Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)Once upon a time in a castle high on a hill lived an inventor whose greatest creation was named Edward. Although Edward had an irresistible charm, he wasn’t quite perfect. The inventor’s sudden death left him unfinished, with sharp shears of metal for hands. Edward lived alone in the darkness until one day a kind Avon lady took him home to live with her family. And so began Edward’s fantastical adventures in a pastel paradise known as Suburbia.Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavor of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-colored suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he’s given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward’s skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighborhood–but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg’s daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton’s movies (such as Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy, but Edward Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward’s wild black hair is much like Burton’s, suggesting that the character represents the director’s own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward’s childlike vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly, Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare. –Bret Fetzer
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(out of 415 reviews)
Review by Kona for Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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This wonderful fantasy tale stars Johnny Depp as a not-quite-real teenager who was built by an eccentric inventor. The old man died before he could finish him, so Edward has knife blades where his fingers would be. A well-meaning Avon lady (Diane Wiest) finds him living alone in his crumbling castle, and brings him home to live with her family, which includes daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Edward is naive and timid, but so sweet and helpful that he soon becomes the darling of the neighborhood. He is smitten with Kim, which angers her bully of a boyfriend (Anthony Michael Hall).
Diane Wiest is perfect as the ditsy and always-cheerful mom. Ryder is convincing as a selfish and spoiled teen. Hall is the villian you love to hate. The star, of course, is Johnny Depp. As Edward, he is painfully shy and lovelorn; his performance is so heart-wrenchingly delicate that you ache for him in every scene. Covered with white make-up and with only a few words of dialogue, Depp proves he is a very talented actor. The wonderful and quite frail Vincent Price, as Edward’s loving creator, will surely bring a tear to your eye.
This completely unique film blends comedy, fantasy, and romance to make a sentimental fairy tale that both teens and adults will enjoy. It is a heart-breaker; bring your hankie.
Kona
Review by Michael W. Howe for Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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Every director probably has one movie that he pours part of himself into. For Spielberg, it was ET, Lucas had American Graffiti. Here, Tim Burton poured into the soul of Edward Scissorhands the world of an outsider, a creation of an old inventor (wonderfully played by Vincent Price) who passes on before he can finish Edward(wonderfully played by Johnny Depp). Edward is one day discovered by Peg Boggs, a curious Avon lady, who takes Edward home to suburbia, a community of multi-colored houses that could only come from the mind of Burton and production designer Bo Welch. Danny Elfman delivers probably his most moving score in this picture. The DVD looked like it would be incredile with what was announced, but it would have to lose starts for what I thought: 1)Audio commentary by Burton and Elfman: Both of these guys do not talk all the way through the film, (though it does sound a little better than Devlin and Emmerich on ID4′s DVD & Barry Levinson and Tommy LEe Jones on Men In Black, who chatter on like inane movie theater patrons). But most of the time I found myself wondering when they would speak again. Burton probably speaks 12-15 times through most of the movie, but it sounds more like he’s having little afterthoughts. Elfman’s audio plays after certain music segments are done (his background music plays over the dialogue so we hear outright how it sounds). 2)Tim Burton concept art: after seeing The Tarzan Collector’s Edition, this was a letdown, with only about 7 pieces of art (5 concepts of Edward, 1 of the Inventor, and 1 of Edward’s place in the mansion’s attic). 3)The featurette talking about the film is also a letdown, as there is nothing that was reall notable (I was really looking forward to hearing how Stan Winston Studios made the Scissorhands props). The only cool notable is the interactive menu, made like a pop-up book of the mansion Edward is found in. If you are looking to find a great movie, get this DVD. If you are into those that promise incredible extra features, pass this one up.
Review by for Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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I loved this film. It was really sad, and this film is very touching. It also teaches you that people will always behave differently and ostracise people who are different, and even if they don’t, something or someone will always go and ruin it. While the neighbours were generally accepting of him at first and even found him rather useful, the awful, nasty revolting Jim ruined it by taking advantage of him. It was a very sad story, and it had great acting. A movie to be loved by all ages.
Review by Calia for Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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It would be hard for me to be critical about Johnny Depp, or even Tim Burton for that matter. I like just about all their movies. In this flick, Johnny Depp plays a tormented teen that spent all his childhood living in the haunted house on the hill, with an old dude and scissors for hands. Already he has my deepest sympathies. Falls for the girl next door,Wynona Ryder, but dosent get the girl, because the angry mob scares him off, and eddy with his scissorhands the girl next door, decide for his safety they could never be together. Go figure! As usual society wins. But it was good that it didnt end with a cheesy ending cuz that would ruin it. So definetly a must see, thats if you haven’t seen it already. or u have the movie sitting with the other many Johnny Depp movies that u made a shrine out of.
Review by Kitten With a Whip for Edward Scissorhands (Widescreen Anniversary Edition)
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I am a huge Tim Burton fan, and love all of his movies and own them, have watched them at least 10 times each, and each one is really special to me (I know how dorky that sounds) but this is the one I am the most emotional about. I can’t think of any other movie that has made me cry as often during the course of the movie, or as hard. When I saw it in the theater, I wasn’t just tearing up, I was sobbing by the end. During the scene where Vincent Price (God I miss him) perfectly cast as “The Inventor” tells Edward he has a special present for him and hold up a pair of perfect hands, only to slip away at the last moment, I looked around the 3rd time I saw in the theater, and literally everyone in the theater was choked up if not outright crying, including grown men. If I ever want to cry on demand, all I have to do is simply *remember* the last scene of the movie, and the last few lines uttered by the storyteller, and I tear up. Just pulling up the image of Ryder, spinning around in the ‘snow’ dreamily, can still bring tears to my eyes 9 years later. I think this is the only movie I’ve seen where I actually had to sit there all through the credits trying to pull it together because I couldn’t stop crying. My friend and I were still sniffling walking out of the theater. Other women out there: this is not a movie to watch when you have PMS, not unless you want to totally break down in a sobbing, emotional heap.There’s so many great things about this movie– Tim Burton is a genius, plain and simple, and the art direction is brilliant. His vision of suburbia is great, with rows and rows of identical, colorful 50′s style tract houses and flawless green lawns. The imagery will stick with you long after the movie is over; for instance, the shot of the little girl, getting told a bedtime story (the film’s framing device) in a huge, oversized bed, almost buried in all the quilts and pillows, or the inventor’s workshop, with an assembly line pumping out gingerbread men. Elfman does do his best work (other than Beetlejuice). Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp were a couple at the time the movie was made, deeply in love, and it shows. It actually hurts to look at them, and Ryder, even with a horrible blonde wig, is stunningly beautiful and radiant. Just the way they look at each other, the longing in both their eyes, the tenderness when she says, “Hold me” and Edward replies sadly, “I can’t”, so Kim (Ryder) lovingly wraps her arms around him instead– it gets me every time. All the casting is great (Vincent Price, especially — obviously, Tim Burton got his dream cast for this one). Anyone who has ever felt like an outsider, or lonely, or longed for someone they know they will probably never end up with, will be touched deeply. (Starcrossed lovers always get to me). Yeah, I know. This all sounds very corny, but this movie is really in a class by itself. Period.