Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Negative: 1 out of 19
  1. A classic... Edward Scissorhands is a sharp salute to the oddball in all of us.
  2. Reviewed by: Lawrence O'Toole
    100
    Simple, funny, gorgeous, sad, and sweet, perfect for playing over and over.
  3. 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]
  4. Reviewed by: Richard Corliss
    100
    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]
  5. Reviewed by: Staff (Not Credited)
    90
    A delightful and delicate comic fable.
  6. Depp, as the the fragile but irresistibily fabulous title character, is a delight.
  7. 88
    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]
  8. Reviewed by: Joe Berry
    80
    An ambitious and quite beautifully conceived fairy tale for the 90s.
  9. 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.
  10. 75
    Edward Scissorhands isn't perfect. It's something better: pure magic.
  11. 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]
  12. Reviewed by: Staff (Non Credited)
    70
    The theme--that just beyond the edge of the perfectly normal lies the truly bizarre--is realized with intelligence and visual flair.
  13. Reviewed by: Mike Clark
    63
    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]
  14. 60
    Tim Burton remains the Wizard of Odd with this eye-filling if problematic confection.
  15. 50
    The disappointment is that Burton has not yet found the storytelling and character-building strength to go along with his pictorial flair.
  16. 50
    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]
  17. The Spielbergian attempt at sweetness--heralded by references in Danny Elfman's score to the Nutcracker Suite--never fully convinces.
  18. 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]
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 108 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 27 out of 34
  2. Negative: 6 out of 34
  1. TIm Burton's "Scissorhands" flows smoothly with marvelous acting from Johnny Depp and creative direction by Burton himself. Possibly Depp+Burton combination is one of the best I've seen in years. Full Review »
  2. 10
    Johnny Depp played Edward really well. Edward had a charming sweetness about him that grips out at me and pulls me in to watch more. I never get tired of this tragic fairy tale. Full Review »
  3. Tim Burton with his trademark dark, fairytale-like brilliance. Johnny Depp & Dianne Wiest are great & Winona, oh Winona what happened?? Decent score by Danny Elfman despite going into the Simpsons & Batman now & again. Full Review »