Sleepy Hollow: Critic Reviews

94%

MovieWeb: 9 reviews

67%

RottenTomatoes: 50 reviews

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Jay Carr Boston Globe (Top Critic)

Sleepy looks good, but acting is headless.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Jeff Millar Houston Chronicle (Top Critic)

Burton has picked up his considerable imagination and shaken it, but not much came out.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Steven Rosen Denver Post (Top Critic)

Unpleasantly ugly.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Peter Rainer New York Magazine (Top Critic)

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.
Full Review » 8 years ago
Jay Boyar Orlando Sentinel (Top Critic)

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.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Ernest Hardy Film.com (Top Critic)

A mild aftertaste of disappointment.
Full Review » 12 years ago
James Berardinelli ReelViews (Top Critic)

50

The film suffers from tepid performances, feebly drawn characters, and a meandering narrative.
Full Review » 12 years ago
Peter Travers Rolling Stone (Top Critic)

90

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.
Full Review » 11 years ago
Nell Minow Common Sense Media

40

There are lots of slasher movies better than this.
Full Review » 1 year ago
Ken Hanke Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

100

It is a horror film, but it's a Tim Burton horror film. Make no mistake about that.
Full Review » 2 years ago
Ted Murphy Hollywood.com

40

Burton piles on the artistic gore for this rendition. He just forgets to add the terror.
Full Review » 3 years ago
Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com

88

The quirks of this Sleepy Hollow prevent it from ever being truly scary, but what they do make it is a quintessentially Burton film.
Full Review » 5 years ago
Joe Lozito Big Picture Big Sound

63

A film which looks great but, in the end, is not the sum of its body parts.
Full Review » 5 years ago
Derek Adams Time Out

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.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Jeffrey M. Anderson Combustible Celluloid

[Burton's] vision of the ominous woods, the shadowy town, and its pale inhabitants give the film texture and bring it to life.
Full Review » 6 years ago
Robin Clifford Reeling Reviews

75

This updated story is a real showcase for Johnny Depp, whose collaborations with Tim Burton represent some of the actor's best work.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Jeffrey Overstreet Looking Closer

59

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.
Full Review » 7 years ago
Gabriel Shanks Mixed Reviews

67

Burton's visual sensibilties are always breathtaking.
Full Review » 8 years ago
James Sanford Kalamazoo Gazette

75

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.
Full Review » 9 years ago
John R. McEwen Film Quips Online

60

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.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Wesley Lovell Oscar Guy

75

Gorgeous to watch, but lacking in a sound emotional core.
Full Review » 9 years ago
David Poland Hot Button

Sleepy Hollow is the great, gory family film of the year. Heads will indeed roll.
Full Review » 9 years ago
Andrew O'Hehir Sight and Sound

No longer a prodigy at age 41, Tim Burton has now become a problem; I still find myself watching his movies with bemused tolerance, thinking surely he'll be a great director when he grows up.
Full Review » 9 years ago
James Rocchi Netflix

80

A spooky gothic horror tale with first-rate production design.
Full Review » 10 years ago
Margaret A. McGurk Cincinnati Enquirer

75

Even though Sleepy Hollow takes hair-raising liberties with the great Washington Irving story on which it is based, it is nonetheless a ripping good ghost story.
Full Review » 10 years ago