Edward Scissorhands

Depp, as the the fragile but irresistibily fabulous title character, is a delight. Read full review

The Spielbergian attempt at sweetness--heralded by references in Danny Elfman's score to the Nutcracker Suite--never fully convinces. Read full review

The disappointment is that Burton has not yet found the storytelling and character-building strength to go along with his pictorial flair. Read full review

Strange, funny and powerfully moving… Burton has found a way to move through camp to emotional authenticity, to communicate-through a concentration of style and an innocence of regard-a depth and sincerity of feeling that his deliberately (and often, comically) flat characters could not summon on their own. [14 Dec 1990, Friday, p.C]

Tim Burton's fantasy is more original than his previous film, “Batman,'' and its colors make “Dick Tracy'' look drab. Add wry dialogue and a mischievous critique of suburban life, and you have a diverting fable that doesn't quite live up to its quirky premise. [7 Dec 1990, Arts, p.12]

An ambitious and quite beautifully conceived fairy tale for the 90s. Read full review

Simple, funny, gorgeous, sad, and sweet, perfect for playing over and over. Read full review

Perhaps the most original movie fantasy creation of the year: an icon of tenderness and artistic alienation that clings, stickum-like, to your mind's eye and the softest, most woundable parts of your mass-culture heart. [7 Dec 1990, Calendar, p.F-1]

Edward Scissorhands isn't perfect. It's something better: pure magic. Read full review

Great to look at but not much fun to watch… An emotionally uncommitted picture that's smirky and mawkish, by turns, and at heart, empty. [14 Dec 1990, Daily Datebook, p.E1]

A classic... Edward Scissorhands is a sharp salute to the oddball in all of us. Read full review

Like a great chef concocting an exquisite peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, Mr. Burton invests awe-inspiring ingenuity into the process of reinventing something very small. Read full review

When the picture stops being comic it turns into a different kind of kitsch... The material turns into cheesy plot-centered melodrama... Beetlejuice would have spit in this movie's eye. [17 Dec 1990]

A witty comedy of manners that arcs into poignance, this is a Christmas movie only a Grinch could hate... One of the brightest, bittersweetest fables of this or any-year. [10 Dec 1990, p.87]

The theme--that just beyond the edge of the perfectly normal lies the truly bizarre--is realized with intelligence and visual flair. Read full review

If the script were half as witty as its production design and Danny Elfman's score, the film might be a classic; instead, it recalls the “Beetlejuice” half that doesn't have Keaton. [7 Dec 1990, Life, p.4D]

A delightful and delicate comic fable. Read full review

Amusing and inventive. Read full review

Tim Burton remains the Wizard of Odd with this eye-filling if problematic confection. Read full review