Udderly Mooovelous Accownt of Schlock Master!! :

Rating: 9/10 (6 December 1999)

Thank god for Ed Wood - and thank god Tim Burton("Nightmare Before Christmas", "Edward Scissorhands") broke all the Hollywood rules and got this wonderful picture made! "Ed Wood" portrays Edward D. Wood Jr, that boy-wonder writer/director who was responsible for "Plan 9 from Outer Space", "Glen or Glenda", "Orgy of the Dead", and a whole host of miserably awful, and unintentionally funny, horror moovies in the 50's & 60's. Director Tim Burton's film is a labor of love; he has cast the film to perfection, photographer it beautifully, and has resurrected flawlessly a unique period in film history. Words cannot describe the near-perfect performances by everyone cast in this film, in particular Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi - he brings a bittersweet tragic quality to Bela's character that was well-worth his Academy Award(finally they picked the right one!). Johnny Depp is no less wonderful as the boyish, angora-craving Ed Wood himself, who idolizes Orson Wells, wears his girlfriend's sweaters, and naively believes he can make a blockbuster Hollywood film. Depp, in fact, shows another side of Wood, as someone who cares about film, and someone who does not judge people because of their weaknesses, a rare thing in rapacious Hollywood. Sure, all of Ed Wood's moovies are schlock (and I do mean ALL of them), but at least the first group of them are made with such feeling and innocence that you just have to love them; certainly, they are the fount from which devotion to Le Bad Cinema, and even MST3K, begins. Burton has made far moore Hollywood/mainstream films ("Batman", "Sleepy Hollow"), but it's a moovie like "Ed Wood" that separates him from the typical hack Hollywood automaton. This moovie would never had been made without Burton's creative genius and pull, so no matter what schlock he directs for The Man, we all should thank him for making this glorious, hilareous tribute to the King of Turkeys! The MooCow says this is a must for all Ed Wood fans, and even those not afficionados of schlock cinema will enjoy this moovie as well. Great soundtrack is worth getting. The MooCow says get "Ed Wood" now!! :