uneven, but hits the right notes...

Rating: 6/10 (27 October 2005)

"Edward Scissorhands" is an affecting, minimalist fairy tale and one of Tim Burton's better cinematic outings. It chronicles the story of an artificial 'boy' named Edward (an understated Johnny Depp) with shears for hands, as he tries to fit in with the denizens of a 1950s pastel vision of suburbia; the townsfolk embrace the outcast, who carves out immense topiary and gives lonely canines and housewives haircuts; the weak conflict comes in the form of Anthony Michael Hall, as a single-dimensioned goon who clings to the object of Edward's affection (virginal suburban daughter Winona Ryder). The unusual setting and the laid-back attitudes of the characters provides its share of unexpected laughs, but the core of the film comes in moments of quiet beauty, when Burton's cinematic eye, Danny Elfman's beautiful score, and the unspoken emotions of the characters truly hit home. "Edward Scissorhands" is a film as touching as its lead character, and rife with passages of sheer, poetic wonder and beauty.