Wonderful, Melancholic, Spellbinding Suburban Fairytale Of Lonely Mechanical Boy

Rating: 8/10 (31 May 2008)

Peg Boggs is an Avon saleslady who decides to call at the strange mansion on the top of the hill. There she discovers Edward, a young man who has no family and has scissors for hands. Determined to help him, she takes him home and he is enchanted by her family, but he struggles to fit in ...
After his big success with Batman, this is the film Burton really wanted to make, and it's arguably his best (for me, a toss-up with Sleepy Hollow). Written by Burton and Caroline Thompson (who also scripted The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride), it's a fabulous modern-day combination of Pinnochio and Frankenstein, with good humour, great stylings, crafty social satire and poignant melancholy. Okay, the premise may be a bit absurd, but who cares - Edward perfectly represents the beautiful socially inept outcast, and the movie wisely pulls no punches as it ends in tragedy and loneliness. When Kim tells Edward she loves him and he closes his eyes it means more to him than anything in the world, but he can never live in her world. Depp is wonderful in the first of his many collaborations with Burton; he goes for a grand physical performance more reminiscent of Bela Lugosi or James Cagney than modern film acting, all bugged-out unblinking eyes, stuck-together lips and delicate steps. But he also performs a real range, mixing Edward's nervousness and clumsiness with rage and a more subtle intelligence - it's a fabulous performance, with great supporting turns by Wiest, Arkin and especially Baker as an oestrogen-soaked suburban glamour-puss. The secret of the movie is the switching of the characters; at first everyone seems normal except Edward, but as the story progresses we realise that only Edward is okay and most everybody else is screwed-up. Burton is in his element visually, brilliantly contrasting the superficial blandness of the pastel-coloured neighbourhood street with Edward's Gothic mansion full of exotic topiary, bizarre inventions and cobwebbed corridors; Bo Welch's production design is extraordinary, and the look of Edward himself (designed by Stan Winston) is truly unique and hypnotic. The other crucial element of the movie is Danny Elfman's score, which is absolutely magical and adds so much atmosphere to the drama - his gently cascading lullabies, dark-edged themes and amusing musical extravagances paint almost every scene in humour and pathos. Elfman is one of the best movie composers currently working, and for me this is his signature score - don't miss it. All in all, this is a marvellous movie; it looks and sounds stunning, it has a great story, its themes are rich and resonant and the star-making performance by Depp is a treat to savour. This was Vincent Price's last movie appearance (he died in 1993); he made about a hundred films in his career (not counting his high-quality TV work), and had done the narration for Burton's wonderful 1982 animated short, Vincent. He's irresistible here, particularly since his death is so tragic, and his relationship with the young director was undoubtedly a primer for Burton's subsequent Ed Wood. A truly great actor in a truly great movie.