Good fun

Rating: 8/10 (24 November 1999)

Sorry to see this movie is being picked on so much already. Maybe some people forget you go see Tim Burton's movies to have FUN, already! This is a beautifully stylish movie, I could not get enough of seeing that hellish figure flying on the back of his demon-horse, cloak flying and sword flailing. Fantastic! The town itself was a wonderful presence, with old covered bridges and wicked looking trees. Johnny Depp was of course fabulous, he looked as if he genuinely enjoyed himself while making this movie. A shame for an actor of such range to be so underappreciated. He seems to suffer from the "Ralph Fiennes Syndrome", where actors with tremendous talent are snubbed because they are simply too good looking. (They got the face, so they must not need the award, or some odd reasoning. Perhaps it's envy...?) "Sleepy Hollow" is not scary, but then very few horror films truly are. It is more like a horror-themed ride at an amusement park, a very expensive amusement park. There are some laughs, not big ones but chuckles, and a sense of good-humor throughout. If I had to choose a weak point it would be Christina Ricci, which pains me because I loved her in the "Addams Family" movies, but here she sleepwalks through her role, many of her lines of dialogue sounding much flat, as if she were reciting them for a boring grade-school report. But it did not matter enough to me to affect my overall opinion of "Sleepy Hollow", which is that it was good fun. And Christopher Walken as the Hessian- of course!