Johnny Depp is Constable Ichabod Crane in Sleepy Hollow, Tim Burton's vision of Washington Irving's classic tale. In this adaptation, Crane is a New York City detective with unusual methods of investigation. He is sent to the small town of Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of grisly murders where the victims have all lost their heads. Crane is enamored with Katarina Van Tassel (Ricci), a beautiful young woman who may have some secret knowledge of a supernatural explanation. Nominated for three Academy Awards® including cinematography and costume design, this visually exciting film won an Oscar® for Art Direction/Set Direction (Rick Heinrichs and Peter Young).
Includes audio commentary by Director Tim Burton, a 30-minute making-of featurette, almost 12 minutes behind the scenes with the cast & crew, a teaser and theatrical trailer, and previews.
The stylized 1.85:1 VC-1-encoded HD DVD picture features a very dark, desaturated look, with deep blacks and a grainy presence that matches the storyline nicely. Detail is impressive, even in the darkest scenes, with very good shadow delineation. Fleshtones are given a washed-out, pallid hue, which also, when combined with the desaturated colors, gives a sickly impression that works well with the story.(Danny Richelieu)
With its somewhat underwhelming surround soundstaging, the Dolby® Digital Plus- and DTS® Digital Surround™-encoded soundtrack does not deliver the sense of realism that some of the better mixes will provide. Fidelity is pristine in both tracks, although it is improved noticeably so in the Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The DTS track has an edginess to the presentation that hinders its believability. Danny Elfman's well-recorded, and perfectly appropriate music score is the standout of this release. (Danny Richelieu)