TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: the king and i , a warner brothers animated , musical feature , recycles the classic story of a woman who challenges the heart of a king , with obvious results .
when anna ( miranda richardson ) , a british schoolteacher , travels to saim to educate the king 's ( martin vidnovic ) children , she learns that the king is treating his people unfairly , and must say something to the greedy ruler .
meanwhile , the king 's prime minister ( ian richardson ) , the stereotypical villain , plots to overthrow the king , taking the throne .
the last , and most predictable , main subplot deals with the king 's son ( allen d. hong ) , and his love for a servant , tuptim ( armi arabe ) , and how he conflicts with his feelings , and the ancient laws of saim . not even the lone strong character of anna can save the unbelievably horrible waste of talent , as the king and i 's problems could fill the blank pages of a journal .
i will only note the major difficulties , for it would take pages to elaborate on every detail .
the screenplay , written by arthur rankin , peter bakalian , jacqeline feather , and david seidler , which is based upon the play written by richard rodgers and oscar hammerstein , has some of the worst dialogue written in a film within recent memory ,
as every time the obnoxious king would shout , " etc , etc , etc , " i would cringe .
literally .
speaking of cringing-
i did quite a bit of this during the rather short film , which is a classic display of terrible filmmaking .
besides the repetitive dialogue from the king , on the whole , the songs seem out of place , and unlike the lyrics , are unmagical .
the sole song which is used cleverly is " getting to know you , " which is used as anna shows the children the great outdoors , which they have never been exposed to .
unlike disney animated features , the king and i 's songs do n't add to the film , and are as uneffective as could be .
take the following scenario as an example , as the sheer horror of the king
and i 's music is at its worst .
you 're being hunted by a dragon !
what do you do ! ?
sing a happy song !
martin vidnovic voices the king without effort or emotion-
you hear the saying two negatives do n't make a positive ? believe it !
with the terrible dialogue that the king has , along with his awful voice track , the king is completely unbelievable , only shows mild signs of any personality , and the only thing that changes in the king is that he says " etc . , etc . , etc . , " more and more as the film progresses .
no personality at the beginning of the movie , none at the end .
and where does this character 's personality change ?
hey , i thought anna was supposed to change him !
is n't that the whole plot ?
the prime minister 's hideous sidekick ( darrell hammond ) brings his share of cringes as well
- oh no !
another one of his teeth fell out !
hardy - har - har !
he is supposed to bring laughs for the kidlets , but even at age five i would have cringed while watching him .
by the way this review is going , you may think the reasoning for my hate for this film is due to not liking animated films- hence
why i hate this movie , because the king and i is a disgrace to animation .
animated films , such as 1994 's the lion king and 1998 's the prince of egypt , are among my favorite movies of all time .
the animation team does design their share of well animated settings , so this makes it easier to take my mind off of the annoying king , until i realize that day and night switch back in fourth within seconds .
i have not read the play , or seen the oscar winning , 1956 film adaption , but from what i can tell , the screenplay for the 1999 version completely butchers the play , for the king
and i is never magical , nor interesting .
if it was n't for miranda richardson , who voices anna with feeling , the king and i could earn the title , " worst movie of the decade .
" instead , the king and i will just go down as among the year 's worst .
the bottom line- avoid this movie at all costs .
not even young children , the target audience in this film , will enjoy it . not the slightest bit .

SOLUTION: N

PROBLEM: fritz lang 's first american film since leaving nazi germany , is an eye - opener about a lynch mob in a small town .
joe wilson ( spencer tracy ) is a regular joe , a hard - working stiff , a decent guy , who is living with his two brothers , tom ( walcott ) and charlie ( albertson ) , in chicago .
he is engaged to katherine grant ( sylvia sidney ) , but ca n't save up enough money to marry her .
she takes the train west for a better paying job as a teacher .
before she departs , she gives him the wedding ring her father gave to her mother , sews up his ripped trench coat , corrects him when he mistakingly says the wrong word for memento , and kisses him goodbye .
a year goes by and joe buys a car and tells katherine that he will meet her to get married in capitol city , that he has quit his job and hopes to open a gas station .
driving through the rural backroads and camping out at night while going to met her , he arrives at a near - by town called strand .
but the deputy sheriff " buggs " meyers ( walter brennan ) comes upon him waving a shotgun and arrests him .
he accuses him of the kidnapping of a little girl .
the sheriff ( ellis ) finds salted peanuts on him just like the kidnapper had in his pocket , he also has a five dollar bill on him that matches one of the numbers of the ransom money , and he fits the general description of the suspect .
locked in jail , he waits for the district attorney to look at his claim of innocence .
in the local bar , the town citizens go into a rage when learning that an arrest has been made in the kidnapping .
fueled by angry talk about getting back at the kidnapper and of having the deputy inadvertently telling them of the ransom money found on the suspect , a mob storms the jail , burns it down and dynamites it when they ca n't get through to the prisoner 's jail cell .
the sheriff called the governor for the national guard , but one of his political advisers countermanded that request , saying it would n't look right for the governor in an election year to call out troops for those he wants to vote for him .
somehow joe escapes , but his dog rainbow dies .
katherine hears what has happened on the radio and rushes to the neighboring town of strand only to see him engulfed by flames in his cell , and becomes convinced that he died .
the next day the newspapers announce that the guilty kidnapper confesses .
joe makes his way back to chicago and tells his brothers , who are startled to see him alive , that he wants revenge .
he thereby supplies his brothers with the names of the 22 leaders in the lynch mob .
an ambitious district attorney ( walter abel ) prosecutes the 22 for murder .
katherine , not knowing he 's alive , remains in a state of shock , but is asked to be a witness that she saw joe burning to death .
the defense claims that it ca n't be a charge of murder without a corpse .
the trial proves to be interesting , as the citizens in this close - knit , respectable community , lie under oath , providing alibis for each other to prove they could n't have been at the jail .
the sheriff also lies , saying he ca n't identify anyone in the mob .
but proof comes by way of a newsreel cameraman who caught the whole incident on film .
as for proof of the corpse , an anonymous letter is addressed to the judge enclosed with the wedding ring katherine gave joe .
in the note , memento is misspelled , which makes katherine realize that joe is alive .
when the sentence is announced , 20 of the accused are found guilty of murder , but joe marches into the courtroom and gives a pious speech about what happened .
katherine forgives him , and this very strong film ends on a weaker note than i think it should have .
but do n't blame lang for all the changes in the film , of trying to take the town off the hook by introducing this wild revenge motive .
mgm could n't bear to have it made the way lang wanted it , that is , by having tracy die in the lynching .
instead they wanted to stop short of condemning so many small american towns where lynchings actually do occur , and they thereby meddled throughout the entire script .
to lang 's credit , even if this film failed to be a masterpiece because of the interference , it still did not let the good citizens off the moral hook .
his portrayal of the attempted lynching was powerfully done and was not compromised .
you could n't help get the feeling that the citizens did n't care that much that they almost lynched an innocent man , but cared more about protecting the reputation of their town and would do anything to keep their 22 vigilantes from going to jail , even perjuring themselves .
their reaction to seeing joe alive was satisfying only in that it meant they were n't going to be convicted .
lang by no means implies that the town has learned its lesson from this incident .
he does imply that a dark side to joe wilson has been exposed , and the innocent , jovial good - guy , seen in the beginning of the film , has been largely altered forever by this traumatic experience .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: perhaps if the impostors did n't have so much going for it , it would n't have been such a tremendous disappointment .
written , directed , and produced by one of its two stars , stanley tucci , whose last picture was the indie smash hit , big night , the impostors almost never catches fire .
sputtering like a two - day old campfire , the story plays like an ad - lib sketch that was never polished or completed .
the film 's other star , oliver platt , was hilarious as the senator 's aide in bulworth .
the bloated supporting cast is a veritable cornucopia of acting talent , including woody allen , steve buscemi , hope davis , alfred molina , campbell scott , lili taylor and tony shalhoub .
all are wasted save allen , who plays a theatrical director who stares in disbelief at the bad acting before his eyes .
( the audience will easily identify with allen 's sentiments . ) with the exception of a single original joke involving mirror - imaged subtitles , the movie engenders little genuine laughter .
the stale humor is so embarrassingly bad that you will find yourself laughing sporadically at the picture rather than with it .
the plot for the movie involves two starving actors , maurice ( oliver platt ) and arthur ( stanley tucci ) , who accidentally end up on a cruise ship .
in order to escape an angry shakespearean actor ( alfred molina ) , who is chasing them , they dress up as ship 's stewards .
the over - the - top script has the subtlety of a sledgehammer .
when the leads hide from their pursuers , arthur covers maurice 's mouth as he suffers an unending sneeze .
at other times , we have the typical zany comedy routine where everyone chases everyone else , while darting in and out of staterooms .
with the film 's chapters introduced like placards at a vaudeville stage , it is clear the movie wants to be taken as farce .
the press notes describes how everyone that came on the set remarked at what a good time all of the actors were having . too bad they were n't more concerned with the audience 's potential enjoyment .
the jokes , frequently framed in silence , fall like stones with such intensity that one can almost hear them hitting the ground .
one wonders if anyone ever viewed the film 's dailies .
surely , if they had , they would have realized what leaden results they were producing .
it is tricky having good actors play bad ones , but , if they could n't pull it off , they should have just given up .
"
the show is over for this fella , " steve buscemi 's character says towards the end .
the mystery is why they did n't all give up in the beginning .
there must have been a better script somewhere for such a wonderful cast .
the impostors runs 1 : 42 .
it is rated r for a little profanity and would be fine for kids around 12 and up .

SOLUTION:
N