crush on her, something her boyfriend Jim (Anthony
Michael Hall) does not like.
Edward is sometimes very clumsy with his scissors, even cutting himself from
time to time, but when he feels confident he can do almost anything with it.
He makes sculptures out of ice and trees, does the hair of both humans and
dogs and cuts the meet for the family. The parts that focus on the scissors
belong to the best parts of the movie, although the way they are predictably
used near the end is not that good. Like I said the movie is funny and sad,
and that is both caused by the scissors.
Although the movie itself is pretty good, the ending is both good and bad at
the same. It is sad and can create a tear for a lot of people but it is also
the most simple choice and in a way it is shown a little too violent. Still,
I think most people are quite happy with the ending the way it is and
therefore I should not complain too much. The visuals alone, Depp's close to
perfect performance and one of Danny Elfman's better scores should be enough
to like this movie already.