Movie Review - Sleepy Hollow
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1999 / 105 Minutes / R
Reviewed by Dale Nauertz
This movie is nothing short of an eye-popping visual marvel. It is the ultimate Halloween movie, one of the best of a long line of ghost stories committed to film this year (and one of the few that actually has a satisfactory ending) and one of the most accomplished of all Tim Burton’s films.
I have always loved Tim Burton. His style of filmmaking, well, it just appeals to me in a very personal way. Halloween is my favorite holiday. I have always been drawn to stories of the macabre. And I think that his take on “Batman” is the only one to do the Dark Knight any sort of justice. I love the actors he chooses for his productions. I love his choice of Danny Elfman as constant composer (although Howard Shore’s “Ed Wood” score is quite magnificent as well). In short, I think that if you were to put me in a room with any director, Tim and I would probably get along better than me and most other directors.
So, of course, I was definitely looking forward to “Sleepy Hollow” and I was not disappointed. It was not flawless and I did not expect that it would be. I may be a Tim Burton fan, but I am also a realist. I did not much care for the “Scooby Doo” ending. There was no part of Danny’s music that stuck in my head to hummed for several days afterward such as there was in “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure” or “Batman” or even “Mars Attacks!”.
But that was about all I had in the way of complaints.
I didn’t really care that they were not true to the original novel. If I wanted the novel, I would have read the novel. It is just that easy. I rather enjoyed the fact that Ichabod was a skittish detective who no one respected rather than a pussy of a schoolmaster. I did not care that the movie was not a contest between Brom and Ichabod for the affections of Katrina. I tried to read the book and found all of that stuff rather tired, actually. I found the new additions made by Burton and his crew to be rather fresh and lively and I did not miss the old Sleepy Hollow for a second.
The character of the Horseman was a wonderful rendering. He was truly a vivid portrait of evil, both with and without his head. Most other villains look toothless by comparison. Of all the villains from movies in the past year, The Headless Horseman is the one I would least like to have pursuing me.
I loved the movie’s grim, fairy tale look. It was an absolutely beautiful film. Every frame was like a work of art, a gothic painting come to life. I was enthralled by it.
I loved the work of all the actors, but Johnny Depp in particular. He is one of those actors I love in just about anything. His work here is rich and wonderful. He takes a character that could easily have been nothing more than a cartoon character and gives him all sorts of wonderful, quirky qualities that endear him to us. We have seen a lot of characters go up against chilling supernatural villains, but we have never seen one quite like Ichabod.
I also loved the little touches of humor. They were subtle, charming and very, very clever.
The action scenes are also worthy of note. Much of the film is very exciting. And some of it is genuinely scary.
And, regarding Mr. Elfman’s score: so what if there were no memorable themes? The music was wonderful and did an exemplary job of establishing mood and suspense. It did the job. In these days of the Hans Zimmer scores that all sound the same, Elfman’s bold orchestral manuevers are worthy of high praise.
I enjoyed “Sleepy Hollow” from beginning to end. It had a few moments that weren’t as good as others, but on the whole I was completely dazzled. The old Universal Horror films were not perfect either. We only are led to believe they were because they are old.
Personally, I would take “Sleepy Hollow” over the original “Frankenstein” any day. Bravo again, Mr. Burton.
