Burton Once Again Delivers a Fantastic Looking Film

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 1999)

Tim Burton's latest is a highly polished film visually, with very convincing gloomy sets awash in fog and shallow lighting. The audience certainly never needs to question believability of the dreary setting.

Both music and sound effects are put to good use in this, as well as a couple of highly effective implemenations of off-screen space to terrify without explicitly smacking one in the face with an image (although the film certainly has its fair share of decapitations). Be sure to look for the color red as a free visual motif...
Although the film looks terrific, the narrative is weak at points. In particular, Burton's choice of falling back on the annoying situation in which the antagonist proceeds into a five minute monologue near the end of the film in which all of the prior plot events are reviewed and all of the ambiguities are cleared up, is unfortunate and really ruins the pace of the film. On top of that, the love story between Depp and Ricci was thin and unconvincing.
However, Burton's macabre sense of humor really shines in this film, and much of the dialogue involving Depp is very tongue-in-cheek and very amusing (unfortunately, I think many people mistook Burton's sense of humor as either bad scripting or bad acting).
In all, I found this film to be both frightening and humorous, and all-around entertaining. I just wish it would have been released around Halloween... Oh, and Christopher Walken is absolutely terrifying as the headless horseman!