Editorial Product Review:Description:Once upon a time in a castle high on a hill lived an inventor whose greatest creation was named Edward. Although Edward had an irresistible charm, he wasn't quite perfect. The inventor's sudden death left him unfinished, with sharp shears of metal for hands. Edward lived alone in the darkness until one day a kind Avon lady took him home to live with her family. And so began Edward's fantastical adventures in a pastel paradise known as Suburbia.
Amazon.com essential video:Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavor of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-colored suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighborhood--but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton's movies (such as
Pee Wee's Big Adventure,
Beetlejuice,
Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy, but
Edward Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward's childlike vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in
Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly,
Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare.
--Bret Fetzer
Amazon.com:Edward Scissorhands achieves the nearly impossible feat of capturing the delicate flavor of a fable or fairy tale in a live-action movie. The story follows a young man named Edward (Johnny Depp), who was created by an inventor (Vincent Price, in one of his last roles) who died before he could give the poor creature a pair of human hands. Edward lives alone in a ruined Gothic castle that just happens to be perched above a pastel-colored suburb inhabited by breadwinning husbands and frustrated housewives straight out of the 1950s. One day, Peg (Dianne Wiest), the local Avon lady, comes calling. Finding Edward alone, she kindly invites him to come home with her, where she hopes to help him with his pasty complexion and those nasty nicks he's given himself with his razor-sharp fingers. Soon Edward's skill with topiary sculpture and hair design make him popular in the neighborhood--but the mood turns just as swiftly against the outsider when he starts to feel his own desires, particularly for Peg's daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Most of director Tim Burton's movies (such as
Pee Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman) are visual spectacles with elements of fantasy, but
Edward Scissorhands is more tender and personal than the others. Edward's wild black hair is much like Burton's, suggesting that the character represents the director's own feelings of estrangement and co-option. Johnny Depp, making his first successful leap from TV to film, captures Edward's childlike vulnerability even while his physical posture evokes horror icons like the vampire in
Nosferatu and the sleepwalker in
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Classic horror films, at their heart, feel a deep sympathy for the monsters they portray; simply and affectingly,
Edward Scissorhands lays that heart bare.
--Bret Fetzer
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Buyer Reviews
Average Buyer Rating:
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5 Stars for Tim Burton
I saw this wonderful movie in 1990 when it first came out. I was already a Tim Burton fan of sorts, but this made me a Burton fanatic. I saw it first with my wife, and I remember thinking at the very beginning, when Danny Elfman's haunting, beautiful score was only a few notes old, that I was going to love this film. And I did. It just hit me right in the heart, in the most vulnerable, deepest part of my soul. I know that sounds pretentious, but it's the best I can do with my limited writing ability. Now understand, I was 39 years old at the time, a pipefitter/welder by trade, certainly not someone people would think of as "sensitive" or "artistic" by nature. I've been in more than my share of fistfights, ride a Harley, and love guns, power tools, and anything that explodes. But by the end of Edward Scissorhands, especially at the Ice Dance scene, I was sobbing like a little girl. My wife had to help me out of the theatre, because my eyes were so tear-swollen I could barely see. I admit I have a weakness for characters that are outsiders, or (to borrow from Heinlein) "strangers in a strange land", but what Tim Burton and Johnny Depp did with this scissor-handed man was nothing short of magical. I took my 16 year old daughter to see it the next day, and I started tearing up at the beginning this time, knowing what was coming. As we left the theatre, Liz was stone-faced, and I was desperately clenched against the flood of emotion I was holding back. I didn't want to look like a fool in front of her. When we got into the sunlight, we looked at each other, and I saw that she was trying as hard as me not to break down. Which is exactly what we both proceeded to do, right there in front of the theatre. We held each other and sobbed. And I felt closer to her than I had in a long time. Thank you, Tim Burton, for that moment.
Customer Rating: -
a visual feast for the eyes
This movie is visually amazing. It is genius how Tim Burton brings out light and dark so vividly on screen. The contrast in color depicts mood so perfectly. Johnny Depp shows us early on in his career why he is the Best actor alive today and continues up to today's standards. You look at his face and his eyes as he acts you believe hes a scared guy shut away from others all his life. You see the kindness in his heart by his gentle movements and facial expressions. And although Winona Ryder has blond or red hair shes still amazingly cute. She too give a great performance in her tone of voice. The best scene of contrast would be when you have her in a white dress with her light hair in the arms of Depp with his dark black hair and his black leather suit. Absolutely amazing. This movie speaks for itself visually with no special effects of today's movies. A true fairy tale classic.
This set includes a tin case to store the DVD in its cardboard slip cover and 6 movie stills in a cardboard envelope.
Only complaint is this new version was released in 2005 why does this sound track only provide 4 channels. what happened to 5.1 or DTS?
Customer Rating: -
A masterpiece of so many levels...
I am a fan of Tim Burton, not a huge one, but a fan none-the-less. I have always admired his visual style and his visionary status; that is to say that I admire the way he is always true to himself. There is no director out there like Burton, and thus each and every Burton film is undoubtedly a Burton classic. There is no question when one watches a Tim Burton film that it is without doubt a Tim Burton film.
No use beating a dead horse; I'll move on.
With all that said, `Edward Scissorhands' is without doubt Tim Burton at his very finest. Everything about this film lives and breathes like a Burton fantasy, but at its heart it actually surpasses everything he's every done and delivers a shockingly relevant story of humanity. That's one thing that I've always teetered on with Burton. Like I said, I am a fan of his visual style, but as a whole I've never felt a serious connection to his work. He has infused most everything he's done with a sense of sentiment, but it always felt forced or at best masked by the artistic aspects of his films. With `Edward Scissorhands' though Burton has managed to make a film that looks like a Burton film yet feels much more emotionally grounded.
The film tells the story of Edward, a Frankensteinesque monster who was created yet never finished. Before he was given a set of human hands his creator died. Thus, Edward has been living alone in a castle not to far from a 1950's style American suburb. One day the local Avon representative, Peg, makes her way up the gothic style walkway to the front door of the creepy yet impressively beautiful castle and meets the pale faced, scissor handed Edward. Touched by the young mans loneliness she invites him to come back to her home and thus our fairy tale begins.
In the bustling little town Edward soon finds himself a local celebrity, but his celebrity status is easily tarnished as the locals begin to take advantage of him, and eventually turn on him when he doesn't react and or act in the ways in which they think he aught.
The beauty of `Edward Scissorhands' is that it never sacrifices substance for the glossy packaging that it so gallantly wears. It is a stunning film visually, but it is even more stunning emotionally. It mimics the classic monster movies of old, most notably that of `Mary Shelly's Frankenstein' but it brings its own set of heart to the core and delivers a uniquely captivating picture that stands apart as Burton's masterwork.
The acting is wonderful here as well; Depp proving that he can do so much with a character that says so little. Winona Ryder is wonderful as the apple of Edward's eye, and Kathy Baker is infectiously mischievous, but this entire film belongs to Dianne Wiest who is just flawless as the clueless Peg. Everything about her performance is dynamic, truly capturing the heart of her character. We are drawn to her, as she is to Edward, and her lack of Oscar nomination makes me eternally disappointed (although she has two Oscar wins to her name so I can't be too disappointed).
In the end `Edward Scissorhands' is, to me, a masterpiece. Yes, it is not only the best film of the year that was 1990 but it is truly one of the best films that has ever been made. Tim Burton has rarely been this good. Yes, he is a great director, but this is beyond him.
Customer Rating: 
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Great movie
This is a great movie! Depp plays a tragic character who is trying to fit in to the "pleasantville like" town. Although this movie can be sad at times, there are plenty of funny scenes.