Burton and Depp's best.

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2007)

My Take: An interesting and hilarious biopic, as well as a loving tribute to the film-loving side of Ed Wood.
Tim Burton is one of my favorite directors, and ED WOOD is probably his best film. Along with the brilliant EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, ED WOOD is another personal work from Burton wherein he feels right at home with the story and its lead character of the gifted outcast. Whereas EDWARD reflected Burton's childhood, ED WOOD reflected on Burton as the imaginative outcast in Hollywood, as well as his friendship with the late actor Vincent Price (which was uncannily similar to Wood's own friendship with his idol Bela Lugosi).
Johnny Depp really looks as if he is Ed Wood. The weirdness and all. But he is not, by any means, a mockery of the real thing. Instead, Burton and Depp revel in the eccentricity and odd imagination of the man. Instead of condescending the man's lack of any real talent or experience, Burton and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski embrace them man's love for his work and his insistence to do what he wants. Here we see he loves movies and not the business they make. Wood may be the worst director of all time as he is claimed to be, but does do it right. Other than Depp, Martin Landau's performance as the late Bela Lugosi is one you've got to see to believe. From the accent to the excellent make-up effects, Landau IS Lugosi. It sort of reminded me of the making of Ed Wood's PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE where Wood used stock footage and a double to make it look like it was the recently-deceased Lugosi's true final film. Well, Burton would have made Wood proud; this is the closest we can get to bringing the man who played Dracula back from the grave.
I really love this movie. Take my word for it, "Ed Wood" is a great film; one of Burton's best films and perhaps Depp's greatest and most eccentric performance to date.
Rating: ***** out of 5.