Movie Review: "Edward Scissorhands" (1990)

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Movie: "Edward Scissorhands"
Director: Tim Burton
Year: 1990
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

An Avon lady named Peg (Dianne Wiest) goes to an old mansion on the outskirts of her town looking to sell her wares. There, she finds a lonely young man with scissors for hands named Edward (Johnny Depp). She takes pity on him and takes him into her home to live with her family where he quickly becomes the talk of the gossipy town. 

"Edward Scissorhands" is Tim Burton's fourth feature length theatrical release and his first time working with eventual long time collaborator Johnny Depp, who fills the titular role of Edward. Tim Burton is said to have two styles of directing: dark and fancifully twisted, and quirky and colorful. "Edward Scissorhands" successfully combines both of these styles in one movie with Edward and his home serving as the dark, twisted style, and the neighboring town draped in a quirky and colorful look. We personally love Burton's style and enjoy the majority of his movies, especially his early works. This film is one of our favorites and a choice to throw in the blu-ray player and watch during the holiday season, even if it's only a circumstantial Christmas movie. Johnny Depp is fantastic in this film and his performance earned him a Golden Globe nomination. The make-up work and his mannerisms make him almost unrecognizable, and his performance and look still hold up extremely well today. With his limited dialogue, most of which is timid and subdued, he carries most of his performance through physical action and facial expressions. There are some other great, often funny performances from Dianne Wiest and Alan Arkin, who play Edward's "parents" away from his castle home. There are also some interesting, humorous performances by the looky-loo, gossipy chatterbox neighbors in the small town where Edward winds up. Visually, "Edward Scissorhands" is brilliant. From the aforementioned juxtaposition between colorful and dark to the makeup and hair styles used in this film, we love the beauty Burton implemented here. The scene where Kim, played by Winona Ryder, dances in the snow created by Edward's ice sculpture? Holy cow. It's so simple, yet so elegantly gorgeous. The story, too, is a simple one, but is told in an imaginative way that evokes a terrific emotional response from the audience. For us, this gripping emotional response is one of the most important aspects we look for when we watch movies. Without it, it might end up being pretty weird, and don't get us wrong, it is weird, but in a good, off-the-wall way. This is one of our favorite Burton/Depp collaborations. It is magical, strange, and at its heart, sweet. Though it's not a blatant Christmas film, it's enough to notice the holiday in the background.

My Rating: 9/10
BigJ's Rating: 8.5/10
IMDB's Rating: 8.0/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89%
Do we recommend this movie: ABSOLUTELY YES!!!
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One year ago, we were watching: "Gremlins"

Two years ago, we were watching: "Die Hard"