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

Jack is “a freak, but not a freak,” she told the Daily News. “He’s a sweet soul. Like Edward Scissorhands, and so many characters in Tim’s movies. So yes, the art, the music and the sweetness of it.”

Sarandon had a similar take, 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 at the same time so beautiful, and its message was so positive. And as it turns out, they, in turn, now are watching it with their children.”

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