O’Hara attributed the film’s enduring popularity to its universal themes, often present in Burton’s work, about the well-meaning outsider who “just wants to be appreciated and loved.”

Jack is “a freak, but not a freak,” she told the newspaper Daily news. “He’s a sweet soul. Just like Edward Scissorhands, and so many characters in Tim’s films. So yeah, the art, the music and the sweetness of it.”

Sarandon had a similar opinion and it was telling People in 2023: “A lot of young people come up to me and say, ‘This was a movie that made me feel like I belonged,’ because it was so strange and so beautiful at the same time, and the message was so positive. And it turns out that they, in turn, are now watching it with their children.”

Jack was “perceived as dark, but is actually light,” Burton said Empire in 2023. “Those are the kinds of things I love, whether it’s Scissorhands or Batman, characters that have that. It represented all those feelings I had. I was seen as a dark character, when I didn’t feel that way So it was a very personal character.”