Subtitles: English for the Hearing Impaired, Spanish
Widescreen: 1.85:1
16:9-Enhanced: Yes
Macrovision: Yes
Disc Format: DVD 9
Price: $29.98
Extras: Making-Of Featurette, Commentary with Director Tim Burton,
Commentary with Composer Danny Elfman, Theatrical Trailers, TV Spots, Concept Art
Director:
Tim Burton
Cast:
Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne West, Anthony Michael Hall,
Vincent Price, Alan Arkin
Writers:
Tim Burton, Caroline Thompson (Story); Caroline Thompson (Screenplay)
I used to think Johnny Depp nothing
more than one of those here-today-gone-tomorrow teenie-bopper "idols"
(I mean, c'mon, his name is freakin' "Depp"!). Edward Scissorhands
changed all that for me, as Depp brought life to this darkly melancholy,
yet romantic figure; toeing the line somewhere between robot and human.
A brilliant performance on his part, mixed with the macabre vision
of Director Tim Burton, make Edward Scissorhands one of my favorites.
Burton himself has an eye for the gothic, evident in such films as
Batman and Beetlejuice, and he utilizes that twisted
sensibility to its fullest in Edward Scissorhands. This is,
after all, meant to be a fairy tale (in the Brother's Grimm sense,
not the Empire Disney vein), and it's the perfect forum for
Burton's talents. Witness the twisted, gargoyle-encrusted castle
atop the hill just down the street from the most suburban of suburban
neighborhoods, Avon lady and pastel garages included.
Depp plays Edwrard, a "man" created by The Inventor (Vincent Price, in
a role Burton designed specifically for him) with a cookie for a heart
and scissors for hands. After The Inventor's demise, Edward is found by
an intrepid Avon lady, and brought into her
home. Once there, Edward becomes a respectable member of society - dig
those wild hedges! - and experiences such things as makeovers, seductions,
talk shows, first love, and, above all, being misunderstood. Ain't that
what life's all about?
Burton admits to having come up with the Scissorhands character in High School,
and given his real-life penchant for dressing in black, I believe him (heck,
I wore pretty regular clothes in High School and still felt alienated).
Well, maybe it's a universal "truth" that we all get to grow up with. And
tapping into that common experience - and in the form of a fairy tale - is
probably the root brilliance behind this stunning film.
Screening Edward Scissorhands on DVD - only my second time seeing it - was a real treat.
It looked and sounded wonderful. The contrast between the saccharin pastels
and macabre blacks stood out very nicely. I did catch one blatant
digital artifact - no, that dead teenager is not supposed to be twitching - but
it was so far in to the film, I willingly forgave it. The sound is also fine,
if you can ignore the obviously-dubbed Ryder scenes that bookend the flick.
Nothing to write home about (this ain't Terminator 2 Ultimate 3-D Super
Edition after all), but definitely clean in both music and dialog.
For being heralded as a 10th Aniversary Edition, I did find myself a tad
disappointed in the features. It's mostly trailers and a featurette (say it
ain't so, Tim), along with "sound bite" interviews that are like
30-second versions of featurette. I sat through about ten of them and only
learned two interesting tidbits - but I can't even remember what they were,
so that pretty much says it all right there.
Saving this disc from disastersville is a commentary by Tim Burton himself.
Ahhh, now I see why the call it a "10th Anniversary Edition"! He speaks
at a sedate pace, his tone so casual, it's almost like he's just one of the guys,
sitting right there on the couch with you. In this seductive style, he reveals
some very enticing facts about the movie. He's not explaining Edward
Scissorhands, but rather giving true insight into the film-making and
evolution of the story.
I can easily say I highly recommend this theatrical fairy tale to just about
anyone. It's a dark yet humorous, sad yet touching, story that would
reach even the most hardened movie goer - whether or not they have a
cookie-cutter heart.
See DVDfever Dom's review of the Region 2 release
HERE !"
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
