1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Edward Scissorhands

#856- Edward Scissorhands
Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest
Directed by: Tim Burton


Plot Summary: Local Avon saleswoman Peg Boggs visits an abandoned mansion and discovers a boy named Edward, with scissors for hands. She takes Edward to her home and he befriends her husband Bill and her son Kevin, as well as falling in love with Peg's daughter Kim. Through his unique hedge-trimming and hair-cutting skills, Edward becomes the talk of the neighborhood. Thanks to misunderstandings with the police and the neighbors, Edward is feared and treated as an outcast during the Christmas season, leaving the Boggs family to see his true beauty.

Here's one that a lot of you were probably not expecting, but one that I think deserves a look at. Edward Scissorhands was a film that I had always heard of, but never saw. I never thought I had to. I figured it was just like any other Tim Burton movie, having seen many of his other films. I had seen snippets of it on TV, but never saw any scenes that made me think of Christmas. That is until I finally saw it all the way through and I can honestly say that I understand why many will wait to watch Edward Scissorhands during the holiday season.

Johnny Depp plays the titular character, Edward Scissorhands. Depp is able to give great emotion and reaction through the use of facial expressions. When he's experiencing something new, Edward's eyes are always wide and full of amazement. Edward also keeps the same tone of voice throughout most of the film, but Depp is still able to make Edward emote through his reactions of what's happening around him. We can see when he's happy, when he's sad, when he's scared, when he's angry, and even when he's jealous. I think Depp's performance as Edward is my favorite of his Tim Burton roles for the amount of depth and emotion he is able to give to such a stiff character, allowing the audience to still love and empathize with him.

Like many Tim Burton movies, Edward Scissorhands gives a lot of attention to memorable characters, brought to life by a great cast. I'm normally not a big fan of Winona Ryder's acting, but I thought Kim's developing relationship with Edward, as well her connection with her family, was very believable. Dianne Wiest and Alan Arkin do a great job of playing Peg and Bill Boggs, with Wiest playing the over the top and lovable mother and Arkin playing the stern and dry witted father. Horror legend Vincent Price plays Edward's creator, in one of Price's last movie roles before his death, which served as a great little role Burton had prepared for his icon, Price. But by far, one of the more enjoyable characters to see was Anthony Michael Hall as Kim's boyfriend Jim. If you know Hall from his geekier roles, like Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club, you'll find it bizarre to see him as an antagonistic bully.

*WARNING* The following paragraph contains a rant about how I feel about Tim Burton as a filmmaker. It both praises his earlier work, as well as explains what's wrong with his more recent projects. Proceed with caution.

Besides Batman, Edward Scissorhands is Tim Burton's only other film on the list, which seems fitting because I think it is the film that best represents Burton's style of filmmaking. Besides frequent collaborators like Depp and composer Danny Elfman, Burton is able to create a modern fairy tale by offering a strange and twisted satire about the suburban lifestyle. Throwing Edward into the mix allows the neighbors to latch on to something new and unusual, and through their actions, the audience finds THEM to be stranger than Edward. Back in the day, it seemed as though Burton was experimenting with different genres and actors and directing more diverse films like Beetlejuice, Batman and Edward Scissorhands which were more enjoyable by critics and moviegoers than his modern recent adaptations and remakes. His earlier films all had that creepy and quirky vibe to them, but each provided a different cinematic experience. Now that he has found the style he is known for, his recent films all feel part of the same universe, with the same design style, with the same actors, and leave me with the same feeling towards Burton as a filmmaker, uninspired and tired.

Tim Burton must also really like Christmas as he supplied us with three consecutive Christmas projects, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns (I'm serious), and The Nightmare Before Christmas. With the film serving as a modern fairy tale, it is filled with the type of whimsical storytelling you would imagine in a holiday film, despite not being surrounded by Christmas trees for the entire film (but so does It's a Wonderful Life, but we'll get to that later). The film's climax takes place during the holiday season and supplies the film with the Christmas element of atmosphere. The use of lights, ice sculptures, Christmas trees, sweaters, and an angelic choir come together and demonstrate that in this dark, gloomy, Tim Burton world, there is room for something beautiful.


Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Edward Scissorhands is definitely one of Tim Burton's best films and offers a whimsical atmosphere for the holiday season. Definitely one to see and own in your DVD collection if you love Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, or are looking for a film that is often overlooked during this time of year.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review

Edward Scissorhands and movie images are copyrighted by 20th Century Fox