It was rather hollow

Rating: 5/10 (26 November 1999)

I generally view Tim Burton movies as getting high marks on art direction and visuals--but low marks on story, character and theme. That is my view of Sleepy Hollow.
It doesnt retain much from Washington Irving's story. In fact the treatment of the Headless Horseman at times borders on the ludicrous(even for such material as this). At one point Brom Bones duels rather competantly with the Horseman--and at another time Crane winds up on the back of the demon horse--and is able to get it to gallop on command. Hey--this is supposed to be a ghost not a reanimated corpse! I give Disney credit for instilling their 1949 cartoon horseman with a supernatural grace. (one nice touch though--seeing Crane atop his plough horse Gunpowder--and passing through the covered bridge--there is a very clear homage to the Disney cartoon if you pay attention).
It was also nice to see Christopher Lee again--although i wouldnt consider this film to be in the same league with Hammer films--those flicks had characters and stories!
Oh yeah--and one really pathetic mistake early on. Crane says something like: "The millenium is only a few months away..." and the story is set in 1799.
I think this movie might have been "ghost"-written--certainly someone involved didnt have their head on straight--or maybe not at all.