FABLELIKE 'SCISSORHANDS' STANDS OUT 10 YEARS LATER

By Al Brumley

From The Arizona Republic, 09.22.2000

That Edward Scissorhands, boy, he sure could put a trimmin' on the wax-leaf shrubs.

But did you ever wonder about, uh, some of life's more practical everyday tasks?

Let's face it--even if he could manage to get his drawers down, imagine what he'd do to a roll of Charmin.

But, of course, the beauty of fables is that we needn't dwell on such unpleasantries. Best to hope that Vincent Price, the inventor, came up with some sort of imaginative solution, and just move on.

That said, it's been 10 years already since Ed came down the mountain and livened up things in the land of primary colors.

To celebrate, Fox Home Entertainment has released a special edition of the movie, equipped with commentary tracks, a featurette, some original drawings of Edward, and the usual TV spots and original theatrical trailer.

It's a decent little package, bolstered primarily by how well the movie has withstood its first decade.

If anything, it seems fresher now than it did at first, maybe because we've had time to collate the idea of a non-human Johnny Depp equipped with scissors for hands, and we can concentrate on the story (think Sling Blade meets Frankenstein).

The story arc is as ancient as the Grimm Brothers, but director Tim Burton throws in enough imaginative touches to keep it fresh.

Avon saleslady Dianne Wiest discovers the unfinished Edward hiding in his castle and immediately adopts him.

But she doesn't make it to her front door before the neighborhood's bored housewives are burning up the telephone lines trying to figure out what she is doing with a pale, leather-clad young man in her car's front seat.

Edward endears himself to his new friends with his topiary and barber skills. But a misunderstanding here, a thwarted sexual advance there, and suddenly the town is up in arms, lacking only torches to complete the classic mob scene.

In his commentary track, Burton praises the studio for allowing him to end the film on a bittersweet note. He also reveals how much of his own life is in the film--primarily his memories of the absurdities of suburbia, from the mad rush of energy at Christmas to the odd practice of sitting in a lawn chair in your garage and watching the world go by.

He filmed the movie in Tampa, taking over a neighborhood and painting about 50 houses solid shades of garish.

"We had to paint everybody's house back to the original color, although I do think there was a move by some of the residents to keep them this color," Burton says. "I think initially they didn't like it, but after a few months, some of them, I think, liked it, but I think ultimately we had to paint them back and take out the topiaries."

Composer Danny Elfman's commentary track is spare but interesting. Watching the film with no dialogue, you realize how much he put into the music and how much you missed the first time.

Unfortunately, you also realize how much his music sounds the same.

Ultimately, though, no one ever answers the question that no doubt has nagged thousands of filmgoers over the past decade: Why in the heck would you put scissors on the ends of a boy's arms in the first place? Fable or no fable, what was that inventor guy thinking, anyway?