Surprisingly Addictive

Rating: 7/10 (6 June 2004)

I went into this movie, having already seen Planet of the Apes, thinking that it was going to be another unsucessful Tim Burton movie, but I was surprised. Sleepy Hollow is strengthened by Burton's fantastic visual imagination and Johnny Depp's wonderfully pale performance. No wonder they always say "From the imagination of Tim Burton comes a new film..." because this "horror" movie could have easily sucked. However, this is a film more darkly beautiful and strangely humorous than it is scary. Miranda Richardson is the weakest part of the movie, and she makes the last 1/3 of the movie the worst part, but with an amazingly comic, out of breath Icabod Crane by Depp, and further strengthened if not outdone by Burton's images and the great score, Sleep Hollow can be considered a surprisingly addictive and enjoyable film. Sure, this is definitely not on the same level as Batman, Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, or Nightmare Before Christmas, but for what it sets out to do, it does surprisingly well. The last third of the movie is silly, granted, but it's hard to hate this movie.
My grade: 7/10