Edward Scissorhands Review
Next week Tim Burton’s latest film, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice hits theaters. In preparation for that movie coming out, I’m reviewing some of Burton’s previous movies. Today I thought I would review one of his more iconic films, Edward Scisscorhands. This was another first time watch for me, I was curious to see if this was a Tim Burton movie I’d enjoy. Let’s get started!
The Good
I thought this was an interesting genre blender film that takes familiar ideas and concepts but does something very different with them. It’s sort of Tim Burton’s take on Frankenstein. One of the things Burton likes to do with this movie is make movies about misunderstood weirdos and how they fit into society. Burton applies that to a Frankenstein type movie and it works. We all know the story of Frankenstein of a mad scientist that creates a monster. Burton takes that idea and adds in all of his style and direction to make it pop and stand out. I think that’s something that Burton does well with several of his movies, taking familiar ideas that we all know and doing something different with that. This movie incorporates elements of a romantic comedy with the love dynamic between Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder’s characters. Watching through several of Burton’s movies he applies this bag of tricks to this movie and I think it works.
Beyond that, it’s a great character study of this guy who has scissors for hands that was locked up in a castle, comes down to the real world and sees how the world would respond to him. In your head, you see how some of the different dynamics would play out. People wouldn’t understand him, they’d see his hands and think he was dangerous. We learn that sure, he looks different but he’s a nice guy that means well. Even when he does things to harm others, it’s not on purpose. Since the movie is built around this idea of misunderstood weirdo, it provides the audience to understand him. We know information as the audience that the characters don’t know. We understand Edward as a person because we see what he’s had to deal with and what he’s currently dealing with because he’s in a new society. Like I said earlier, Burton loves to explore stories about misunderstood weirdos. People that don’t fit neatly into society and this was the first time that he did that and I think in some cases that provides a clear arc, a clear character development for the main character.
From there, you have to talk about the cast, mainly Johnny Depp. I’m so used to seeing Depp as Jack Sparrow that it’s interesting to see another unrecognizable character and performances from Depp. It shows that he’s much more diverse as an actor, he’s able to emote a lot more than people give him credit for. He’d been in things before with A Nightmare on Elm Street and 21 Jump Street, but as far as the movie actor Johnny Depp it started very much with this movie. Then when he did Pirates of the Caribbean, it made him movie star Johnny Depp. This was the first collaboration between Depp and Burton. You also have a very young Winona Ryder, coming off of Beetlejuice, one of those staples of Ryder’s career. Depp and Ryder have great chemistry that’s believable. You need chemistry that you can buy into when Edward doesn’t say many words in this movie, I believe he says under 300 words here. They had such good chemistry in the movie that they started dating in real life. Another fan in here would be Anthony Michael Hall as Ryder’s boyfriend, who’s written to be such a jerk. You’re really not supposed to like him and Michael Hall is able to play that so well.
Another thing that really stands out to you about this movie is the production design. I’d seen images from this movie, little clips of the movie and was put off by the bright colors of the town. When you see the movie it makes sense as to why it’s so bright and it shows that Burton’s eye of detail was present so early in his career. According to the production designer of the film, Bo Welch, the reason why the town is so bright is because it’s meant to be through Edward’s eyes. Where they establish that’s been locked up in this castle for years that people don’t go and visit. He’s lived in this dark, cold, and probably scary place for his entire life. When he goes down to civilization, it’s a new environment so he’s seeing it very differently. He’s used to seeing dark colors, not used to seeing bright colors. I think that’s very interesting, it helps with the message that Burton is trying to communicate. In any other situation or any other movie, this production design would look and feel off. But in the context of this movie, I think it works nicely and it showcases Burton’s creativity.
Finally, as it is a Tim Burton movie you have to talk about Danny Elfman’s score. It’s interesting watching through some of Burton’s movies because you see how different yet how similar several of Elfman’s scores are. I watched an interview with Elfman talking about his iconic Tim Burton scores. One of the things he mentioned was when composing this movie, he didn’t understand the movie so he didn’t know what to make the music sound like. One of the things he talked about was how he created two different themes for the character, Edward Scirsscorhands. Normally a character only has one theme, but here he had two. The two themes were the storybook/flashback scenes we got and the music that plays when Edward and Ryder’s character are in the snow. He said he composed it to fit whatever Edward is feeling in that scene. When you know that information, it makes the score pop out and stand out. It shows the creativity of the movie through the score, when the music is different in the movie but it’s because the movie is different so it fits perfectly into the movie.
The Bad
The inherent nature of the plot makes it fairly predictable. Fairly early on, you know exactly where the movie is heading. It always plays out like a romantic comedy of sorts, where you have the attractive girl that the main character likes but with the other guy who’s a jerk. You know who's going to end up with who, you know the way certain characters are going to change. This doesn’t make the movie bad, being predictable isn’t a bad thing. With how creative the production design is, the characterizations, and the ingredients it's pulling inspiration from. I wish Burton put more time into the story and the way it plays out. I don’t know what my pitch would have been or how I would have changed the movie, but I think there’s elements where they could have added more to the story itself.
Also, while I appreciate the film, Edward gives a backstory and we show what actually happened and the dynamic with his creator. I don’t know if that was fully necessary for the story. I almost wish that they removed that and they made Edward’s past a mystery. I don’t know if showing the backstory actually added anything to the movie, besides just fleshing out the backstory. I don’t think this movie needs a sequel, but that seems like something you’d explore in a possible sequel to this movie.
Final Thoughts: Edward Scisscorhands is of course one of Burton’s most iconic films, I was glad I was finally able to watch it. There was a lot about this movie that I liked, mainly Burton’s creativity over the entire thing. He put so much thought into the details about the world and the production design. It makes the movie feel distinct and a movie that only Burton could have directed. Overall, a very solid Tim Burton movie that I thought did a lot right, but is by no means a perfect movie it has its flaws.
The Score: 8.5/10 (B)
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