A man created by an inventor is taken from the solitude of his home to live with a suburban family.
The themes are acceptance, isolation and fitting into social structures when you are quite different. These are explored in a story combining elements of Frankenstein with Beauty and the Beast.
As you can imagine the style is distinctly Tim Burton in all his gothic, quirky charm and it works well. The colours of everything in the suburbia is some variant of pastel, which is contrasted with Edward's black suit and ghostly white face. This fit perfectly with the above themes and to deride suburban life.
Burton may not have intended to satirise suburban types as much as he did, but ridiculed they feel with the gossipy, trouble making housewives and bored gardening, golf playing husbands. Cars all leave for work at the same time, great pride is taken in gardens and most (save a few) ultimately see Edward as either a 'freak' or a 'cripple'. We see the real freak show does not lie in the decaying old Gothic mansion on the hill, but in the normal residential neighbourhood below.
The protagonist family are all sympathetic, played likably by Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin, Robert Oliveri and in particular Winona Ryder. Edward's interaction with them is both hilariously funny and beautifully moving in a number of scenes.
There are also some strong supporting characters. Joyce, the lustful neighbour who speaks perpetual innuendo. Her scene of orgasmic joy on receipt of a new haircut is wonderfully funny. Jim the spoilt jock boyfriend sneers and lashes out every line with utter contempt. Vincent Price in a heart breaking cameo as the inventor is an excellent touch.
As the title character, Johnny Depp's performance is modern take on Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. He says very little, but his eyes and facial expressions tell us everything we need to know. When he does speak it is the voice of a frightened and confused child. You feel so much sympathy it pains you to watch.
It has a haunting soundtrack that stays with you after the final credits. Every time I think of falling snow, particularly when melancholy I think of that music.
What prompted me to give this one a higher rating than I had originally planned was watching it with my three and a half year old daughter. It held her from start to finish, which is a rare thing for a non-animated feature length movie.
