Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp in "Sleepy Hollow."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp Director: Tim Burton Rated: Rated R, with strong violence and gore Length: 105 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Nov. 19, 1999) -- Most of us know the fable of Icabod Crane and the Headless Horseman from the popular 1949 Disney cartoon, featuring the oh-so-mellow narration of Bing Crosby.

Tim Burton's new Sleepy Hollow with Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci is not that movie.

In this moody, atmospheric and very violent variation, Burton pays homage more to the Hammer horror films of the '50s and '60s than to anything created by Uncle Walt. Like the Hammer Studios flicks with Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing, Sleepy Hollow features an ensemble of eccentric, over-the-top characters brought to life in arch portrayals. (One is Lee himself, as a Manhattan judge.)

The spooky melodrama plays out in moody, fog-shrouded marshes; in careening, horse-drawn carriages that seem bound for Hell; and in a spooky, rickety 18th-century village, lit only by a moon that rarely peaks from behind stormy clouds.

The film's monochromatic, muted color scheme is enlivened only by streams of rich, red blood.

The credits say Burton's film is based on Washington Irving's classic The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. ''Very loosely adapted'' would be more appropriate.

For openers, Icabod Crane -- the hapless hero played by Depp -- has been changed from Irving's milquetoast schoolteacher to a determined young New York City constable who prefers scientific logic to metaphysical beliefs and folklore.

Depp's Crane is dispatched from Manhattan to the tiny Hudson Valley village, where three gruesome murders have been reported: In each case, the victim has been decapitated.

The villagers firmly believe the murderer is the headless horseman, the dark spirit of a Hessian soldier (Christopher Walken in flashbacks). A ruthless swordsman who fought for the British during the recent Revolutionary War, the Hessian was buried without his head. His spirit is believed to be seeking revenge, rampaging across the countryside on a giant, black steed.

The scientific Crane is skeptical -- he prefers to search for clues to a flesh-and-blood human villain. Along the way, he receives guidance in spiritual matters from an attractive young villager (Ricci).

Burton has already displayed a unique talent for nightmarish atmosphere, dark humor and oddball characters in Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Batman and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Sleepy Hollow is clearly in the Burton mold.

The screenplay was written by Andrew Kevin Walker, who also wrote Seven and obviously has a thing for characters who lose their heads.

Though he and Burton have come up with a strong opening and rip-roaring finale, the tale becomes a bit overloaded with plot detail and several extraneous characters depicted in real time and in flashbacks. There's a noticeable sag in the film's vast middle portion.