Reel Reviews Column: A perfect return for Tim Burton
JAMIE ANNEL
"Sleepy Hollow"
*** out of ****
"Sleepy Hollow," based upon the classic tale by Washington Irving, is a perfect return to form for director Tim Burton after 1996’s dreadful "Mars Attacks!."
In "Sleepy Hollow," Johnny Depp (in his third Burton film) plays Ichabod Crane, a New York City constable who voices dissatisfaction with the barbaric, traditional ways of justice still used in the city.
So a judge orders Crane to the small, upstate town of Sleepy Hollow, where there has been a recent spate of decapitations. There he will be allowed to practice his detective work.
When Crane arrives in Sleepy Hollow, the citizens don’t mince words: they say right out that the murders were committed by the Headless Horseman, the ghost who lives in the woods surrounding the town. Crane is at first skeptical, but a close encounter with the Horseman soon convinces him otherwise.
While in Sleepy Hollow, Crane stays with the wealthy Van Tassels, and soon strikes up a relationship with Katrina Van Tassel (Christina Ricci). Katrina, it turns out, may be the key to understanding the mystery surrounding the Horseman.
Depp gives a perfect performance as Ichabod Crane. He strikes just the right notes; playing Ichabod as a somewhat cowardly yet determined man. Ricci is good as Katrina, although she doesn’t benefit from a lot of characterization.
Above all, the movie looks fabulous. The art direction and cinematography are suitably spooky, and the costumes are excellent. The plot moves quickly, but the flashbacks scenes to Ichabod’s childhood are just useless and serve no purpose to the larger story.
The time taken up by those sequences would have been better spent developing more background on the other main characters.