By Sara Pintilie/entertainment editor

Ed Wood (4.5 stars)

Ed Wood is the misfit child of Tim Burton’s films.

The 1994 movie doesn’t have any of the tell-tale signs of the director’s distinctive perspective—well, other than his leading man, Johnny Depp.

But the quirky film gives heart to a bunch of misfits, and the viewer can’t help but smile at their antics.

Ed Wood is loosely based on the life of Edward Wood Jr., the iconic director of horrible movies in the 1950s.

Wood (Depp) gets his break directing a movie about sex change and transvestites, something right up Wood’s pink angora-loving alley.

While creating his films, Wood runs into a washed-up Bela Lugosi (Martin Landau), who hasn’t worked in years and has picked up a nasty morphine habit.

Wood hires the horror legend along with many other oddballs tossed aside by Tinseltown to create his “masterpiece” Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Ed Wood, in all its black-and-white glory, offers a bizarre but hilarious underdog story.

The characters are complete goofballs with a camera, but viewers root for them anyway and want them to succeed.

Depp is simply great in this flick.

Depp’s Wood is insanely positive and peppy with an ambitious glint in his eye as he breaks into a major studio’s prop closet and steals a giant octopus.

But the real treat, and the Academy agrees, is Landau’s Lugosi.

His turn as the original Dracula is perfection and brilliantly executed. He deserves his Oscar.

His performance is worth the rental price alone.

Ed Wood is a zany homage to ’50s exploitation films with a great foundation of characters. It is Burton’s funniest and most endearing film yet.