Blu-ray Disc Review |
Release Date: October 9, 2007. Film Rating:   / Starring: Johnny Depp (Edward Scissorhands), Winona Ryder (Kim), Dianne Wiest (Peg), Anthony Michael Hall (Jim), Kathy Baker (Joyce), Vincent Price (The Inventor) Written by: Tim Burton & Caroline Thompson Directed by: Tim Burton The story of an uncommonly gentle man. When audiences were graced in with Edward Scissorhands in 1990, for many it became a favourite movie after Tim Burton’s success with directing Batman and Beetlejuice. His films are different in a good way, especially when there are so many movies out there that are difficult categorize as special. Burton’s filmmaking is captivating to the eye and to the mind. I consider him a Dr. Seuss of filmmaking because of his strange visuals and bending of lines in the imagery. Fifteen years after Edward Scissorhands, his filmmaking still leaves a mark on one’s imagination. This film is a fable of a young man who finds out he does not belong in the real world. He lives alone up high in the mountain in an old dark mansion. It used to be the home of an inventor played by Vincent Price. He made Edward but was unable to “finish” him before he died. Edward was left in the world with scissors for hands. He is brought into the real world by the Avon lady. She doesn’t see him for what he lacks in hands and is willing to bring him into her home to live. The soft-spoken Edward finds acceptance from people as well as reluctance from those unwilling to welcome him into the Burton-style suburbia world of colourful houses and routine living. This is a fable of wanting to be accepted by everyone. Edward wants to be accepted but knows he is different. Since he is different from everyone else in respect to his image, his child-like mannerisms, and his inability to cope with the real world, Edward knows he cannot be a part of this new world. Wonderfully executed by Burton and crew, Edward Scissorhands will remain a favourite film of mine. Its story is touching to the emotions. It makes you feel sympathy for Edward, perfectly played by Johnny Depp. He’s a long time collaborator with Burton along with composer Danny Elfman who provides the original score. Movies can be magic and Edward Sissorhands is one of those magical fairy tales in the modern world  VIDEO QUALITY: 3/5 This Blu-ray disc appears to be sourced from the same THX-approved transfer for the DVD in 2000 and the uncredited disc I reviewed for Home Theater Forum in 2005. At the time I thought the video surprisingly excellent. I admired the use of slightly emphatic colour without being exaggerated, the endless black level depth, and the lack of edge enhancement. Unfortunately for this Blu-ray disc, nothing seems to have changed. What I found acceptable for DVD seven years ago isn’t acceptable on a Blu-ray disc today. The transfer is clearly dated and average at best. This high definition transfer exposes the flaws of older HD masters – they are not always up to par with much of what the major studios are capable of delivering on newly minted transfers. In HD, the transfer shows a slight amount of ghosting around edges - I’d like to speculate that this was caused from some piece of equipment during the HD mastering process – I’m not entirely sure, but it’s certainly there. I noticed it on the THX DVD. It can be hard to differentiate that sort of artefact on a DVD since it’s a common artefact on the output of many players. It’s also easy to see how noisy the picture is; a mild amount of film grain is fairly apparent, quite often in the vibrant colours. While noticeable, this was somewhat obscured on the DVD but this HD disc reveals it a bit more since a “thin veil” over the image has been lifted. …and that’s about it too…it feels like only a thin veil was lifted rather than a thicker one. I didn’t feel that this HD presentation was “dramatically HD” in terms of a striking amount of new detail previously unseen. Some of you may find it a bit disappointing given the wonderful visuals in the film. While a bit more three dimensional than Fox’s other catalogue release The Fly, I didn’t feel it was any better given the other issues. Making HD masters has improved over the past seven years. If redone today, I would seriously doubt this film would come out looking the same as it does here – I would expect much better. Like the DVDs before, my biggest complaint of this transfer is the “shakiness” of the image. The film frames aren’t still as the movie plays causing the image to continuously shift ever so slightly. On the DVD it was worse because the compression job wasn’t the sharpest: a person’s face will appear still on the screen yet the neck and torso was moving around a little. Not so noticeable on this Blu-ray disc which seems to have a much cleaner MPEG-2 compression job. AUDIO QUALITY: 3/5 This Blu-ray disc includes a lossless DTS-HD MA 4.0 soundtrack option. The Danny Elfman score is expansive and a stand-out over dialogue and effects. The score is dynamic, clear, and doesn’t sound compressed. It’s not an incredibly lively mix; the soundstage is up front and there is a moderate use of the mono surround for this 4.0 soundtrack. Dialogue sounds a little thin and dated and Depp’s whisper quiet lines in the film are easily heard. Sound effects are utilized for a little effectiveness. This is a “polite” soundtrack that suits the gentleness of this film. TACTILE FUN!! / TACTILE TRANSDUCER ON/OFF?: OFF Not enough LFE content to fully enjoy. SPECIAL FEATURES: 1/5 Some special features have been carried over from the DVD. From the Anniversary Edition we lose the stills and the cast interview clips but retain the separate audio commentaries from Burton and Elfman. Tim Burton is soft spoken as he discusses the film and how it was made. For those of you who haven’t listened to it before, it’s not boring, it’s just gentle like the film. Composer Danny Elfman is quiet during a lot of the movie and tends to speak after the music finishes playing on the movie. His topic of conversation is not surprising: the music score! Edward Scissorhands featurette is a four and a half minute piece talking about the film and is composed of materials taken (such as interviews and behind the scenes) during the shooting of the movie. It features quick clips of interviews from the actors and director, etc mixed in with parts of the movie. It’s taken from composite video and is 4:3. The theatrical trailers on this disc look much better than the ones on the DVD; one is full frame and the other is 2.35:1 widescreen. They are claimed to be HD according to the packaging and don’t look like the composite video mess the DVD suffered from, but like the film, they look little better than SD resolution. Fox on Blu-ray trailers included are Eragon, The Fly, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Night at the Museum. IN THE END... If you’ve never had the chance to watch this film ever, I highly recommend picking up this release as a first time experience. This is a very touching film from Tim Burton with great performances from the actors and the typical Burton visual style. For those of you who own the DVD already, my personal belief is that the movie can benefit from a new HD transfer so you may want to hang onto your current disc unless you feel it’s worth the upgrade. I understand that’s not always economically possible for catalogue releases to have a new HD master created especially for a new HD format. Studios are best to use their current HD masters for cost savings even though these legacy transfers aren’t up to par with today’s. It’s a bit of a bummer because this title might not be revisited for another 3 years as a 20th Anniversary Edition. DVD had a similar history with transfers (use of non-anamorphic transfers made for laserdisc vs. newly made HD transfers), although this time the battle is against higher expectations. Michael Osadciw October 19, 2007 Review System |
