In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.

Q: ' bicentennial man ' is a family film without any external motive with the exception of providing the minimum dose of entertainment .
chris columbus , the director who gave you " mrs . doubtfire " , plays on sentimental strings and mushy dialogue to make his point .
based on the short story by isaac asimov , it is supposed to be a science fiction story about a robot who wants to be human , which as you can imagine is very difficult .
starting in a not too distant future the film concentrates on a wealthy family that buys an android to help them with the house and children .
soon this robot , called andrew ( robin williams ) shows abilities that makes his owner mr .
martin ( sam neill ) very curious .
andrew is interested in art and music , he " enjoys " making clocks , which clearly shows that he has genuine emotions .
it shows out that because of a small failure in the " electrical circuits " and " positronic brain " andrew has accidentally gained a soul .
this makes him unique and his evil creators worried .
then mr .
martin decides to teach andrew all the things he was n't programmed to do .
soon andrew wants to leave the house in pursuit of freedom , destiny and love .
this film can be described as a disney version of blade runner , a film that still shines as the biggest gem in the crown of science fiction .
ever since that film , the subject of humanity still stands as one big controversy .
what makes us human ?
the thoughts ?
the emotions ? is it possible to become human ?
at what point can we say to a robot " now you are one of us " ?
these are very tough questions that require a serious and thurral approach .
it is obvious that columbus did n't take them very seriously .
when you think about it , this film is not really meditating on the question
" when is a robot no longer a machine , but a human being ? " , but tells a story about racial discrimination and lack of understanding .
andrew is so complex and emotional from the very beginning that the audience immediately accepts him as a human being , and only the society has troubles with it .
in other words , it is as far from reality as from the academy awards .
further more , there are other annoying problems .
to this day no serious filmmaker has dared to speculate about the future in more than 50 years from now .
this has not been done for obvious reasons , because the filmmakers are well aware of the fact that they lack the knowledge and imagination to perform such a difficult task .
columbus is the first to have crossed that line .
the result is , as you might imagine , primitive , unrealistic and incredibly disappointing effort .
the world is simply frozen in time .
neither the society , fashion , culture or values have changed over 200 years .
mom is still working at the kitchen , doing the dishes .
when you think back to the late 17th century and then compare it to the world we live in today , you 'll see a slightly bigger difference .
i am not saying that everything should change .
it is unlikely that the human rights will change , but it 's even more unlikely that there will not be any progress in science , technology and fashion .
i suppose it 's possible to watch this as a some sort of bizarre fairytale , but it 's really hard .
robin williams is hidden behind c and speaking in a robotic way .
as always he does a decent job , as does sam neill .
but it does n't really matter .
it is the sentimentality and length that turns
this picture into a tiresome experience .
pretty much like last year 's " meet joe black " , this is a primitive and unresolved story which is presented with a splendor and professionalism that it does n't deserve .
great actors and a talented crew have worked hard to achieve something that will be instantly forgotten .
when isaac asimov wrote this story , the future seemed far away and magical .
everything seemed possible .
now is the future of asimov 's time , and we know that it is not as magical and perfect as it seemed a long time ago .
for the same reasons that the young generation of today can not be amazed by julius verne 's " 20 000 leagues under the sea " , so ca n't we accept this story as a potential reality .
let us hope that next year 's " a. i. " will be more rewarding .

A: N
****
Q: why do so many children 's films treat their target audience with utter contempt ? too many of those who write or direct for children 's movies assume that the kids just ca n't handle serious , thoughtful discussions on meaningful issues .
"
the iron giant , " which was directed and co - written by brad bird , late of such animated series as " the simpsons " and " king of the hill , " assumes that not only can children handle such discussions , but that they can do so while being entertained at the same time .
"
the iron giant " holds absolutely no contempt for the young people in the audience , making it a film that 's enjoyable for both children and adults alike
.
hogarth hughes ( voice of eli marienthal ) is a spirited young lad who lives with his hard - working single mother , annie ( jennifer aniston ) , in a small town in maine .
after staying up late and watching scary movies on a night his mother is away , hogarth treks out into the forest to investigate what has stolen his antenna and ruined his tv reception .
he comes across a giant robot ( vin diesel ) from space that eats metal for food .
after saving the robot , nicknamed the iron giant , from electric shock , hogarth befriends the creature and takes him in as a pet of sorts .
because of damage he suffered upon landing , the giant has forgotten what his original mission was , so he just follows hogarth around like a lost puppy .
realizing he ca n't just keep the giant in a barn all the time , and that the giant needs food , he takes him to a junkyard owned by dean ( harry connick jr . ) , an eccentric artist who assembles sculptures out of scrap iron in his spare time .
it soon becomes apparent that dean and hogarth ca n't keep the giant a secret forever , because a government spook named kent mansley ( christopher mcdonald ) has been brought in to investigate mysterious sightings in the surrounding forest area and considers the giant a threat to national security .
he suspects hogarth knows something about the giant , and takes up residence in hogarth 's house as a lodger .
meanwhile , the giant begins to exhibit ominous behavior that suggests he was built to be a weapon of some kind .
"
the iron giant " is exactly what family films ought to be , because it doesn ' t talk down to its audience .
the story is simple , very simple , about an alien being that drops out of the sky and befriends a young boy .
it 's very similar to the spielberg classic " e .
t . , ' and such comparisons are actually deserved in the case of " the iron giant .
"
the film holds many of the better elements of spielberg 's film , such as the ability to be sentimental without turning sappy .
the film delivers several serious messages , the most important of which is one 's ability to choose one 's own fate .
hogarth teaches the giant to go against his programming and become what he wants to be : a hero .
the final sequence is touching and appropriate , though i wo n't give it away , i will say that very few will be disappointed .
the animation , while not up to disney standards ( what could be , after " tarzan " ? ) , is good enough to make you forget you 're watching a cartoon .
the giant is computer - animated , while the human characters are all hand - drawn the old - fashioned way .
the characters ' faces are done quite well , drawn realistically enough to make the personalities credible , but the features are exaggerated so as to allow for the cartoonish expressions that provide for comic relief .
fine voice work is turned in by young eli marienthal as hogarth , and jennifer aniston is surprisingly convincing as his waitress mother .
harry connick jr .
does a nice characterization as dean , and i really enjoyed the voice work of john mahoney ( of tv 's " frasier " ) as an army general called in by agent mansley .
unlike several cartoon features , each character is actually a developed personality , rather than a stereotype , and is actually integral to the plot , rather than being a superfluous comic - relief sidekick ( a clich ?
disney still has n't ditched ) .
dean , for example , could have been a stereotypical beatnik ( his character profile seems to suggest that ) , but he is presented as a character with real emotions , thoughts , and motivations .
even the heavy , agent mansley , is not a villain who does bad things simply because he wants to , but out of his own fear and paranoia .
a lesser animated feature would have drawn up paper - thin stereotypes and figure the kids wo n't mind , but " the iron giant " has clearly put a little work into making the characters real , and it pays off .
the film is n't only around to deliver heavy - handed messages , though .
it 's also very funny , and the humor is of the kind that both children and adults will enjoy .
the scenes in which hogarth teaches the giant to do certain things , such as dive into a pool , are handled well , and director brad bird clearly has a sense of comic timing , having worked on " the simpsons " for many years .
a sequence where hogarth and mansley attempt to " outlast " one another by trying to stay awake is very nicely timed , and also extremely clever .
the film even takes some jabs at america 's nuclear paranoia during the early stages of the cold war , satirizing the lame safety films shown to grade school students that tell them to " duck and cover " in the event of a nuclear attack .
"
the iron giant " has much more of a satirical edge to it than most family films , and the edgy humor is actually quite refreshing .
instead of seeing people get bonked on the head , we get well - timed , clever gags that seem to have required some imagination to come up with
.
when you get right down to it , " the iron giant " is no more than the story of a boy and his robot .
the story is so straightforward , so quaint , that it ultimately becomes charming .
though i enjoy the complex plotting of film noir as much as the next person , when it comes to family entertainment , simple is the way to go .
it 's akin to one of those bedtime stories your father told that had you hanging on his every word , but it 's not the story that sets the film above others of its kind ,
but rather the elements that go into the story , namely real characters and thoughtful dialogue , which " the iron giant " has in spades .

A: P
****
Q: plot : a rich psychiatrist with a great home life gets his cute daughter kidnapped by some bad guys who want him to extract some information from the mind of one of his nutty patients .
of course , the patient is not cooperative and the doctor only has a few hours to comply with their demands , before they kill his daughter . pretty good premise , no ?
critique : if you 're not a fan of movies packed with plot holes , inconsistencies and yes , even more plot holes , heed my words and skip this hollow thriller
.
and i do n't like saying that either , since this film actually had some potential and started off pretty well .
sure , the story is basically just an amalgamation of ransom , primal fear and nick of time pureed into one , but the whole " psychiatrist working against the clock " thing , actually had me engaged at first .
but it 's at about the halfway mark of this movie , that the bottom drops out and all that we 're left with are a lot of questions and very few plausible answers
.
we get the overly smart kid who manages to " pull one " over on the bad guys .
we get a weak woman with her leg in a cast beating the crap out of a tough bad guy .
we get douglas ' character , a new york uppedity psychiatrist , suddenly turning into an action hero , with moves and attitude to boot .
and what about the film 's main plot point ?
why would the bad guys still give a crap about this thing after 10 years , and even more so
, why would they only give the shrink until the day 's end to do his part ?
( you waited 10 years , what 's another few days ?
- or why not set up another heist instead ? ) .
i 'll tell you why , it 's because we would n't have a ( bad ) movie
otherwise , that 's why !
and many , many more .
ugh ,
whatever the case , it was just about the time that douglas ' character suddenly removed murphy 's character from the mental home ( and how come
she went with him so nicely ?
i thought she did n't trust him ) , that i turned to my buddy and asked when the movie had turned into a joke .
and a few bogus chase and action sequences later , we were left with a long - winded ending that did little to answer any other questions i might 've still had , and actually brought up even more contradictions .
badly put together , this movie features some decent acting , some nice cinematography and an initially interesting premise , but
loses it all in a haze of plot miscues which ultimately leave you with little care for anyone .
in fact , if it was n't for brittany murphy 's excellent portrayal of a traumatized teen , jennifer esposito 's embarrassing performance as a police woman ( yeah , right ! watching her delivering lines was the funniest part of this flick-
but it was n't supposed to be ) and
michael douglas ' cool " regular guy " part , there would be little reason to remain seated until the end of this picture .
incidentally , can anyone please give me one good reason why esposito 's character was in this movie in the first place ?
she was completely superfluous .
and on top of all that , by the end of this flick , the director seems to have realized how dumb the audience must be to have bought most of the garbage that he 'd been shoveling out for the hour and a half prior , and decides to add insult to injury by flashing back to an earlier character 's death when one of the bad guys dies ,
just so we know ( as an audience ) , that the two are interrelated somehow .
ooooh , thanks , mr .
fleder .
. .
i appreciate the spoon - feeding , dude .
. .
yum , yum .
.
.
but how about explaining every other plot point in your film that made no sense ?
whatever .
either way , i do n't give a rat 's ass because this movie is a dog and that 's unfortunate because it actually did have some good points going for it .
see it if you like dumb thrillers .
incidentally , if you appreciated along came a spider , you will likely enjoy this film as well .
they both start off with interesting premises , only to toss all logic and sense out the window about halfway through .
where 's joblo coming from ?
along came
a spider ( 4/10 ) - girl , interrupted ( 5/10 ) - kiss the girls ( 7/10 )
- primal fear ( 7/10 ) -- seven ( 10/10 )

A:
N
****