Demented but touching

Rating: 7/10 (4 June 2010)

I have very mixed feelings about Tim Burton. Having seen nearly all his films, I am starting to come to the conclusion that, very often, there is a great deal less to them than meets the eye. Admittedly there is usually a lot to meet the eye, but I suspect that this may lure the easily influenced (and I count myself among them) into mistaking eye candy for substance.
Edward Scissorhands, like most of Burton's films, has an extremely distinctive look to it, and one must give credit to the production design, from the dark Gothic tone of Edward's origin and big house on the hill, to the stylised bright pastels of the estate below, Edward's own unique visual aspect, the film never looks anything less than striking.
The story is a demented little fable. It doesn't stand up to critical scrutiny, but it wasn't really intended to. It illustrates a broad (and obvious) moral but is otherwise simply there to provide a vehicle for a number of cinematic "moments". Some of these are simply fun - the discovery of Edward's tonsorial talents, puncturing the water bed etc. - but a couple of them are real Moments, destined to feature on my personal list of cinema's Top 50 Greatest Moments. One of these is Vincent Price's brilliant performance in his final film, full of gentle power and compassion. And the other is, of course, the final reveal in Winona Ryder's closing bookend, where Danny Elfman's best ever musical cue hikes the emotional stakes up to unbearability level.
Not the classic it might appear to be at first sight, but with more than enough plus points to make it well worth catching.