Burton's Best--Stunning!

Rating: 10/10 (26 May 2000)

When you see Sleepy Hollow, it's quite apparent that this is a Tim Burton film. It is visually stunning, with each detail in the frame carefully seen to. While the plot differs dramatically with Irving's original story, I personally like this version better. While Christina Ricci brings a fresh, cool take on Katrina Van Tassel, her performance can be slightly flat at times. However, I don't feel this detracts from the film at all. The true jewel in this movie is Johnny Depp. His fine performance as the slightly cowardly-yet-intelligent Ichabod Crane drives the film, bringing a complexity and real-worldness to the character. Ichabod is not your typical action hero facing down a bloodthirsty ghost--what other movie hero do you know that responds to danger by pulling the nearest child in front of him for protection, or jumps onto a chair at the mere sight of a spider? Depp pulls this off marvelously, and his facial expressions masterfully convey terror, queasiness, embarrassment, and confusion throughout the film. Mr. Depp should be proud of his performance. Sleepy Hollow is a film I highly recommend; Depp makes up for weaknesses in Ricci's acting and the plot line, as well as the weaknesses in the character of Lady Van Tassel (Miranda Richardson). In short, see this film--Burton, Depp, and the film's composer, Danny Elfman, deserve high praise for their work on it. I highly recommend the soundtrack as well--it is Elfman's best!