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Burton, for all his skill, never ranges beyond the thrills of the obvious; he doesn't enlarge the meaning of the horror he shows us, the way a Brian De Palma might.
Sleepy Hollow has an aesthetic that seems based on album covers. It doesn't feel like the work of an artist in any way.
Even when the narrative stalls from too many detours and decapitations, Sleepy Hollow is gorgeous filmmaking that brims over with fun-house thrills and ravishing romance.
Sleepy looks good, but acting is headless.
I find it utterly dispiriting that the talented Burton could think of nothing better to do with this astonishingly rich material than to transform it into soulless junk.
The entire film is an eyeful, an odd triumph of old-fashioned filmmaking.
There are lots of slasher movies better than this.
It is a horror film, but it's a Tim Burton horror film. Make no mistake about that.
Burton piles on the artistic gore for this rendition. He just forgets to add the terror.
There may be some problems in the storytelling and exposition departments, but no one would deny the effective visual scheme that creates a fairy tale world in which the existence of a malevolent Headless Horseman ... is completely believable.
The quirks of this Sleepy Hollow prevent it from ever being truly scary, but what they do make it is a quintessentially Burton film.
A film which looks great but, in the end, is not the sum of its body parts.
For about an hour it's a fine, ghoulish carnival sideshow, and that has its charms, but there's a thin desperation about the climax.
[Burton's] vision of the ominous woods, the shadowy town, and its pale inhabitants give the film texture and bring it to life.
This updated story is a real showcase for Johnny Depp, whose collaborations with Tim Burton represent some of the actor's best work.
Sleepy Hollow is, above all, beautiful to look at. Instead of using effects to make things look real, Burton makes everything look like a painting.
Burton's visual sensibilties are always breathtaking.
often feels akin to the Hammer horror movies made in England during the 1950s and 1960s, the spooky/gory spectacles that broke new ground in presenting on-screen violence.
The Burton trademark special effects are typically fun, but the late release and lackluster performances make Sleepy Hollow feel exactly like its title: sleepy and hollow.
Gorgeous to watch, but lacking in a sound emotional core.
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