Last weekend we took advantage of Amy being away to watch a movie that one of us had picked. Sleepy Hollow was actually from my Netflix list, although I have no memory of how it got there, or why. It doesn’t seem like a movie I would normally pick. Most likely somebody told me I would like it or something.

Anyway, I did like the visual stype and everything. I like Tim Burton’s stuff on those lines. And this was not an exception. I can’t say I was overly impressed with the rest though. And I know it wasn’t supposed to track the old short story, but to me I think it lost one critical element. Namely that you never knew if what was happening was real, or just in Ichabod’s head, or perhaps was other people in the town playing tricks. That ambiguity was part of what made the story the story. In this, not only is Ichabod a detective rather than a schoolteacher (OK, whatever) but that uncertainty is completely tossed aside. It is clear by fairly early in the movie which of those is going on. They don’t even really encouage any doubt past a certain point. And it wasn’t the one of the three options I would have picked, or which I think would have been the most interesting. And that just bothered me.

But I did like the visual style and stuff.