One of the most entertaining movies I've seen in awhile...

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 1999)

I am so glad that my friend asked me to go with her to see Sleepy Hollow. She only needed one reason to see it; Tim Burton. I was interested in seeing it myself to see how this adaptation of the old story would pan out.
Neither her nor I expected to get so much entertainment value out of this movie.
First of all, Johnny Depp carried the nervous, yellow-bellied portrayal of Ichabod Crane very well. My friend pointed out that it was an interesting change to Ichabod's character from the original story; back then, he was a fraidy-cat teacher, but in the movie, he's a fraidy-cat science-worshipping sleuth. It really made the story interesting; a bumbling detective looking for a common murderer who wasn't common at all. The supporting cast was also well-conceived which really brought across the small-town everyone-knows-everybody feeling of the village.
The overall story was pretty decent, but I don't expect it to win any awards. The whole thing was like an overblown Scooby Doo mystery, with an almost mundane secret plot behind the Horseman's rampage. It was more of an obstruction to the whole legend if anything, forcing reason behind the ghost's thirst for bloodshed and heads. But it's the ghostly phenomena where the movie really shined.
Whisps of ethereal smoke extinguishing torches. Clomping footsteps in an otherwise unoccupied covered bridge. A tree that bleeds when cut. Everything is in place to give this movie the atmosphere it needs to pull off a great "ghost story" atmosphere. And we were pleasantly shocked but not surprised when we discovered it was Ray Park (Darth Maul, "Phantom Menace") giving the headless rider its amazing weapon skill.
And maybe it was our collectively twisted sense of humor, but this movie was knee-slapping hilarious at times! So did many others in the audience as well. Ichabod's mannerisms and sniveling ways were almost comic genius; the movie isn't trying to be a comedy but Ichabod turns it into one at times anyway. And it's great. The fact that my friend and I were making head puns and jokes ("he came out a'head' on that one) throughout the movie and afterward only added to our total enjoyment of the film.
This isn't a b-movie horror flick. Nor is it a multiple Oscar-winning masterpiece. I don't think you will find it to be a waste of money, though. It's an above average mild horror movie that should appeal to many moviegoers' tastes. But you *have* to see it with friends!