An admirable version of a classic story (there may be a spoiler)

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2000)

"Sleepy Hollow" is a very well-done film that deserves to be recognised. The acting is excellent through and through. Johnny Depp excellently plays the superstitious (and humorously frightened) Constable Ichabod Crane, and Christina Ricci is even more excellent as his love interest Katrina Van Tassel. If anyone is not expecting this film to be different than the Washington Irving novel and the Disney cartoon, well, it is, and far more detailed. It had to be, in order to make this movie full-length. For instance (this could be a spoiler), The Headless Horseman (excellently played by Christopher Walken) is controlled. But every new plot element is NEEDED in this film, and none are unnecessary! The art direction (and the acting, again) is marvellous. Even the sky is gray until the end. The gore level is low and the comic relief (mostly by Johnny Depp) makes the movie seem less scary (by the way, it is not very scary for the most part, but that's OK). Also, one can certainly read the novelette and see the Disney cartoon (and enjoy both) before or after they see this movie. There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with each version. I read the book shortly before I first saw this movie (I've seen the movie 3 times since before Thanksgiving), and have always loved the cartoon "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow", which is very much like the novel. The novel is somewhat wordy and can be hard to follow, so I only suggest one reads it if they like tackling hard stuff. Otherwise, go ahead and enjoy these three classics!