An overall good effort

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 1999)

I am a long time Tim Burton fanatic, so my expectations for his latest release, "Sleepy Hollow", may have been a little high. Overall it was a great movie. Cinematically, "Sleepy Hollow" contains everything one might expect from a Burton film: gothic landscapes, brilliant uses of color, and eerie characters. Johnny Depp (as usual) was amazing as Ichabod Crane and an incredible supporting cast helped to add to the overall effect of the film. Also, the CGI horseman and tree were not terribly overused or bad looking.
The film's serious flaw was the introduction of a villainous witch towards the end, who, to make the story short, gave a classic James Bond villain type monologue (a "You are going to die anyway, so now I will spill the beans" type thing). From this point on (thankfully only the last 15 minutes or so). the film spiraled downward. The second flaw was the lack of background knowledge of the characters throughout the movie. Sure, Mr. Depp summarized generations worth of family history in a few minutes, however it was hard to follow.
All in all, Burton fans and regular movie goers alike will most likely enjoy "Sleepy Hollow". While a good movie, those into the films of Mr. Burton will see that "Sleepy Hollow" does not rank near the top as one of his better films.