|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Check your mail, or get a free address
|
Production InfoJohnny Depp .... Constable Ichabod CraneChristina Ricci .... Katrina Anne Van Tassel Miranda Richardson .... Lady Mary Van Tassel/The Western Woods Crone Michael Gambon .... Baltus Van Tassel Casper Van Dien .... Brom Van Brunt Complete info can be found at imdb.com The DVD release can be found at Amazon.com Premise
Burton is all about tone - and the darker, more foreboding he makes it, the better he is at it. He's in top form here. Sleepy Hollow takes Washington Irving's folktale, nods at it a few times, and then goes on to tell a fascinating story that bears just enough resemblance to Irving's that it's recognizable. Only the names have not been changed to protect the innocent. Ichabod Crane is, in this version, a police constable from a New York just on the edge of the 19th century, fighting to have science and reason taken seriously in police investigations. He's sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders that apparently have no scientific or reasonable explanations. Or do they? High Point"It's a headless horseman!" Low PointI'm torn here. I was initially going to pick Crane's series of dream sequences. They're completely superfluous and unnecessary to the story - his personal history doesn't really need to be explained as his characterization comes through quite well simply from his actions. And then Christina Ricci opened her mouth. She's not an inherently bad actress - I've seen her do good work (though just what escapes me at the moment) but this is far from it. I just can't choose! The ScoresThe originality is debatable. Certainly, it's an adaptation of a short story - but it's so heavily adapted (and stretched to fill a feature film) that very little is left of the original but an inspiration. I'll give it the bendefit of the doubt and a 4 out of 6. The effects were excellent - most notable are the severed heads. Prior to this movie, a severed head usually looked waxen, stiff, and unbelievable. That's because prior to this, severed heads really were waxen. (I'm of course referring only to those in movies.) With this movie, they began to digitally place images of people's faces onto the molded head - and while subtle, the difference is noticeable (if you're looking for that sort of thing. And I do). For that alone, I'd give it a 5, but add the rest of the effects in and it gets a 6 out of 6. I'm not 100% on the story. There are places where it seems needlessly belabored - and numerous times it occurred to me that one of the more expedient things to do would be to have killed Crane. But, then you wouldn't have a happy ending and everyone goes home sad. To be fair, it's better than some of the movies I've seen this summer. 3 out of 6. The acting was uneven - Depp gave his usual stellar performance, and most of the supporting cast was excellent. They made up for Ricci's less than inspiring performance (which usually drew me enough out of the movie that I was able to think things like "so why *didn't* they just kill Crane?") and Miranda Richardson's awkward explanation of the plot (which really wasn't her fault). Since on the whole it was really quite good, I give it a 4 out of 6. (On a side note - does anyone else find it hard to take Christopher Walken seriously these days?) It's hard to judge emotional response here. I've seen this about 5 times now - obviously I enjoy it - but I'm sure my emotional response has been damped down. I remember my heart racing at points when I saw it in the theater - and I know my wife spent a sleepless night alone when she first moved into our apartment and watched it late at night by herself. That - and the fact that I still laugh at all the "jokes" scattered throughout - says to me that this did what it intended to do - and thus gets a 6 out of 6. I didn't notice any problems with production - and I was watching for them this time through. I'm sure IMDB has a list of every production flub, but as a casual viewer, the production was quite good. 5 out of 6. Overall, this was an excellent movie, with everything I wanted it to have - there's a certain feel you begin to expect from a Tim Burton movie, and a certain level of quality. This has it. Definitely a 6 out of 6. In total, Sleepy Hollow recieves a score of 34 out of 42. Halloween Countdown to date
|
|
