Edward Scissorhands

With such movies as “The Nightmare Before Christmas”, “Big Fish”, and the upcoming “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”, director Tim Burton has never failed to amaze (or disgust) audiences everywhere with his inventive worlds and creative characters. Edward Scissorhands is no exception whatsoever. Set in the picture perfect city of Suburbia, the movie follows the story of lonely Edward (Johnny Depp), a man created by the best scientist in the world but left uncompleted when the scientist dies. Locked away in his mansion with nothing to do but trim bushes into figures with his scissor hands, Edward is suddenly rescued from his solitude by a desperate Avon saleswoman, Peg Boggs (Diane Wiest) and taken to stay with her family. There, Edward learns that the power of love in some people can overcome physical appearances, while in others, physical appearance merely causes fear and anger.

Moral content

There are a lot of things to commend in this movie, especially the unconditional love and the basing of opinions about people on heart, not physical appearance. Edward is generally accepted by most of the Boggs family, but mostly seen as another household appliance, not a person. Peg comes close, but doesn’t fully understand his longing to be like everyone else. Only the Boggs daughter Kim (Winona Ryder) fully understands him and comes to love him as he respects her as a person, something her boyfriend Jim does not do. The film also discourages gossip, the spreading of rumors and the jumping to conclusions without gathering all the facts.

However, the film also gives the negative message that it’s okay to do something wrong (even if you know it’s wrong) for someone if you love that person.

Objectionable content

Violence: There are several moments of violence, although most of it is not exceedingly graphic, just rather disturbing. The general appearance of Edward, with his scissor-like hands and pale condition, may frighten younger viewers before they understand his kind nature. Likewise, several scenes find Edward, angry at the world, using his scissors to wreck havoc on the neighborhood, during a slightly frightening scene. Elsewhere, Edward accidentally cuts a girl on the hand and a boy on the face with slightly bloody results. **SPOILERS** However, the most violent moment comes at the end where Jim ruthlessly beats Edward with a pipe and tries to shoot him. He roughly manhandles Kim, causing Edward to react in defense and stabbing Jim in the gut, with bloody results and death shortly thereafter.

Sex/nudity: one of Peg’s neighbors, Joyce, is very sexually aggressive and practically comes on to anything in pants. One scene finds her trying to seduce Edward, tearing off her clothes to show off cleavage-revealing but old fashioned lingerie. However, the scene ends before anything bad happens with Edward fleeing very much as Joseph did in the Bible.

Language: Of this, there is the least—most of it coming from Jim, with a few words and various milder profanities.

Spiritual content: Surprisingly, there is almost no spiritual content, but that which is present is not entirely encouraging. One neighbor seems to be the only Christian and a crucifix is seen hanging from her wall, however, she spends most of her time playing eerie music on a piano in a room filled with smoky candles and the rest of the time running around and warning people that Edward is the spawn of the Devil.

Conclusion

“Edward Scissorhands” is an incredibly inventive and an extremely well-made film. All of the actors, especially Depp and Ryder, shine in their roles, and at times the cinematography is indeed breathtaking. So, with some parental guidance in moments of violence and confusing messages, I feel that I can recommend this picture to discerning Christians who enjoy a quirky fantasy with several good messages thrown in.

Violence: Heavy / Profanity: Mild / Sex/nudity: Moderate