Reviews

I am so glad that my friend asked me to go with her to see Sleepy Hollow. She only needed one reason to see it; Tim Burton. I was interested in seeing it myself to see how this adaptation of the old story would pan out.

Neither her nor I expected to get so much entertainment value out of this movie.

First of all, Johnny Depp carried the nervous, yellow-bellied portrayal of Ichabod Crane very well. My friend pointed out that it was an interesting change to Ichabod's character from the original story; back then, he was a fraidy-cat teacher, but in the movie, he's a fraidy-cat science-worshipping sleuth. It really made the story interesting; a bumbling detective looking for a common murderer who wasn't common at all. The supporting cast was also well-conceived which really brought across the small-town everyone-knows-everybody feeling of the village.

The overall story was pretty decent, but I don't expect it to win any awards. The whole thing was like an overblown Scooby Doo mystery, with an almost mundane secret plot behind the Horseman's rampage. It was more of an obstruction to the whole legend if anything, forcing reason behind the ghost's thirst for bloodshed and heads. But it's the ghostly phenomena where the movie really shined.

Whisps of ethereal smoke extinguishing torches. Clomping footsteps in an otherwise unoccupied covered bridge. A tree that bleeds when cut. Everything is in place to give this movie the atmosphere it needs to pull off a great "ghost story" atmosphere. And we were pleasantly shocked but not surprised when we discovered it was Ray Park (Darth Maul, "Phantom Menace") giving the headless rider its amazing weapon skill.

And maybe it was our collectively twisted sense of humor, but this movie was knee-slapping hilarious at times! So did many others in the audience as well. Ichabod's mannerisms and sniveling ways were almost comic genius; the movie isn't trying to be a comedy but Ichabod turns it into one at times anyway. And it's great. The fact that my friend and I were making head puns and jokes ("he came out a'head' on that one) throughout the movie and afterward only added to our total enjoyment of the film.

This isn't a b-movie horror flick. Nor is it a multiple Oscar-winning masterpiece. I don't think you will find it to be a waste of money, though. It's an above average mild horror movie that should appeal to many moviegoers' tastes. But you *have* to see it with friends!

Well, first off let me tell you that I'm a 23-year-old college student with no kids. That aside, I'll get into my take on the movie.

It starts off with a short cartoon, "Pikachu's First Vacation", where the audience is treated (?) to a day in the life of a Pokemon at a little amusement park without supervision any of its "trainers" around (there are only voice overs when the trainers say it's time to go). The only dialogue comes from the Pokemon themselves ("Pika! Pikapika!") and a Pokedex computer voice that talks through the film like a "Wild Kingdom" nature show announcer. It's mildly interesting, but ultimately a little bizarre. Pokemon veterans would probably like it, but others would just scratch their head, and even cry foul--small, almost subliminal, interruptions happen right in the middle of the action consisting of a bunch of Pokemon sliding across the screen making disturbing chants with their names (obviously a marketing ploy of some sort).

And then, finally, comes the movie. The plotline deals with a genetically engineered super-powerful Pokemon, Mewtwo, who decides to play God and clear the planet of all humans and Pokemon not under his protection with his awesome powers. He invites a few of the best Pokemon trainers around (including our hero, Ash Ketchum) to the island under cover of a challenge when really he plans on using their Pokemon's genetic material to make his own "super Pokemon clones". Yep, clones.

The movie's introduction is surprisingly impressive in my opinion. Mewtwo has a dramatic introduction that has him pondering his existence and purpose in life. The beginning made the movie look more promising than I had hoped. I thought it was an odd beginning for a kid's movie, but I wasn't complaining. Unfortunately, that's where the movie's goodness ends and its heavy-handed cheesy moralistic side begins.

The movie actually tries to preach against genetic experiments and cloning! I just couldn't believe it. And then the movie surreptitiously switches it over to a "racial harmony" kind of message. I was sitting there thinking, "What the hell does the movie think it's doing?" Several teaspoons of sugar are added and eventually you just want to block it out until something better comes along.

All in all, I don't think it was worth the price of admission. The animation was great, the story was more interesting than I had expected to start, but by the middle and end of the movie, you're just ready to get out of there. If you're a college student still clinging to his/her childhood, wait to rent this one. But if you do go, just be ready to take the bad with the good. The good being Mewtwo (and the bumbling Team Rocket) and the bad being the movie's forced doses of silly out-of-place morals.

Well, okay, it gets bonus points for Mew. Mew's too cute!

My score? A 2 out of 10 for parents, a 6 out of 10 for people my age, and a 7 out of 10 for the kids.

Even this may be giving away too much, but any preconceptions you have about Fight Club must be left at the door. I thought it was just going to be just a bunch of punk losers duking it out for no reason whatsoever and getting crazy with it while some mystery woman smoked cigarettes in an erotic fashion. Waste of money, time, please don't make me sit though this.

My friends and I walked out of the theater totally dumbfounded by what we had just seen. My friend said it best, "That wasn't a good movie, it wasn't a bad movie... it was just f@#$ed up." And that pretty much sums up my view. It starts out as a trip through an everyman-type-of-guy's life who runs into a couple of disturbing characters. At this point, the movie begins pull away from what its commercials and ads portrayed it to be. Some people may think the movie just sucks and is totally cheesy. But if you really think about what the movie is trying to do and you don't shut it out after the movie's big plot twist, you will leave the theater... affected. It may be as benign as just scratching your head for a few seconds and then driving home. Or it my change your outlook on life. Either way, this isn't a good fight flick or a cheesy action dud, it's just... weird.

Go see it once. You've got to see it once. But you'll understand that this is something you can't go back and see again, because that would be pointless. See it with friends so you can gather around your car in the parking lot and talk about it afterwards. This is the kind of movie Fight Club is.