Edward Scissorhands combine several Burtonesque features. Burton again got his long time hero, Vincent Price to star in his movie. This time Vincent plays an inventor who makes a boy. But before he can put hands on the boy, he dies. The boy is then taken to live with a middle class family. Here is where you can see exactly how Burton feels about suburbia. This is one of the best examples of social satire to come along in a very long time. Through the use of color and characterization, Burton attacks everything that suburbia and the middle class stand for.
Burton would return two years later, in 1992, with his second Batman film, Batman Returns. Because the shock value of the original picture with its dark sets was gone, a story would be needed this time to pull of a sequel. And Burton does that. The sets are still grotesque and amazing but the play between the characters in this film is much better. We see a more human Bruce Wayne/Batman enticed by the alluring Catwoman. The story of Penguin is intriguing as well. This film depends much more on dialoge and acting than did the first in which the only person acting was Jack Nicholson.
Burton would next direct a film about a director. Ed Wood is the story of Edward D. Wood, Jr.--a man who loved films but just could not make a good one. He is known as "the worst director of all time". And with films like Plan 9 from Outer Space and Glen or Glenda to his credit it is easy to see how he earned that title. But Burton does an excellent job of showing us the sincerity, passion, and enthusiam that Ed Wood had for his films and his friends. Oh and who could pass up Johnny Depp in an angora sweater?
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