In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
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Question: synopsis : al simmons , top - notch assasin with a guilty conscience , dies in a fiery explosion and goes to hell .
making a pact with malebolgia , a chief demon there , simmons returns to earth 5 years later reborn as spawn , a general in hell 's army donning a necroplasmic costume replete with knives , chains , and a morphing cape .
sullen , wise cogliostro and flatulating , wisecracking violator vy for spawn 's attention .
comments : when todd mcfarlane left marvel comics ( where he had made a name for himself as a first - rate comic book penciller on the " spider - man " titles ) to join the newly - formed , creator - owned image comics , a new comic book legend was born : spawn .
mcfarlane 's " spawn " immediately became a commercial and critical success and a defining comic book series of the 1990s .
mcfarlane created a hero who was not only original but visually intricate , allowing mcfarlane to utilize his knack for artistic detail to the max .
the early " spawn " issues brilliantly capture mcfarlane 's genius at illustration and show his early attempts at writing .
with the popularity of " spawn " and the success of the current warner bros . 's batman film franchise , a movie version of some sort seemed inevitable for spawn .
in the summer of 1997 , hence , new line cinema released spawn , a live - action film based on the groundbreaking series .
this topheavy exercise in violence and special effects
unfortunately topples quickly and leaves fans of the comic book , like me , numbed by how much spawn misses the mark .
what happened ?
why is spawn so bad ?
todd mcfarlane himself
executive produced this disappointing misfire and even appears in a cameo .
i do n't think , however , that his presence necessarily hurt ( or helped )
the film .
i place the blame , in part , on the recent hollywood trend , fueled by public demand apparently , for special effects blow - out movies utilizing the latest computer technology .
these films focus upon the effects at the expense of everything else : character , plot , dialogue , etc .
spawn , reflecting this trend , shows the audience one gratuitous scene after another populated with morphing characters and filled with unnecessary pyrotechnics .
hardly a minute goes by in this film without fires , explosions , knives and chains appearing out of nowhere , glowing eyes , or constantly transforming demons .
a lot of it is visually interesting and technically solid , do n't get me wrong , but , because the script and cast are n't engaging , spawn ultimately comes across like overwrought wallpaper ( the surface may capture the eye , but nothing exists underneath ) .
spawn 's translation of the comic book suffers the most at the storyline level .
mcfarlane 's spawn was a tortured hero .
a mercenary by trade , al simmons was nonetheless a warm man in love with the beautiful wanda .
having died and journeyed to hell , he made a pact to return to earth to be with wanda .
simmons , however , discovers that his memories are fragmented , his body a creepy mess , and his wife married .
despite his sometimes violent nature , readers could n't help but feel sympathetic toward his plight as the spawn of the underworld .
spawn attempts to show all of this but does not spend nearly the time it should to do so .
when the characters are developed , they seem absurd rather than touching .
the cartoonish dialogue and implausible subplot
( a general possesses the antidote to a supervirus called heat-16 which he wishes to unleash to enslave the world ) do not help matters .
spawn , in an apparent attempt to duplicate the success of batman , also unwisely spends too much time on a villain , the violator ( batman favored the joker over batman ) .
john leguizamo , like jack nicholson in batman , receives top billing in the cast as the violator ; michael jai white ( al simmons / spawn ) is second .
i ordinarily find leguizamo an intensely annoying presence in films which seems to make him a perfect candidate for the violator .
the film , however , spends so much time on the violator 's offensive antics that they grate on the nerves .
apparently meant to be the comic relief in the film ( as nicholson was in batman ) , especially when contrasted with the sullen spawn , the violator 's lines are oftentimes grotesque and unfunny , leaving the audience wishing he would leave .
leguizamo does a satisfactory job in the role , but he is seen far too often in the film .
michael jai white , a relative newcomer to theatrical releases , seems to be an appealing actor , and he handles his role adequately , but we see little of him without various masks on .
more time needed to be spent on white 's character before he became spawn for the movie to pull at the heartstrings .
a special note should be made about martin sheen as the over - the - top , obnoxious , evil general wynn .
easily the hammiest performance in the movie , it 's hard to imagine how sheen mucked up his role so much ; after all , he played a vietnam assasin brilliantly in the great apocalypse now .
sheen 's excessive demeanor do not help the audience accept him as a mastermind villain and comes as a surprise considering his extensive career in film .
many other elements conspire with the disappointing script and abundant special effects to drag spawn down
.
mtv - style , jerky , in - your - face editing is one of them .
flames , for example , roll across the screen sometimes to announce a shift in setting .
cogliostro , unlikely wannabe guide for spawn , serves as a poor narrator for the film .
he goofily tells the audience , at one point , that " how much of [ spawn 's ] humanity is left remains to be seen , " as if the audience really cares as one violent sequence leads to another .
the music , finally , assaults the audience as much as the manic violence and offensive dialogue .
loud and obnoxious hard rock fused with drum loops dominate some scenes .
to be fair , however , marilyn manson 's " long hard road out of hell
" effectively compliments spawn 's return to earth , while filter and the crystal method 's
" ( ca n't you ) trip like i do " proves a surprisingly fitting theme song .
for as good a comic book as it is , " spawn " did not spawn a good movie .
spawn , instead , suffers from too much pomp and circumstance , and too little plot and character development
.
it receives two stars for its technically well - done special effects .
many other films , though , have equal , if not superior , special effects and are much better .
rated pg-13 , spawn seems more violent than many r - rated movies and probably would n't be appropriate for the very young .

Answer: N


Question: synopsis : rumored to be about a true person , the story of mulan has circulated in oral tradition for over a thousand years , and has inspired operas , literature , and even coinage .
( since 1984 , china has been issuing annual gold and silver coin sets commemorating famous historical figures ; the 1992 set includes mulan . ) in the ballad of mulan ( written in the 5th or 6th century ) , an imperial edict by the khan ( emperor ) orders men from each family to be drafted into the army to defend china .
a girl 's parents hear sighing , and think that their daughter mulan ( the name means magnolia ) is dreaming of boys , but actually she 's dreading what horrors might befall her old infirm father if he were to be drafted off to battle .
mulan bravely runs away , masquerading as a boy , to serve in the army instead of her father .
ten thousand miles and twelve years of brutal war later , the army finally returns in triumph .
the emperor wants to reward mulan 's valor with a prestigious position in government , but she declines , accepts a horse , and returns home quietly to don her true clothes .
mulan 's old army buddies visit and get the shock of their lives when they find out that mulan is actually a woman .
the disney animated feature mulan is similar to the ballad story , only it adds a modern character for comic relief : mushu the dragon ( eddie murphy ) .
in disney 's mulan , when a fierce army of invading huns threatens to overrun peaceful china the emperor orders one man from each family to be conscripted into the army .
old mr .
fa ( soon - tek
oh ) is handicapped and has no son ; he has only his spirited young daughter mulan ( ming - na wen ) .
fearing for her father 's life , the courageous mulan secretly cuts her hair , disguises herself as a man , and sneaks off to serve in the army in her father 's stead .
meanwhile mushu , the disgraced and demoted guardian dragon of the fa family , has been reduced to the size of a squirrel and the status of incense burner .
( his only duty is to ring a gong . )
mushu hits upon a plan to redeem himself and regain his guardian status by helping the disguised mulan to become a macho male warrior hero .
with the help of mushu , a horse , and a lucky cricket , can army recruit mulan save china and bring honor to the fa family ?
opinion :
east meets west .
i know a chef in santa fe that does this sort of magic ; he combines asian culinary influences from the west coast with latin american from down south and european from the atlantic to concoct new creations that hit just the right combination of flavors .
from their state of the art animation studio in orlando , disney is hoping to work the same kind of east / west magic with mulan .
i mean , what would you say if i told you that a new movie featured tang dynasty art , with donny osmond singing , ming - na wen acting , and eddie murphy playing a chinese dragon that makes pop references to batman and the reverend jessie jackson ?
yet this is the case in the disney 's re - interpretation of the familiar chinese classic .
the end result is spectacular ; mulan is one of disney 's best movies ever .
personally , i 'm also glad to see the detestable american stereotype of the weak - willed subservient asian woman take a beating : mulan is portrayed as a normal , if spirited , compassionate gal capable of taking the initiative .
mulan is more than just eastern graphics and faces combined with westernized pop and disney .
kids of any age will like the family themes , and will understand the good guys versus bad guys thing .
and adolescent and preteen girls can appreciate the romance factor , while the boys admire the battles .
and adults can admire those male / female nuances as well as the interplay between traditional notions of family , honor , and duty with industrial age notions of romantic love , gumption , and questioning .
but even the tiniest details reveal quality .
the movie 's art supervisors spent three weeks in china researching the right look : negative spaces , positive detail , period clothing , and graphic designs typical of the time and place .
computers were used for crowd scenes of up to 30 , 000 people , and a special program called ' attila ' was used for a spectacular sequence involving 2000 attacking huns on horseback . and singers osmond and salonga are at the top of their game .
balance is crucial .
a movie about a chuckling lone dragon played by eddie murphy might not be disney 's cup of tea , but if you use the character as a comic sidekick to balance a determined and spirited heroine , then , pow ! the dream team .
by the same token , a tale about a girl in the army might be a sober exercise in filial piety by itself , but toss the dragon in there
and you 've got enough wahoo individualism for a light hearted disney romp .
it 's rare that a movie can seamlessly combine elements from both east and west , old and young , male and female into a cohesive and entertaining whole , but mulan hits the universal bullseye
.
it 's movie for any age , creed , gender , or color .

Answer: P


Question: when you go to the movies as much as i do , you unfortunately end up seeing certain movie trailers one too many times .
such was the case with frequency .
every time i went to a screening , there was the frequency preview .
it looked awful .
it looked cheesy , sappy and ridiculous .
it looked like a flop .
well , whoever put that trailer together should be fired , because in terms of pure entertainment , frequency is one of the best of the year thus far .
frequency boasts
a compelling story line .
an occurrence of freakish solar activity allows police detective john sullivan ( james caviezel ) to speak to his fireman father frank sullivan ( dennis quaid ) through a ham radio , despite the fact that frank has been dead for 30 years .
john is able to give his father information that prevents his death in a warehouse fire , but by doing so causes other changes .
somehow , a serial killer 's reign of terror , which in the original timeline had been stopped at three murders , extends to ten victims . . . including john 's mother .
this is director gregory hoblit 's third film ( the other two being primal fear and fallen ) .
with all three , he 's managed to attach himself to great scripts ( this one by toby emmerich , whose only previous movie experience was as a music supervisor on numerous new line films ) and add equally great direction .
also , he apparently likes to have his films wrap up with a kick - ass ending .
frequency is no exception , the ending is unpredictable and incredibly satisfying .
hoblit is three for three , and i hope he can keep it up .
now everyone can argue logic this and logic that all you want with the sci - fi elements of frequency .
but the fact of the matter is that time travel has never been achieved .
who 's to say how something works and how it does n't when it 's never happened ?
is it because we 've become accustomed to time travel " laws " from other places like " star trek " and the back to the future trilogy and " quantum leap " ?
yes , if you sit down and think about it , certain plot elements in this film probably wo n't make any sense .
most films are like that .
do n't let that dissuade you from seeing this fantastically entertaining film however .
when frequency was over , it made me wish i had seen it with my father so i could have given him a hug (
okay okay , shut up ) .
when you break it down past all its sci - fi elements and serial killer antics , frequency is simply a movie about a father and his son and the bond that they share .
it 's touching , it 's sincere , and it 's what ultimately makes this movie work .
[ pg-13 ]

Answer:
P