Great Atmosphere and Style but Suffering Story

Rating: 7/10 (19 November 1999)

Tim Burton was perfect for this, so was the cast, and what really brought this film to life was the atmosphere. Burton pulled off a dark moody 1700s landscape complete with fog and mist right out of the 50s-60s horror movie classics and it works well. Most of the characters look almost created by Burton himself having certain personalities that make the parts absent of the headless horseman enjoyable. When the headless horseman does appear it is pulled off very well partly do to good special effects and Ray Park (Darth Maul from Episode One). What confused me was the story. The story tries to weave the old tale of sleepy hollow into a mystery while providing a action gore fest for those who couldn't keep up with the whole plot. The reason for this being the background of the characters and their names which still remain distant to me (except those from the Disney cartoon). I liked the dark humor Burton usually tries to thrown in and Depp along with Ricci played good roles as they usually do. I would see this movie as I did, at a matinee. Its a beautiful film scarred by a dull who-done-it mystery story. And on a final note, It was nice to see Christopher Walken, but did he really need to growl and yell all the time? :) 7/10