Sleepy Hollow (1999)

What works in this sleepy hollow adaptation by Tim Burton? The haunting atmosphere and the fantastic production design. I feel like I was transported to Sleepy Hollow of the past centuries. Johnny Depp as the milquetoast constable Ichabod Crane is more than competent and frankly I could not have envisioned anyone in this role. Supporting cast are Christina Ricci and Casper Van Dien and of course Christopher Walken as the scary headless horseman. The pacing is excellent although I feel this is a niche film and you need to watch it with a certain mindset.

Sleepy HollowAs always, the production design, costume design, background score and the tone of the feature endorses it more than any other aspect of it. Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker; the writers, lay out all the big guns before it even hits the screen, after which the only thing awaits, is the journey and the path that it takes to reach out to its predictable outcome which fortunately is intriguing enough to invest in it. If not for Tim Burton, the feature wouldn't have made it post its first act, for each and every frame screams his manner throughout its runtime. Johnny Depp is convincing in it but isn't as good as expected or required and neither is supported well enough by the supporting cast like Christina Ricci and Miranda Richardson. Sleepy Hollow is not how it seems but unfortunately not in a good way, for even though it may hold the viewers for around 100 minutes, as soon as the curtain drops it is quite easy to forget.

Continuing my plan to watch every Johnny Depp movie in order, I come to his last release of the decade Sleepy Hollow.Teaming up with director Tim Burton for a third time, Depp once again totally imperceptible himself in a character. He is superb. One thing I remember from 1999 was Depp not wanting Christina Ricci cast, as he had known her since she was 9 (filming Mermaids with Winina Ryder) and felt filming a love scene would have been awkward!! The scene Depp had an issue with was removed and she was cast!! I think it was a good move as she fits right in, in her second movie with Depp. The supporting cast is full of familiar faces Michael Gambon, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gough, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths and Emperor Papatine himself Ian McDiarmid. I won't reveal who plays the headless horseman for those who have not seen it, but he is well known, it's not his first Depp movie and he was great. Burton, who jumped at the chance to make this movie after his disastrous time on Superman Lives, really knows how to set an atmosphere and he is right at home here.Depp ended the decade on a high, as Sleepy Hollow won an Oscar for Best Art Direction and was the highest grossing movie (in which he had a leading role) of Depp's career (almost doubling the gross of the previous holder Edward Scissorhands) grossing $101 million dollars at the domestic box office to end the year as the 21st highest grossing movie of 1999. It was also the first Depp led movie to cross $100 million at the domestic box office.

I found this a little hard to pin down but if there is a problem with Sleepy Hollow then it probably lies with Johnny Depp and the depiction of supernatural fantasy here without ever making it convincing. Depp is all over the place in this one, adopting a comic tone in a movie that really shouldn't have one, and coming across like a poor man's Bob Hope than anything else. His frequent fainting is ridiculous.To make the supernatural convincing in movies you need to build up to it and handle it carefully; but Tim Burton just throws it at the viewer, making it far less believable (and effective) than it could have been. The main compensations in the film are how jaw-droppingly Gothic-gorgeous it looks (almost taken for granted when Tim Burton's the director), and the chance to see some great old actors do their stuff. Christopher Lee, Michael Gambon, Michael Gough (yayy the star of Konga is back!) etc give it an air of class, and Christopher Walken is genuinely creepy as the horseman.Burton's main weakness is that he struggles to tell his story as well as he might - probably only in Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood (maybe he should film MR. ED next!) does he keep the narrative on an even keel. And yet his love of horror films is so genuine it comes through in every frame. The windmill used at the film's climax is surely an homage to both Frankenstein and The Brides of Dracula. If only Depp had played it straight the movie might have worked much better.