Don't really know what to say (long)

Rating: 8/10 (22 November 1999)

As usual Tim Burton has made himself a fine, worthy movie, let me just start off with that. Visually stunning, representing just what the late 1700s looked like (if it were always dark and gloomy ;)). The acting was very good and Depp did a great job in playing between the boundries of the original Crane character in that, not really a bad guy but overall just a kindof cultured sissy-boy (that's NOT a generalisation) who is just as scared as you or I but knows he has to rise to the occasion eventually anyway. In the book, Crane was always a wimp for the most part.
The only thing that bugged me was that the plot as it finally really developed in the end was a bit over-dramatic, maybe too fantastic, not to the point of making it bad, I just think it drew away from an otherwise dark, disturbing and even scarier than I'd presumed, movie would be when I first saw the trailer. I liked the movie, (8/10) and then again I didn't like it for one sole reason. If you take the movie as what it is, the movie in itself, in that, lets presume there was never the original story, then I liked it quite a lot. But me, I must admit, I'm too retentive to not be annoyed at the drastic changes between what Burton envisioned and the "real" story by Irving. Outside of the character names, location and their being a horseman, this movie and the original story are quite quite different. Not a big deal really as it doesn't make this a BAD movie, again, the movie in itself I enjoyed quite a bit, but I couldn't get over, and its just my pet peeve, the differences. Things like this always bug me so while I vent please bare with me that its just my opinion. I've never liked it when adaptations change the original story even the slightest bit, though, I can understand sometimes its done due to time, money, and dramatic effect. I still don't like it :P, but I can understand it and I TRY not to let that ruin my enjoyment of the MOVIE. I try to take them as two seperate entities. But the seemingly "needless to change" things like the Horseman's origin (how he became headless that is), things like this bug me even more making me wonder, "I know why the other stuff was changed but why THIS?". I don't know, I just don't like it when the original story is changed. But don't let that ruin the movie for you, just forget the original story, enjoy the movie, and if you can do that, you WILL enjoy the movie.