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Edward Scissorhands (1990) More at IMDb Pro »

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460 comments in total

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181 out of 203 people found the following comment useful :-
A Classic and Burton's Best, 29 August 2004

Author: Link_Tristan from Chicago

Edward Scissorhands is the magnum opus of Tim Burton's and Danny Elfman's career. Watching this film cross between the perky super-saturated parody of American suburbia to the gray toned shadowy images of Gothic horror come together so well, it's clear that the director had the entire movie plotted out in his mind far before the first scene was shot. If this script was given to another director who didn't absolutely understand it the way Burton did, it could've been a miserable failure.

The lowdown on the film is that Edward is a biological human (not a robot), but his inventor, Vincent Price, died before finishing him, so he's stuck with these razor sharp scissors for hands (not quite human). Little scenes, like the brief flashback to where Edward is sitting on a table legless, listening contently to his inventor read a verse of poetry, is such a stark take on the inventor-creature/father-son relationship, nothing similar has ever appeared in another movie. He lives in the place where he was born, a mansion on a hill, until an Avon lady goes to sell some cosmetics. She discoverers Edward and decides to pull him down into the world he was secluded from.

And what a harsh world it is.

Edward is branded as a 'freak' because he doesn't fit in, simply because he doesn't have real hands. He falls in love but isn't sure if he can experience it because he's different. Everything he does is practically ruined because he can't experience life when everything he touches is sliced into pieces. It's somewhat like a modern Frankenstein, but with Danny Elfman's haunting melodies replacing Victor's curses to the heavens, it's more keen on using subtlety.

This is a classic because Edward just wants to fit in, which is exactly what we all want in life. There's a piece of Edward inside all of us, and we can feel Edward's pain as he struggles to fit in. This is a funny story, with Edward pruning hedges into T-Rexs, turning Husky dogs into poodles, and trimming flat and frizzy hair into works of art. This is a sad story, with Edward experiencing the death of his creator, the pain he's caused to everyone he's ever accidentally cut, and the way he won't be accepted into society. This is a story about love, and the hate that can consume it.

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153 out of 166 people found the following comment useful :-
A poignant miracle, 18 September 2004

Author: IlyaEck from Los Angeles, CA

Many people say the cried at the end of this movie... Huh! Knowing the plot already, I (a grown up man) can barely hold my tears from the very beginning whenever I watch it. Much more than just a "cute and sad fairy tale", this movie is a true piece of art. This is one of those rarest cases when a bunch of talented and truly, but truly dedicated people set out to create something beautiful, some chemistry occurs and ... a miracle happens. Fortunately for all of us, this miracle immortalized on film.

Throughout the human history, the wisdom of generation was conveyed through fairy tales. This tale is no exception. This story, told in magic simplicity, actually has some deep philosophical meanings. While mercilessly debunking the true nature of human beings, this tragic story really tears your heart, and yet it fills it with hope. That is the true and, perhaps, the only purpose of art, if you ask me.

Why do we need music, painting, theatre, poetry? Is there a real excuse for their existence? To me, the only purpose, the only excuse is to help people go on, to give them hope. And it's well worth it!

To sum up, easily Tim Burton's best, this film is a masterpiece, my favorite American movie, and probably one of the best movies of all times. 10/10

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139 out of 157 people found the following comment useful :-
If Tim Burton never did anything else, this film would be enough to call his life worthwhile, 31 October 2000

Author: Robert Reynolds (minniemato@hotmail.com) from Tucson AZ

There is absolutely no way I can view this film in even a remotely objective manner, so I won't even try. Like eveything I've seen by Tim Burton, this film is at one and the same time, warm and frightening, tender and heart-wrenchingly evil, uplifting and dark. The good and bad in humanity are shown in stark relief quite clearly for everyone to see. But in the final analysis, the most important message the film has to offer is this: Love truly does make the world go 'round and redemption and just living to see another day is a kind of victory. There will always be bullies, just as there will always be kind souls who actively try to make things better (and who sometimes make things worse through their efforts). The most important thing is to be true to yourself, treat others as you wish to be treated and that if the bad guys win, we all lose-including the bad guys. Excellent cast, fine script and just overall a worthy effort not to be missed. One of Vincent Price's last performances, if not the last. I love this film! Most highly recommended.

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113 out of 126 people found the following comment useful :-
A Story Told In Beautiful Simplicity, 7 December 1999

Author: Dark Eye from New York, United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Edward Scissorhands is really an amazing movie. The plethora of lush cinematography, beautiful musical score, and great characters are extremely entertaining. The storyline is simple yet very moving. I still get misty-eyed at the end, even though I watched it many times already. The musical scores by the amazing Danny Elfman in Edward Scissorhands are one of his best work. It is achingly beautiful. Everytime Tim Burton and Danny Elfman worked together in a movie, magic happens. Burton's gothic style and Elfman's halloween-like scores always blends perfectly.

The story surrounds an unfinished creation named Edward, played brilliantly by Johnny Depp. The talented actor managed to make Edward a simple being that radiates vulnerability as well as restrained passion suggesting the real, imperfect humanity within. Edward's intimidating scissorhands and strange black & white physical appearance looked out of place amongst the pastel-colored suburban surroundings. He is unique; we both laugh and sympathize when we see Edward having a hard time trying to eat a single green pea with his scissorhands, but then we become slack-jawed to see that his expression of artistry in sculpting are effortless, masterful, imaginative, and passionate.

The movie ends rather sadly, yet beautifully at the same time. The tragic incident at the end over Jim (Anthony Michael Hall) is a single act of both unvented frustrations over the injustices done by Jim, as well as to protect Kim Boggs (Winona Ryder), the love of his life. This shows that although uncompleted, the fearsome scissorhands merely masks our eyes to his feelings, conflicts, and the imperfections of that of a real human being. His body is not completed, but his heart is.

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90 out of 97 people found the following comment useful :-
Beautiful employment of color, sympathy and human nature, 8 February 2004

Author: Monica4937 from Florida

Tim Burton should have won an academy award for this film. It is truelly a masterpiece. Never have I felt more sympathetic for a character before in my life. Edward Scissorhands...a creation...an unfinished product made by an inventor, his father. When his "father" dies he is left alone in the mansion to fend for himself and discover things on his own without any guidance. Next an avon lady comes in and detaches him from his isolation and throws him into a society where everything is pastel, everything is precise and everyone is stiff. Edward Scissorhands gets thrown into a world comPLETELY unlike the one he was used to. Now he is the outsider.

Johnny Depp should have also won an Academy Award for his performance in this film. Although he had very few lines in this film, less than 100, his facial expressions and actions spoke loudly. Every detail he gave his character was so perfect and precise. When Edward examines the water bed, and takes his first sip of (what I'm guessing is) scotch, or in the beginning when he takes his first ride ever in a car into town. Just the look on his face when he finally gets to see what the outside world looks like was pure genius.

I hold this movie very deeply to my heart. In my opinion it encompasses every human emotion and nature. When Edward first arrives the locals accepted him and he became a famed hair/bush stylist. In the end they turn on him and see him for what he looks like, a monster. My rating for this film: 10/10

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77 out of 89 people found the following comment useful :-
Burton's Best -- and Most Emotionally Touching., 21 October 2004

Author: MovieAddict2008 from UK

Tim Burton is a brilliant visual director but with Edward Scissorhands he managed to combine these talents with pure, classic storytelling – Scissorhands is his best overall film, abandoning the slight characterizations and special effects-driven spectacle of the (albeit hugely enjoyable) Batman and serving up a convincingly detailed left-of-center fairytale romance.

The story is fairly basic, being the standard Frankenstein-esque tale of alienation and the empowerment of love. Edward (Johnny Depp) is a lonely man with scissors for hands, crafted by an eccentric inventor (magnificently played by Vincent Price in flashbacks) prior to his death. After Edward witnesses the death of his creator he stays locked away inside his mansion all day, which is located atop the otherwise cheerfully picture-perfect local neighborhood community.

Then one day a nosy neighbor decides to investigate, and ends up bringing Edward to reality. He falls in love with a local girl (Winona Ryder), and is witness first-hand to the joys of life, until accidentally injuring a young boy and becoming the enemy of the overzealous town. Soon everyone is out to get him for no good reason – the climax is beautifully done and, because Burton has allowed his characters to expand so much, it's also very touching.

The movie is decidedly odd but in a good way – the only problem is that it is occasionally quite thin when it comes to actual depth. Burton's never been as good at telling believable stories as he has mythical, exciting fables (see Sleepy Hollow for a similar example). Even Burton's Big Fish – arguably his most story-oriented film of his career – was somewhat shady. The mix of screwball dark comedy, horror, drama, romance and elements and familiar happenings of other genres results in a very different combination. You can literally "feel" the vibe of this picture, its heart pulsing black blood.

The movie was a childhood project of Burton, who drew sketches of Edward as a boy and used to alienate himself from his hostile surroundings by taking refuge in fictional stories involving the scissor-handed hero. As a result Burton's true affinity for the subject is evident – it's clear that he takes this entire project very seriously.

The acting is marvelous – Depp's performance is one of his finest and, arguably, one of the most convincing and fun of all-time. Depp has formed a Scorsese/De Niro-like companionship with Burton over the years, teaming up for various pictures (including Sleepy Hollow and the upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He's always had fun relishing his over-the-top and absurdly dark roles, such as Ichabod Crane in particular. In Scissorhands he gives the equivalent of a Travis Bickle – a man who feels shunned by society, only to open his heart and have it feel crushed again. This is possibly one of the reasons the film is able to affect its audience so well to this very day. The tale does not grow old because the values are timeless.

Edward Scissorhands, despite its occasional flaws, finally gave Burton the chance to unleash his talents as a visual filmmaker along with a pretty solid story mold – the result being a sublimely dark rom-com-drama that never conforms to the typical genre clichés and becomes quite a unique film in its own little world.

4.5/5

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79 out of 97 people found the following comment useful :-
As good as any movie ever made, 18 February 2005

Author: joeestlinbm from United States

This movie impressed me to such an extent, that I had trouble sleeping for the first few nights after I saw it, not because he scared me. I just kept thinking about this guy who had scissors for hands, and was so unfamiliar with the world,

He had a wonderful talent for making things with his unique hands, but he was still confused about the way the world worked.

He finally wound up back where he began, which in a macabre sort of way was where he belonged, because his background just wouldn't let him fit into a so called normal world.

The ending was very sad. I'm a relative old man, and it made me cry. Watch it!! It's probably the best movie you'll ever see.

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61 out of 63 people found the following comment useful :-
the rise and fall of Edward Scissorhands and the inhabitants of a small town, 1 February 2003
Author: dbdumonteil

You could have thought that Tim Burton would rest on his laurels, following "Batman"'s huge commercial success. Well, not at all. "Edward Scissorhands" appears like a more serious, more mature and even touching movie. This modern fairy tale links skilfully elements from the basic fairy tale (the castle) and elements from the social life (Peg's job as representative for a cosmetics firm) and it can be divided into two parts: the first one that epitomizes Edward's rise: thanks to his scissorhands that give him gifts as a hairdresser and a gardener, he becomes the idol of the town. The second one that shows Edward's fall, following a burglary in which he was inconveniently involved in, he becomes the town's bête noire (and the movie becomes painful) Tim Burton tells this modern fairy tale by introducing a lot of poetry, and during his movie, he tries to create an aesthetic beauty and he succeeds in, especially with the gardens of the castle, Edward's sculptures and Edward himself is good-looking in spite of his scissorhands. But "Edward Scissorhands" is also a movie of contrasts. There's an obvious contrast between the brightly coloured town and the dark rooms of the castle but also one between the bright town and its inhabitants who are scornful or mocking. Besides, they're the object of a satire of the actual society and Burton tries to underline its weaknesses. Of course, the inhabitants appreciate Edward but only for his gifts. Otherwise, they're mistrustful towards him because, in their eyes, he's different and eccentric (you could be one of the inhabitants!) and the single mistake (the burglary) can lead to unexpected consequences... Whereas Johnny Depp, he's simply extraordinary and finds here, one of his best roles. He provides to his character, a lot of tenderness, affection and above all, a deep sensitivity. At last, Tim Burton knew skilfully how to blend several cinematographic styles in just one film. In "Edward Scissorhands", you find everything: comedy, fantastic, horror and drama. Moreover, Danny Elfman's gothic music is widely gorgeous to create an intense emotion. It's sometimes difficult to hold his tears... All in all, a movie which is both tender, cruel and Tim Burton's best movie after "Ed Wood".

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62 out of 73 people found the following comment useful :-
A dark fairy tale about a man who only wanted to fit in, 18 November 2003

Author: Kristine (kristinedrama14@msn.com) from Chicago, Illinois

Tim Burton is director of certain understanding, and if you can look at his movies through his thought, then you realize that all of his movies are masterpieces.

Johnny Depp is definatly one of my favorite actors because he puts so much passion into them. This was his first movie with Tim and how he met Wynonia, he is a gifted actor.

I remember watching this movie as a child and relating to Edward. Because the power of wanting to fit in is so incredably sad and hard. And if you do fit in with others, you feel sometimes that you haven't been truthful to yourself. And that's why I love this movie. Because I didn't see just a movie, but I almost saw myself trying to fit in as a child.

10/10

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46 out of 54 people found the following comment useful :-
Hauntingly Poetic, 25 July 2000
Author: BaronBl00d (baronbl00d@aol.com) from NC

I really cannot add too much more to the wealth of praise directed toward this film...much of it very deserved. Tim Burton really shows us his ability to transcend mere comedic situations(Pee Wee and Beetlejuice) and tell a story of humour love, pity, conformity, and so on in an eerie and entertaining way. The way this film is constructed is amazing...the sets are wonderful as they depict something so real and yet so far away. Burton takes us into a kind of fairy land of Suburbia...with a haunting, empty castle at the end of the block that just happens to house a man with scissors for hands. The music in this film helps create a great deal of atmosphere and really lends to character development; I particularly enjoyed his use of the music of Tom Jones. The acting in the film is superb on all accounts. Burton got a subtle and effective performance from Johhny Depp, whose talents cease to amaze me. A nice Burton touch was the use of Vincent Price in one of his final roles. Although only in three scenes, seeing Vincent again was a real joy.

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