Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne West, Anthony Michael Hall, Vincent Price
Released: 26/07/1991
Rated: PG
The plotline to Edward Scissorhands is not your conventional love story, yet it is just as charming and heartbreaking as any other good romance. The film depicts the story of Edward, who is the creation of an elderly inventor (Price) who sadly dies before he could complete his work, and so Edward is left unfinished with scissors as a substitute for hands. After years left alone in the mansion above the suburbs, Peggy, the kindly Avon representative (West) unintentionally finds Edward and takes him home and introduces him to the neighbourhood, where he poignantly falls in love with Peg’s daughter, Kim (Ryder).
True to director Tim Burton’s classic style, Edward Scissorhands is a delicious mix of the mundane and the gothic, as the attempts by various people to conform Edward to a commercial way of life often fall on innocently misunderstood ears. However, this film wouldn’t work as well if anyone other than Johnny Depp played the part of Edward. Edward Scissorhands is just one of the collaborations Depp and Burton have produced, and Depp’s portrayal of Edward is just magical; the fragility of the humour within the film rests entirely on Depp’s facial expressions; when he smiles, we smile, when he looks lost and upset, we feel lost and upset. If you’re a fan of Tim Burton, then this film does not disappoint; his trademark use of colours, the awkwardness and vulnerability of the characters and the slightly macabre ending would delight any film fan, whether you’re a fan of Burton’s work or not. An enthralling story, and certainly a movie classic.
Sophie Birkin
Tags: classic review, edward scissorhands, johnny depp, tim burton, winona ryder
