Review of Edward Scissorhands (1990) by Jebediah M — 04 Jun 2014

Been wanting to watch this one for quite a while, and I got to say, I can understand why some people go nuts for this movie. Tim Burton and Johnny Depp will always be some of my favorite people over in Hollywood (no matter how weird or bad they seem to get, there's still good points in bad art).

But now I really see how both of them have changed; I really see what drew most of their fans in after watching this. The opening got me laughing; what a bedtime story to tell a little girl! I'm sorry, but I'm pretty sure that no matter how charming you make the story, I still think she'd have woken up screaming in the middle of the night because of the nightmare's she'd suffered: being chased by a man with scissors for hands.

But no, the music and tone clearly suggest that it should be an enchanting tale, rather than a horror story. It shouldn't have, but it just got me chuckling. It's even more hilarious when you remember that little detail about it being a bedtime story when the scene between Edward and one of the neighbors in the salon is going on.

I bet that kid's eyes were bulging out of her skull at that point! But I had to admit, Johnny as Edward was pretty impressive; those hands are fantastic! He also did a really great job portraying Edward's awkwardness and charm.

That's got to be really hard to pull off. I even love the way he walks! And the story is original (even by today's standards), so that's always a huge plus for me. Another plus is Vincent Price (especially when he was reading, good God do I love that man's voice!).

And everyone else did a great job too, even Winona Ryder (and I usually don't like the roles she plays). I don't think there was anyone I didn't enjoy, I even found the neighbors cute. Leave it to Tim Burton to have some weird points in his story though.

Like would an Avon saleslady really willingly go up to a house that terrifying, even for the sake of a sale? Or after she walked in uninvited, would she really stick around in a place that looked like that? Or when she did come across a man with scissors for hands, would she really have just up and decided to take him back home with her?! But then again, I had to remind myself that this wasn't based in our world, so I had to remember to turn on my suspension of disbelief.

Once I remembered to do that I didn't have anymore problems with the film at all. It just takes a little faith sometimes. Speaking of the Inventor's house (I guess I should call it a mansion) I have to talk about the sets: they're fantastic.

Enough said. It's funny, because I love how the sets are lit, especially when the neighborhood and mansion are in the same scene together, it just looks cool, but not wholly unrealistic. All in all this movie left me feelings a lot like Pan's Labyrinth did: like I'm watching a brand new fairy tale.

That's just it, it feels like a fairy tale. Not one produced by Disney: a real one, just like one that could have been written by Grimm himself. It's bizarre, it's unique, and it's fun, so no problems overall.