Edward Scissorhands:

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Mark Bubien reviews

Edward Scissorhands:
10th Anniversary Edition
Distributed by
20th Century Fox

    Cover

  • Cert: PG
  • Cat.no: Cat.no: 2000537
  • Running time: 105 minutes
  • Year: 1990
  • Pressing: 2000
  • Region(s): 1, NTSC
  • Chapters: 24 plus extras
  • Sound: Dolby Digital 4.0, Dolby Surround
  • Languages: English, French
  • Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish
  • Widescreen: 1.85:1
  • 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
  • Macrovision: Yes
  • Disc Format: DVD 9
  • Price: $29.98
  • Extras: Making-Of Featurette, Commentary with Director Tim Burton, Commentary with Composer Danny Elfman, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Concept Art

    Director:

      Tim Burton

    Cast:

      Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne West, Anthony Michael Hall, Vincent Price, Alan Arkin

    Writers:

      Tim Burton, Caroline Thompson (Story); Caroline Thompson (Screenplay)

I used to think Johnny Depp nothing more than one of those here-today-gone-tomorrow teenie-bopper “idols” (I mean, c’mon, his name is freakin’ “Depp”!). Edward Scissorhands changed all that for me, as Depp brought life to this darkly melancholy, yet romantic figure; toeing the line somewhere between robot and human. A brilliant performance on his part, mixed with the macabre vision of Director Tim Burton, make Edward Scissorhands one of my favorites.

Burton himself has an eye for the gothic, evident in such films as Batman and Beetlejuice, and he utilizes that twisted sensibility to its fullest in Edward Scissorhands. This is, after all, meant to be a fairy tale (in the Brother’s Grimm sense, not the Empire Disney vein), and it’s the perfect forum for Burton’s talents. Witness the twisted, gargoyle-encrusted castle atop the hill just down the street from the most suburban of suburban neighborhoods, Avon lady and pastel garages included.

Depp plays Edwrard, a “man” created by The Inventor (Vincent Price, in a role Burton designed specifically for him) with a cookie for a heart and scissors for hands. After The Inventor’s demise, Edward is found by an intrepid Avon lady, and brought into her home. Once there, Edward becomes a respectable member of society – dig those wild hedges! – and experiences such things as makeovers, seductions, talk shows, first love, and, above all, being misunderstood. Ain’t that what life’s all about?

Burton admits to having come up with the Scissorhands character in High School, and given his real-life penchant for dressing in black, I believe him (heck, I wore pretty regular clothes in High School and still felt alienated). Well, maybe it’s a universal “truth” that we all get to grow up with. And tapping into that common experience – and in the form of a fairy tale – is probably the root brilliance behind this stunning film.

Screening Edward Scissorhands on DVD – only my second time seeing it – was a real treat. It looked and sounded wonderful. The contrast between the saccharin pastels and macabre blacks stood out very nicely. I did catch one blatant digital artifact – no, that dead teenager is not supposed to be twitching – but it was so far in to the film, I willingly forgave it. The sound is also fine, if you can ignore the obviously-dubbed Ryder scenes that bookend the flick. Nothing to write home about (this ain’t Terminator 2 Ultimate 3-D Super Edition after all), but definitely clean in both music and dialog.

For being heralded as a 10th Aniversary Edition, I did find myself a tad disappointed in the features. It’s mostly trailers and a featurette (say it ain’t so, Tim), along with “sound bite” interviews that are like 30-second versions of featurette. I sat through about ten of them and only learned two interesting tidbits – but I can’t even remember what they were, so that pretty much says it all right there.

Saving this disc from disastersville is a commentary by Tim Burton himself. Ahhh, now I see why the call it a “10th Anniversary Edition”! He speaks at a sedate pace, his tone so casual, it’s almost like he’s just one of the guys, sitting right there on the couch with you. In this seductive style, he reveals some very enticing facts about the movie. He’s not explaining Edward Scissorhands, but rather giving true insight into the film-making and evolution of the story.

I can easily say I highly recommend this theatrical fairy tale to just about anyone. It’s a dark yet humorous, sad yet touching, story that would reach even the most hardened movie goer – whether or not they have a cookie-cutter heart.

See DVDfever Dom‘s review of the Region 2 release HERE !”

FILM CONTENT
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS


OVERALL
Review copyright © Mark Bubien, 2000. E-mail Mark Bubien

Check out Mark’s homepage: www.storybytes.com.

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