Ed Wood (Special Edition) (DVD)

I had never seen this movie before, which is a shocker since I consider Johnny Depp one of the greatest actors of our time and together with Tim Burton the two have proved they can make great movies. Nevertheless, this was the first time, and before seeing this movie all I knew about the man was that his movies were considered to be the worst ever and he was the creator of Plan 9 from Outer Space, other than that he was a mystery to me.

While I remain a novice in the subject of Edward D. Wood Jr. I did do a little digging and he directed 18 movies and wrote almost 50 films. His filmmaking career began in the early 50s and his big break came when he was granted permission to create a film Glen or Glenda based on the Christine Jorgensen sex-change, which ultimately turned into more of a movie about his own dealings with transvestism (is that a word?) than anything else.

Wood's career never really took off while he was alive but he has found new life and a cult following after he was labeled the worst director of all time in the 1980s. This Tim Burton biopic tells the story leading up to the release of Plan 9 from Outer Space, which is probably the picture he is best known for and the picture described as Bela Lugosi's final appearance in film.

Without any reference to apply to Wood's characteristics or mannerisms I can't tell you whether or not Johnny Depp wholly captures the essence of Ed Wood, but I can tell you he plays one corny character, almost in the same manner in which we saw Steve Buscemi play Norther Winslow in Burton's Big Fish last year.

Joining Depp in the madness are actors Sarah Jessica Parker, Bill Murray, Patricia Arquette and Martin Landau who subsequently won an Oscar in 1995 for his role as Bela Lugosi and what a performance it is, when he shouts out "Let's shoot this fucker!" you cannot help but laugh out loud as he tries to hide his Hungarian accent and sounds exactly like Lugosi did when he played Dracula.

In essence Ed Wood is a serious trip on a humorous roller coaster as you never know when the twists and turns are coming.

Unfortunately, as great as the movie is, this special edition DVD does not offer much more to look forward to other than the feature presentation. While the audio commentary, which contains just about everyone imaginable is somewhat interesting there are just too many names to deal with, plus Landau's Lugosi impersonating introductions get old rather quick.

On the other hand there is a quirky little behind-the-scenes look at the making of Ed Wood called "Let's Shoot this F#%@r!" which is introduced by Johnny Depp in full transvestite garb and gives a pretty cool look at the filming of Ed Wood in a very unconventional way.

Other than that you get the usual deleted scenes, which add to the octopus theft scene, introduce you to Tor's family and gives you a listen to Bill Murray as Bunny Breckinridge singing "Que Sera Sera" with his mariachi band that he brought back from Mexico with him. Some of these are rather comical but not the ultimate incentive to buy this DVD.

You also get a look at how they turned Martin Landau into Bela Lugosi and a boring-as-hell look at the musical instrument called the Theremin, which was used to create a major portion of the musical soundtrack, but as a special feature it just isn't special.

Overall if you are a fan of Depp's acting and Tim Burton's storytelling pick this one up, but if you already own the previously released version of the DVD you can skip this as it doesn't offer enough incentive to upgrade.