TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: anastasia contains something that has been lacking from all of the recent disney releases . ..
( especially hercules ) .
.. emotion .
all the wacky characters voiced by celebrities and fantastically animated adventure sequences are n't going to hold anyone 's interest unless there is an emotional core to hold it all together .
not since disney 's beauty & the beast has there been such a compelling animated film with interesting characters and drama that works .
the story of the romanov family , the rulers of russia , and their downfall begins the film .
anastasia , one of the daughters , narrowly escapes the mad monk rasputin ( voiced by christopher lloyd ) with her grandmother ( voiced by angela landsbury ) .
but anastasia gets lost , and grows up with no memory of her royal origins .
the grandmother lives in paris , hoping to someday find her beloved anastasia , the only member of the family to survive the russian revolution .
a young woman named anya ( voiced by meg ryan ) runs across dimitri ( john cusack ) and vlad ( kelsey grammar ) , who are trying to put together a scheme to create an anastasia to fool the grandmother and get the reward money .
they pick anya to pose as their princes , and of course , it is soon revealed that anya is in fact the lost anastasia .
dimitri realizes that he can never win her love as he is a commoner , and meanwhile , rasputin is not dead , and plots his revenge against the last romanov .
the plot is actually quite well structured .
there are a lot of complexities that may have to be explained to the kids later , but it moves along fast enough that they 'll never have time to be bored .
what this really means is that the adults wo n't be bored by it either .
there is a great deal of banter between anya and dimitri that is very funny , and their relationship develops quite naturally as the film progresses .
there is , of course , lots of comedy for the kids , including rasputin 's pet bat , bartok ( hank azaria ) , who is easily the funniest thing in the film . however , the comical scenes never distract from the drama , but are worked into the plot almost seamlessly .
the animation is gorgeous - the characters seem to come to life through the talented animators .
not since beauty & the beast have animated characters had so much life to them .
even without the voices , they act .
the musical number in paris is a show - stopper , with some of the backgrounds rendered in an impressionist painting style .
as with all recent animated features , there are songs , however ,
these songs do more than just provide fodder for top-40 singers to get on the radio ( although there are three of them during the end credits ) .
the songs are all very catchy , and advance the plot , instead of just being showpieces
( except for the paris number , but that 's so much fun , it 's okay .
.. ) . i ca n't reccomend anastasia highly enough .
it 's a wonderful film that ranks right up there with other animated classics .
kids and adults alike will enjoy it , and it 's also nice to have a quality animated feature film from another studio besides disney .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: for those of us who were n't yet born when the 1960 's rock ' n ' rolled around , monterey pop affords an affectionate glimpse of the music that influenced our parents to be hippies .
from otis redding to jimi hendrix , janis joplin to the mamas and the papas , and jefferson airplane to the who , this documentary is jam - packed with contagious energy .
but i give fair warning that i will reveal the ending , which does not do the rest of the film the justice it deserves .
shot in 1969 at an outdoor concert that precluded woodstock , the film defies the stereotype of the general population at the time .
sure , some have painted their faces and smoke joints , but d .
a .
pennebaker ( the war room , moon over broadway ) surprisingly chooses to show a broad spectrum of the audience .
no matter who is watching , it all comes back to the talented musicians that stir your soul .
the excitement starts before the music even begins .
a young girl is cleaning thousands of seats and when asked why by an interviewer , she replies that she feels lucky to do so .
there are moments of organized craziness as john phillips , leader of the mamas and the papas and one of the concert organizers , tries to get in touch with dionne warwick .
and when one band is tuning up , a member remarks , " finally , a decent sound system !
"
you can tell just by watching these first few moments that this show is n't about vanity , it 's about playing the music you love to those who have an appreciation for it , a two - way street .
this interaction between audience and performer continues throughout the film and becomes infectious to the audience .
it 's impossible to tear your eyes away from janis joplin as she belts out her ballad about love being a ball and chain .
and while the lyrics to " wild thing " may not be all that complicated , watching jimi hendrix mime having sex with his guitar is as captivating as otis redding singing about love .
even if you do n't recognize every band you see on stage , you can imagine being as enthralled by their work as the public sitting in those seats .
the only drawback to the film is the ending , which unfortunately i must reveal .
all the other bands , big names then and still today , got approximately 7 to 10 minutes of screen time .
in contrast , the last band on camera , a wholly forgettable one , gets an entire 18 minutes of screen time .
for a film that 's only 78 minutes long , that 's too large of a chunk , especially when previous acts are much more stimulating .
all in all , monterey pop is
a precious , rare look at a time period that still holds sway over us .
the variety of music , as well as the beautifully shot performances , are easy to become immersed in .
if there was ever any question as to why most of these bands were so popular , this is quickly dispelled .
it 's almost depressing to think that music this moving does n't get made much anymore .
instead we 're stuck with * nsync , the backstreet boys , and jennifer lopez , all of whom should have stuck with modeling .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: susan granger 's review of " the musketeer " ( universal pictures ) hollywood launches another assault on classic literature with this $ 50 million adaptation of alexandre dumas 's novel
that 's strong on action
but weak on drama , fusing hong kong martial arts with 17th century swordplay .
the story chronicles the adventures of the dashing d'artagnan ( justin chambers ) as he leaves his village of gascogne , headed for paris , to join king louis xiii 's elite guard , the royal musketeers , and to search for the man who killed his parents 14 years earlier .
this puts him in conflict with the formidable febre ( tim roth ) , vicious henchman for conniving cardinal richelieu ( stephen rea ) .
the traditional musketeer trio - aramis ( nick moran ) , athos ( jan gregor kremp ) and porthos ( steve speirs ) - do n't offer much help
so he turns to the feisty francesca ( mena suvari ) , chambermaid to the queen of france ( catherine deneuve ) .
scripter gene quintano and director - cinematographer peter hyams are primarily interested in the derring - do , as evidenced by choreographer xin - xin xiong 's elaborate - but not original - stunts , including a fast - paced stagecoach chase , a tavern brawl on rolling barrels , high - wire acrobatics with the combatants dangling from ropes , and a ladder - fight sequence . filmed in southern france , the scenery , sets and costumes are spectacular , but the lighting is too dark and editing is filled with choppy , restless mtv'ish cuts .
as the swashbuckling d'artagnan , bland calvin klein model justin chambers buckles where he should be swashing , totally lacking on - screen charisma , not to mention acting skill .
mena suvari , so impressive in " american beauty , " seems like a contemporary interloper in the royal court .
on the granger movie gauge of 1 to 10 , " the musketeer " is a cinematic but shallow 3 .
" all for one and one for all " ?
not this time ' round .

SOLUTION:
N