Movie Review: Edward Scissorhands

In essence, Edward Scissorhands is a unique take on the tale of Beauty and the Beast. Instead of Beauty going to the castle to be a prisoner, the Beast (who is very meek despite his dangerous hands) comes down from his castle to live in the village. His complete isolation up to this point, and his nonstandard origins, give the filmmakers a vehicle to put middle class suburbia under their microscope (and under their own "scissorhands"). But eventually the film comes back to its fairytale roots and by the end the villagers are storming the castle, looking to destroy the Beast.

My verdict: You really do feel bad for Edward. It is quite sad (and poignant) that he unintentionally destroys his hands when his father/creator dies. With his crazy hair and dress (and his proclivity for creating unusual styles of hedge and haircut), you have to wonder if he represents the artist (i.e. Tim Burton). It's also interesting that he's considerably limited in how he can express himself—to create he must, perforce, destroy. He is generally silent and Johnny Depp's portrayal reminded me of Buster Keaton.[1] However, the love story between Edward and Kim just sort of happens, and I'm not sure how (though their first meeting is quite hilarious). There are a few instances of profanity and some completely unnecessary crude statements. The soundtrack is fantastic.[2]

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Notes:

[1] His actual inspiration came from Charlie Chaplin. See http://www.ew.com/ew/gallery/0,,20035285_20035355_20039648_1,00.html.

[2] You can get a taste of it here.

Image attributions:

Open Scissors is by Comet27, available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Skalm 2.JPG.