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Edward Scissorhands

A review by Mike Shea   Movie Rating: ( * * * * * )    DVD Rating: ( * * * * · )

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Edward Scissorhands is a movie that teaches a very valuable lesson. Being the oddball who gets picked on by the local jocks, loses the girl of his dreams to these same jocks and eventually becomes an outcast is ok as long as you get to kill a man. Tim Burton directs this surrealistic love story about a young cyborg / dollman (like the terminator except he does haircuts instead of killing folk...oops, maybe not) who is thrust into suburbia hell. The local men all are faceless corporate suits who sneak drinks in their basement while the wives gather into witchhunt level gossip groups and plan to take over the world. The level of surrealism is just right for the movie. With the bazaar haircuts, the wonderfully colorful little houses next to the evil mansion where Vincent Price is putting together the ultimate teaparty terminator.

Ok, I admit it, I am in love with Wynonna Ryder and have been so since as long as I can remember. This movie is probably the best movie she has done so far except for one thing, the crazy blonde wig. Sure I have a thing for brunettes, but even still I don't buy the blonde hair, dark eyebrows and dark eye thing. Still, she does an amazing job in the movie. It also appears that X found himself getting picked on too much after playing the nerd in Breakfast Club so now he gets to be the beer drinking jock. He does the job pretty well by wearing a class jacket to cover up his spagetti like arms.

The DVD of Edward Scissorhands is a little strange. It is in dolby digital but only a 4.0. The front two speakers and rear two speakers are used, but no dedicated LFE or center channel is used. Frankly, after the opening music, it was obvious that this was not a problem, it sounded great. The picture is a 2.35 to 1 16x9 enhanced picture that does an excellent job with the highly pastel colors and dark contrasts of Ed and his home. There is a directors commentary with Tim Burton as well as other random special features.

Edward Scissorhands is an excellent tale with a good message for the youngsters. Life can't be that bad as long as you can whack someone and get away with it.