Edward Scissorhands (1990) Movie Review
Edward Scissorhands (1990) Movie Review
Edward Scissorhands is just as lovely as you probably remember it being. It’s one of Tim Burton’s several wonderful fantasy films, and you can definitely tell it’s his work from the overall mood and scenery in the movie. Lots of people use every chance they get to attack Tim Burton and his work, but I am one of the people who use every chance they get to defend him (and his work, for that matter). Sure, he’s made some below-par films. But think about everything good that he’s brought us: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure (it was pretty good but a little too hyperactive), Beetlejuice (it’s better than you might remember), Batman and Batman Returns (easily the better two films of the early Batman quadrilogy), Big Fish, Frankenweenie, and some other movies lots of people can agree on liking (The Nightmare Before Christmas only kinda counts). But his most beloved movie, critically and with audiences, has to be the delightful Edward Scissorhands.
It’s a little dark and gloomy, but that’s obviously supposed to be the case, and the weird vibe of the movie is one of its finest factors. It wouldn’t work nearly as well if it was super cheery and bright, even though the neighborhood the main story takes place in has pink houses. Lots of things about Edward Scissorhands are quietly interesting. We wonder: who exactly is this guy who made Edward (Johnny Depp)? Is the brightly colored neighborhood against Edward’s dark figure supposed to represent what is known and accepted and what isn’t? Why is everyone such a cookie-cutter character?
Edward Scissorhands is the unfinished creation of The Inventor (the late Vincent Price), and because he was left so unfinished, he has sharp blades as hands. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), a middle-class mother who works as a doorstep cosmetics saleswoman, decides to knock on the door of the castle/mountain where The Inventor left Edward. She goes into the big dark house to find Edward crouching in the attic. She decides to take him to her house to give him a proper place to live. Staying there as well are Kevin (Robert Oliveri), her son, Bill (Alan Arkin), her husband, and Kim (Winona Ryder), her daughter. Kim is staying with friends for awhile, and Edward is busy giving (honestly pretty bad) haircuts to neighborhood women and their dogs. He also shows off his talents for trimming hedges into unique shapes like families, dinosaurs, and swans. When Kim gets home to see Edward, she is alarmed, and mostly avoids him for the first part of the movie. Eventually, though, she gets tired of everyone taking advantage of Edward, especially her cruel boyfriend, Jim (Anthony Michael Hall), and befriends him. Because of this, Jim gets unreasonably mad and attacks Edward, and they *fight* (basically Jim just punches Edward in the face a couple of times). Kim defends our unfinished hero, and they say goodbye to each other after he accidentally stabs Jim (I just noticed that… Kim and Jim… creativity is magic…) in the stomach. Edward realizes that he cannot return to the unaccepting world that we live in, and goes back to the attic to reside by himself. It’s a bittersweet ending, with emphasis on the bitter, but somehow isn’t unsatisfying or just plain sad. It works, even if it is mildly depressing, but you feel like the movie is complete in a good way.
The acting in this movie is actually amazing. Johnny Depp pulls off the character of Edward Scissorhands perfectly, with a hint of sadness and confusion in everything he does. It’s a real touching performance, definitely one of Depp’s best. Winona Ryder is beautiful as Kim, Edward’s part time love interest, and keeps it realistic (it would feel off if she immediately was drawn to him, because nobody would be). Alan Arkin’s Bill is low-key the best character, and he has this amazing, dry way of delivering lines that just fits so perfectly. Dianne Wiest, in all of her many, many roles as a mother of some sort, probably does so best here. But it is Tim Burton’s magical direction that really elevates this movie. It’s great. All of the Christmasy, gothic-y imagery looks remarkable, and all of the early-90’s suburbia shots were pulled off really well.
Some parts of the movie look really, really surreal. There’s one shot where Peg is in Edward’s attic, and is looking through a huge, illuminated hole in the roof. In another, she turns her car mirror around and it focuses in on the gigantic dark castle on the hill in the backdrop of the cheery-looking, calm, almost eerily normal neighborhood. The sight of Edward just walking through the neighborhood looks weird enough, because of how oddly the colors coordinate. That’s one of my favorite things about this movie: how it uses colors. Edward’s black hair and suit represent him and all of his weirdness, and the green, yellow, and pink of the neighborhood represent everything that Edward doesn’t. I haven’t seen such good use of color in a movie since the use of red in The Sixth Sense, honestly. This movie is a real work of art.
Safety Chart:
Violence: 4/10- Some minor violence. The villain of the movie is stabbed and presumably killed, with a blood stain on his chest. Mean-spirited fistfighting occurs, as well as police officers firing shots into the air. Edward cuts his face, Kim’s hand, and Kevin’s face with his hands.
Language: 4/10- Some profanity. Language is infrequent but can be sort of strong.
Drinking/Smoking: 4/10- Edward receives alcohol from Bill, and his eyes turn red upon drinking it, along with becoming sick. Reckless teens drive while drunk, swerving all da way.
Edward Scissorhands is probably Tim Burton’s masterpiece (I mean, I haven’t seen Ed Wood, but…), and for good reason. It’s poetic, dark, sweet, and interesting. It is fantastical enough, but also contains a fair bit of commentary on modern society (if we don’t understand something, we hate it), and has a satisfying and realistic ending that serves its purpose well. The people who made this movie obviously worked hard on it, and it definitely deserves all of its praise. I’m giving this movie an A+. This isn’t the first time I’d seen this movie, but I am very glad I convinced my sister into seeing it (this was her first time) and tagging along for the viewing. I’ll defend the ending all day, I’ll defend Edward Scissorhands all day, and I’ll defend Tim Burton all day.
