Mob Rule !!!!

Rating: 8/10 (3 June 2012)

Edward is a lonely boy, living in a spooky old house, up on a hill overlooking a pastel suburbia. Thankfully Avon comes calling and "rescues" Edward from his loneliness. Peg (Diannne Wiest) takes Edward (Depp) home with her when she takes pity on his lonely existence. Edward is introduced to Peg's family, and is soon infatuated, with her nubile young daughter Kim (Winona Ryder). Edward soon attracts the attention of all of the Pastel colored neighbors. Hooray, everyone loves the new kid in town.
Why all the attention to for the new kid in town? It may have something to do with the fact that Edward looks like Robert Smith, circa 1985 from The Cure, except he has scissors for hands. Via some flashbacks we become aware that Edward's creator/dad (Vincent Price) (Yay !) passed away, before he could complete Edwards hands. This peculiarity is soon put to "good" use by the towns folk, as Edward has a natural proclivity for creating top-notch topiary and trimming women's hair. It would appear these hair cuts also manage to cause some sort of female ecstasy. Point in fact, Edward is such a hair cutting virtuoso that some of the women want to help him open his own hair salon.
Wow a Tim Burton film with a happy ending! Well lets not go getting ahead of ourselves shall we. It soon becomes apparent that these neighbors motivations are not quite as they would initially seem. Unfortunately, many of these supposed friends simply want what Edward has, and or enjoy the novelty of his unique gifts. Edward's doe like naivety is soon taken advantage of, by his supposed friends, including Kim's conniving boyfriend Jim (Anthony Michael Hall).
Finding himself on the wrong side of the law, the majority of Edwards supposed friends quickly turn on him. They reveal themselves to be a selfish, prejudiced mob. As Edwards new friends abandon him, he is soon left with few choices and is more unhappy than he was at the outset of this tale. What exactly is Burton trying to tell us about human nature?
While some may regard this film as a story about the exploits of Edward, that was not quite the interpretation I came away with. This is in fact the story of Edward's neighbors, the seemingly happy inhabitants of the small slice of suburbia beneath his home. While the on the surface these folks appear as friendly, and loving, that is sadly not the case. They are in fact a fickle mob, who chew up, and spit out Edward, like a disposable commodity. Even those who supposedly love Edward, abandon him in the face of strong currents of public opinion against him.
It was refreshing to revisit a quality film from Burton/Depp, after suffering through the sub par Dark Shadows recently. Burton explores the concepts of judging people on appearances, mob mentality, and if it is better to have love and lost, or to have never loved at all, in this solid film. Strong performances by Depp, Wiest, Price, and Hall (where has he been?) all add to the quality of this film. In addition, the creepy castle, that looks a lot like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland, provides a stunning juxtaposition against the supposedly tranquil pastel suburbia. If you have not seen this film you should certainly give it a watch.
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