Good until last 1/3

Rating: 8/10 (1 December 1999)

It seems strange that I would be a Tim Burton fan, I think, because I've seen little of the movies which influenced him as a kid(the old-style horror and science-fiction movies) and am more of a fan of narrative fiction than he is(I can't remember if I've included this story or not, but here goes; I read an interview where Daniel Waters, one of the writers on BATMAN RETURNS, talked about how he looked forward to writing Burton's first coherent narrative, only to be turned around by Burton being the equivalent of Obi-Wan Kenobi telling Luke, "Use the force!"). But I think he's funny, visually inventive, and has surprising depth. I think he was the wrong person to do the BATMAN movies, but I've enjoyed all of his other movies, especially EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and ED WOOD, which, by coincidence, both happen to be the movies starring Johnny Depp. So it follows I was eagerly looking forward to SLEEPY HOLLOW, their latest collaboration.
For about 2/3 of the way, this was good. The look, as usual, was stunning, and he does a good job of creating tension, menace, and atmosphere. The five character actors playing the town's leading citizens(including Burton favorite Jeffrey Jones, who appeared in BEETLEJUICE and ED WOOD) add to that menace. The sound of the sword alone was scary. Christina Ricci doesn't get a lot to do, but she does look lovely, and looks appropriate to the period and the town. As for Depp, this is a parody of sorts from him; he's applying the Ichabod Crane of the original story and playing him as if he really were a police constable(If he had played it straight, the movie would have felt wrong from the beginning). This is most apparent in the scene where he's using gadgets to explain what is already obvious to the rest of the town.
The problem, however, comes when it's time to wrap things up. One of the screenwriters here is Andrew Kevin Walker, who wrote SEVEN. That was a serial killer movie with a difference, which didn't follow a traditional formula, but was disturbing and original. Here, however, we get the feeling that he felt, despite Burton's attachment and the story's horror roots, this was in essence a serial killer movie, and gave it a conventional ending. In retrospect, without giving anything away, the ending is logical, but it hangs on a couple of details which are barely on-screen, and is handled so flatly that the movie bogs down, just when it's supposed to excite us most. Also, some of the characters involved are so sketchy, the explanations about them feel last-minute to cover up weak parts of the story. If someone had found a less literal-minded ending, I think that would have worked better. As it is, it's a good film, but it's Burton's first non-BATMAN film I've had problems with.