"Sleepy Hollow" had me wide awake

Rating: 9/10 (20 November 1999)

Has Tim Burton ever made a bad film? Some are better than others, but none of his movies are boring, bland, or cheap. "Sleepy Hollow" continues his trail of excellence, and although it's slightly flawed, it's attributes far exceed it's draw backs. It's scary, funny, and beautifully shot.
Johnny Depp is brilliant as Ichabod. It's been a while since such a flawed, unique character was the hero in a movie. Ichabod is scared, nervous, and confused, and stays that way. Depp is hilarious and touching. The rest of the cast is superb, and there are cameos by such luminaries as Martin Landau, Christopher Lee, and Christopher Walken.
The film's main flaw is that there are simply too many great characters crammed into it to do any of the actors justice. Jeffrey Jones and Ian McDiarmid are never given scenes that cement their eccentricities, and Christina Ricci is underused. The convoluted plot line also gets out of hand, and the movie must resort to having a character have a long monologue explaining the whole plot (and even then things aren't clear).

One other complaint: Can we please stop having characters receiving a treasured object from another character and being told to "keep it close to their heart", only later to be shot at, letting the object stop the bullet? That gag's got whiskers on it!
But these are only minor design flaws in an involving and visually stimulating film. And, as an added bonus, you get to see the super-annoying Casper Van Dien from the super-horrible movie "The Omega Code" is dismembered. That's entertainment!