Heads, A Hero, Humor, and Mystery--10 out of 10--Fantastic FUN! (No spoilers!)

Rating: 10/10 (20 November 1999)

I've been looking forward to this film since first seeing the teaser trailer months ago, and I was in no way disappointed. The movie pulls off a lot that many other films reach for and don't quite grasp.

The characters were actually developed and 3-D for this kind of film--particularly Ichabod himself--which I didn't expect given the nature of the story. The acting is superb and FUN! Johnny Depp puts in a performance that I've read he was worried would be taken badly, going over the top as often as it does--but he nails it dead on, creating a great combination of personality strengths and flaws, seriousness and humor, for the hero. Christina Ricci does a great job as Katrina, also (I'd say more about that, but it would add spoilers). The town "fathers", so to speak, are the best little set of talented character actors you could ask for, so that even the smaller roles are acted well.
I really didn't expect as much HUMOR in this film, either--and as I'm one of those who is often one of the only ones laughing at select movies, let me add that there were about 3 or 4 empty seats spaced far apart in the whole theatre, and the rest of the audience was laughing right along with me.

The special effects and atmosphere were, of course, flawless, and the action sequences were exciting and well-executed (if you'll pardon the pun). Recreation of the time period and location, and the look and mood of everything was beautiful, as I expected from the artistry of Tim Burton. And how can you go wrong with Darth Maul heading up your action sequences? (Okay, don't pardon that one.) Another nice thing about the action was the fast pace of such sequences--none of this drag-the-time-out for a closeup of everything that's going on, audience-demeaning, intelligence-underestimating sort of thing. No, if you blink, if you're playing with your popcorn, if you're not paying attention, you just miss it.
The same goes for the information that'll let you play detective along with Ichabod, if you want. That leads me to the last amazing thing I'm going to rant about here--the fact that this was actually a well-written, nicely-plotted detective story. Many a more mainstream movie fails at putting together a good figure it out or be surprised (or a little of both, all depending on the type of moviegoer you are) MYSTERY. My significant other has great fun in trying to figure things out ahead of time as the plot unfolds, I don't and choose not to, and we both loved it, and found it filled with unexpected and unpredictable developments.
That's it, basically. I loved it, go see it if you want to see a perfectly-executed & fun supernatural mystery (as long as you don't mind decapitations and blood!), and I hope that you're as entertained as I was, and as I'm going to be when I go see it again! :)