Very successful filming of a nice horror story.

Rating: 9/10 (6 March 2005)

Before watching this movie, you should keep in mind that what Tim Burton likes and always tries to do is telling stories somewhat reminding of fairy tales. He likes to act like a "storyteller". Therefore, you should not take the story very seriously. For if you do, you will not understand what the movie really tells about.
Sleepy Hollow is based on an English folk story about the curse of some killed warrior. Burton's filming of the story is really excellent, for the story is a really short one. Making it a long and whole film with no disturbing extras must have been a really hard job. Burton has perfectly overcome this difficulty. The natural and still thrilling atmosphere is another success of the director. He felt no need to special effects, mostly thanks to his efficient and affective use of the camera. This way, a fairy tale looks like a real story.
The actings of Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci have contributed to the atmosphere to a great extent, as well: It is a horror story, yet we see no over-acting by the two leading characters. Christina's mimic-less face has been subject to criticism, but the fact that we do not know whether Katrina is good or evil is mostly thanks to that mimic-less face. Thus we see a really good acting, I think.
The one problem of the movie is its editing. It looks like made in a hurry. But it does not harm the wholeness of the movie.