Edward Scissorhands (1990) 3 stars ***

Oh Tim Burton why do you torture me so? When those ending credits started I had to sit and recollect the dark experience that was Edward Scissorhands. Burton really works hard at making each of his films as hard as possible for critics to review. His films as so beautifully directed, he works so hard to create dark and magical stories. Characters in Burton's films never cease to amaze, but surprisingly it is the characters in Edward Scissorhands that end up being the major flaw. Don't misinterpret what I am saying, Edward is darkly beautiful with so much heart and mystery. To bad the same heart and passion wasn't put into the rest of the characters. It's the little flaws on aspectual parts of a film that can end up being the most fatal.

In their very first collaboration Tim Burton and Johnny Depp show only a portion of what is to come in their very magical future. Depp is Edward Scissorhands, his performance is touchingly tortured this performance will forever shine brightly in Depp's illustrious career. Burton is able to bring out what no other director can bring out of Johnny Depp, sometimes Burton's meticulous plotting tends to over think what he is over ally intending to create, but more times than not it works to near perfection. This film is considered one of Burton's masterpieces and his most personal film. I cannot oppose the latter, but I must respectfully disagree with calling this film as masterpiece. The plot's uniqueness is impossible to criticise, despite how appealing the plot and characterization of Edward may be I was surprised at how uneventful the film was able to be at times.

Like I said this film is very challenging review. The reasoning for me is that both Burton's direction and Depp's performance are near perfection, not to mention the very strong performance by Winona Ryder as Kim Boggs. The film is the dark and magical story of Edward, a man who is the creation of the inventor (Vincent Price), but when he dies Edward is left abandoned in the castle where he was created.  He is discovered  by Peg Boggs (Diane Wiest), a saleswomen who finds him alone in the attic of the castle. Peg brings Edward back to her neighborhood and he moves in with her and her family. The neighborhood is immediately drawn to Edward and he discovers that he has real talents with his hands, but when his popularity grows it becomes harder and harder for Edward to adjust to living with normal people.

Edward is supposed to be the freak of the film, but the outrageous women of this film seem just as freakish as Edward, excluding Kim, even with his scissorhands. The women's characterization blocks the films beauty and touchiness. You would think that if a film has a great performance and great direction, the film would be at least very good, if not great itself. But no, like so many past films, and so many future films Edward Scissorhands continuously drifts into dullness. Mr. Burton and Mr. Depp have wonderful times ahead of them, and their great inventiveness will never die, and it isn't left out at all in this film. Hollowness takes over this dark film to the point where it takes more than a few great parts for a film to work.

Budget: 20 million
Box-Office: 86 million