On its own merits, a good movie.

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2003)

I hate to judge a movie by comparing it to something else, even if its the short story on which the movie is based...
But I have to. Minority Report basically tears the basic idea and the main character's name out of the short story by Philip K. Dick, and doesn't use much else. At least when they did this to "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale" and "Second Variety" they had the decency to change the titles.
That being said, the story that has been crafted is better than your average summer movie, although the effects are definitely top-tier. This is by no means a small movie, nor it is a small story.
I like Minority Report. It has good direction, good acting, good production design. However, I would be remiss if I said it was great. I couldn't ever give this more than a 7. It suffers from plot holes, lack of memorable dialogue, and personally, I think it focuses too much on Anderton's sentimentality rather than the ethics of pre-crime.
In the short story, there are hard questions, and the answers aren't exactly what we'd like them to be. In the short story, we see a man who is so committed to an idea and a cause, that he is willing to do something that most people wouldn't. In the movie, however, the same ideas are taken and put on different terms. Perhaps some people find the change more compelling. I don't. I think its the same kind of thing Hollywood and Spielberg do a lot. Add sentimentality where its not needed. Even worse, add it when it detracts from the main issue.

-POSSIBLE SPOILER-

This could've been a scathing indictment of the justice system, but its bogged down by a dead kid. A good movie, but a let-down.