After the enormous commercial success of Beetlejuice (1988) and Batman (1989), director Tim Burton was given the freedom to make eccentric films of his own choosing. This resulted in minor masterpieces such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands.
It's hard to see how Edward Scissorhands could have gone badly. The cast was nearly ideal for a Tim Burton film: Vincent Price as the 'mad scientist' inventor, Johnny Depp as the gentle Frankenstein creation who just wants to be accepted, Winona Ryder as the soulful love interest, Dianne Wiest as the motherly but naive Avon Lady, Alan Arkin as the lovably low key 'common man'. And Anthony Michael Hall as the detestable Brando-styled bad boy. Oh well, you can't have everything.
Movie fans have often noted the physical resemblance of Tim Burton to Edward Scissorhands. Both have carefully disheveled black hair, for example. Is the film character a stand-in for Burton? Or is the story simply an inspired adaptation of "Beauty and the Beast"? My bet is on the latter, just as The Nightmare Before Christmas is Burton's take on "The Grinch who Stole Christmas".
Edward Scissorhands was the last theatrical film for Vincent Price, whose career spanned seven decades. Although he has just a few scenes, they are delightful. My favorite is when he reads from an etiquette book, then chuckles at its vapidity. I'm still wondering how he created a flesh and blood 'invention', or why he gave Edward enormous scissors as faux hands rather than a hook or a clamp. But the story requires Edward to be physically dangerous, and its originality cannot be denied.
Johnny Depp first appeared as a pretty boy, in The Nightmare on Elm Street and Fox's first hit television series, "Twenty-One Jump Street". Cry-Baby (1990) was his first attempt to change his image to that of an emotive outcast, but Edward Scissorhands was a much better role. Depp's Edward has the heart of a teddy bear, but the form of a monster. Only the most extreme provocation from Ryder's bullying boyfriend Jim can bring out the worst in him.
Edward has spent his life wandering alone in a dark, declining mansion. The set is familiar from Burton's other films: empty rooms, creepy shadows, and cobwebs. He is rescued from his isolation by Peg Boggs (Dianne Wiest), who has the oblivious optimism to be expected from a door-to-door Avon saleswoman. Peg and her husband Bill (Alan Arkin) quickly accept and adopt Edward. The see him not as a disturbed monster, but as a pleasant but troubled person in need of their help.
Burton's satirical depiction of suburbia is a classic in set design. The look-alike houses seem to date from the early 1970s, and have the pink and baby blue colors that were favored in the mid 1950s. Meanwhile, the teenagers have contemporary dress and manners, as if they had grown up in a hip suburb but were recently recalled home.
The housewives are hilariously shallow stereotypes. There's the nymphomaniac (Kathy Baker) with an odd resemblance to Peg Bundy of the sitcom "Married With Children". There's the religious fanatic, who of course sees Edward, whom she cannot understand, as a Satanic manifestation. Another has the earthy sarcasm as Roseanne Barr/Arnold/Whosnext. And so on and so forth, all idle, frivolous gossips and busy-bodies. It's hard to see what Burton and screenwriter Caroline Thompson has against housewives, but they are undeniably effective at bringing out their worst stereotypes.
The housewives greet Edward with the same enthusiasm as a party hostess would upon first meeting a famous foreign-born dinner guest. The younger children also see Edward as 'cool', as a life-sized toy come to life. Only the teenagers despise Edward, because he cannot look or act the same way that they do.
But the societal success of Edward proves shallow. When he gets into trouble, his celebrity becomes notoriety and finally infamy. Ironically, the person that he cares most for finally begins to return his favor. But even this is a bittersweet compensation, as Edward is not capable of physically giving the love that he feels for Kim (Winona Ryder), even if that love is now requited.
Edward Scissorhand is a modern-day fable as well as an indictment of our sometimes shallow culture. Although it did well at the box office, it received only a single Oscar nomination (for Best Makeup). Johnny Depp was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor, while Dianne Wiest and Stefan Czapsky were nominated by the New York Film Critics for Best Supporting Actress and Best Cinematography, respectively. (69/100)
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