joan_white_angel

This may be one of the oldest Disney's cartoons but it is certainly one of the bests. This time the real story (Sleepy Hollow) by Washington Irving is taken seriously and the characters' design couldn't be more ideal. The main character, Ichabod Crane, is a teacher going on his way to Sleepy Hollow and he is exactly like the book tells us, a really strange person, big ears and nose almost looking like a scarecrow. This guy falls in love by Katrina Van Tassel, a very beautiful and apparently innocent girl, who is the only heiress to her father fortune. Then there's Brom, a very strong man who is decided to win Katrina's heart at all cost. There will be really fun moments due to Ichabod's character and when Ichabod and Brom are both trying to win Katrina. Then in the Halloween night there's a party in the Van Tassel's mansion where Brom will scare the superstitious teacher by telling the legend of the Headless Horseman. After the party, Ichabod will have to ride home alone and now the question is: Will the Headless Horseman ride again to cut a head off?

For me this is one of the best horror movies ever. The story (the headless horseman) is an American classic. The movie doesn't quite follow the original story but is a very good version. Johnny is great. Johnny's character (Ichabod Crane)is very different from the Washington Irving's character but Johnny plays it wonderfully, he is quite funny sometimes and you never know what is going in his mind. Miranda Richardson is fantastic as always (playing once more one of the bad characters), Michael Gambon as well. Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Christopher Lee, Richard Griffiths and Ian McDiarmid are great actors but this movie does not show them at their best. Christopher Walken was great as the headless horseman, he was really scary (with those blue eyes and sharp-edged teeth who wouldn't?!). Christina Ricci was the one that disappointed me. Her character was not what I expected and she didn't seem very convincing to me. No offence. I hope it isn't taken because I think she's a good actress but this one didn't got out very well. The special effects were fantastic, the tree of the dead and the windmill scene... well you will see what I mean after watching the movie. And the last but not less important facts: Tim Burton and Danny Elfman. Those two work really well together. Tim is a great director and Danny's fantastic soundtrack complete each other.A funny thing: when I started seeing the movie for the first time I thought it was black and white.