There are lots of laughs, tears and the most hilarious hedges and hair styles in many a moon. There's Vincent Price, like some benignly demonic paterfamilias, and another witty, rich score by Danny Elfman, whose sensibility connects as perfectly with Burton as Bernard Herrmann's did with Alfred Hitchcock. There's the whir of Depp's fingers, trimming a poodle, picking a lock. There's Wiest, Arkin and Baker, good as they can possibly be. And there's a little, sweet-sad moment when Edward, outcast of outcasts, sits on a curb by a waiting sheep dog and gently snips hair out of the dog's eyes.
Gentleness is a nice quality to have back in movies.