Tim Burton at his best

Rating: 10/10 (15 January 2017)

I had never seen this movie, I shied away from it because I don't normally enjoy Tim Burton, but this was a wonderful fairy tale with a lot of emotional depth. Edward is a gentle soul, sheltered away from society until a kind lady happens upon him in his castle and takes him home. The mom, Peg, is who we should all strive to emulate, because she immediately accepts Edward despite his "differentness". Her love for Edward as a son remains steadfast, even when the whole town turns against him. Speaking of the town, it's a microcosm of every type of person in society. You have the town "whore", the religious nut, the busybody and gossip. They all admire Edward at first, because of his talent for gardening and cutting hair (both human and animal). He is somewhat of a curiosity to the people of the quiet little town, and they all want a piece of Edward's time, so they can say "I'm his friend" But it's all for appearances and not real admiration. Things soon turn badly for Edward though, because of a few misunderstandings. He saves a little boy's life from being hit by a drunk driver, but in the process of doing so, injures and scares him with his scissor hands. This quickly turns into a witch-hunt, and the whole town adopts a mob mentality. The ending was quite poignant, not how I would have wanted it to end, but it's Tim Burton, you can't have a happy ending. It ended the way it should have though, if that makes any sense. The whole story is one of tragedy, love and the realization that maybe people who are that different really can't live in a society that is so caught up in appearances.