instruction:
In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
question:
when i first heard that disney 's next animated feature was going to be tarzan , i was almost horrified .
i was worried that disney was going to make another hercules ( sorry , jerk - ules ) .
that effort was too overloaded with comedy ( and the hero was too boastful and pompous to be considered a sympathetic hero ) , and , after viewing it to this day , i find it a disgrace for disney animation .
when i saw the trailers , i was thinking " hmm . . .
this is n't bad at all .
this just might have potential .
"
when i bought the soundtrack , i was really quite surprised at how different it sounded from most disney features .
i have never really heard of phil collins , nor have i heard of mark mancina , so i was wondering , how would these two make this disney flick spin ?
i was pleasantly surprised : the music is top - notch .
phil collins ' songs are terrific , percussion - heavy pieces of work that seem to break the formula for typical disney songs .
the score from mark mancina was also neat
; it reminded me a bit of the lion king , but it was more original .
so , the soundtrack was n't bad at all , considering it was by two people i am not familiar with .
this film could be good . . .
but will it be ?
when i finally went to see it ( on opening day , as i tend to do with most disney animated features ) , my question was answered , in a complete turnabout of expectations for me : disney 's tarzan is surprisingly decent .
the story starts out with tarzan 's parents surviving a shipwreck and finding a home on an island where apes live in peace .
however , one day , a vicious leopard , sabor , attacks and kills tarzan 's parents , leaving him ( at this time , a baby ) alone - until kala of the apes rescues him .
kala wants to raise the child as her own ( she lost hers previously to sabor ) , but her mate , kerchak is not too sure .
"
it 's not our kind , " he says .
he agrees , though , to let her take care of little tarzan , but " that does n't make him my son .
" tarzan grows up , vowing to be " the best ape ever " , but no matter how hard he tries or what he does ( at the guidance of his hilarious ape friend , terk ) , he just ca n't convince kerchak that he is one of the apes , even when he defeats sabor in a battle .
one day , a new animal shows up : humans .
this is where jane comes into the picture .
she is on an expedition with her father ( professor porter ) , and a despicable hunter ( clayton ) searching for gorillas .
tarzan rescues her when she is chased by baboons , and soon they get to know each other .
even though tarzan falls in love with jane , this causes things to go wrong .
clayton tricks tarzan into taking him , jane , and porter to see the apes , who are convinced that he has betrayed them .
worse , clayton has plotted to send the gorillas to london for money .
will tarzan find out which family he belongs to and save the apes ?
i 'm not gon na tell you , sorry .
you 're gon na have to see for yourself .
and see it you should ; the animation is , as always ,
top notch , particularly when tarzan goes soaring through the trees
( read that , skateboarding ) .
the deep canvas computer generated effect adds an authentic feeling to the jungle which tarzan lives in .
in fact , it seems similar to the computer imagery / cel animation combination in rival disney animted films , such as fox 's anastasia and dreamworks ' prince of egypt .
could it be that disney was actually taking ideas from their rivals ?
the casting is fairly good .
tony goldwyn is emotionally believeable as tarzan ( and to my relief , the animators have succeeded in not making him another hercules .
nicely done ) , and glenn close is wonderful as kala ( she has a beautiful singing voice , too , by the way ) .
lance henrikson as kerchak somewhat reminds me of robby benson 's beast voice , which makes him all the more ferocious and gripping .
minnie driver had me a little worried at first as the voice of jane .
i thought she had the most annoying voice in the whole film ( when i first saw the trailers ) , but when i saw the film , i did n't have a problem with her .
i take back my insult on driver .
it 's nice to hear nigel hawthorne do another voice for a disney animated feature
( he was fflewdurr flamm in disney 's most underrated classic , the black cauldron ) ; he is funny and delightful as professor porter .
on the villiany side of the voices , brian blessed ( the guy who did boss nass in star wars : episode i - the phantom menace ) brings a pompous , and later on vicious , voice to the sinister clayton .
he might not be the strongest character in the film
( he 's just a plain bad guy , nothing else ) , but blessed 's vocal work contributes greatly .
but if there is any voice that i think steals the whole show , it should be rosie o'donnell , who is hilariously funny as terk .
she also has a fiesty attitude
( " i 'm gon na kill ya !
"
she says , more than once ) .
i almost sung along with her during one of the film 's best moments , where the apes make a mess of the human 's camp , via song , er , scatting " shoo - be - doo , da - be - dah " .
i can see why she wanted to have a rock song for the film
, she 's a good singer .
not that she was the only funny character in the film , though .
wayne knight ( who played stan in space jam ) gives a whimsically funny style to tantor , an elephant who is especially worried about stepping into " un - sanitary " water .
( thankfully , there is no real sound of flatuence -
that would have killed the picture ) .
the songs , as i said before , are decent , mostly sung by collins .
this sets a new standard for disney animated films because for the first time , the characters do not sing .
i tolerate musical numbers from characters a lot more than some other guys would , but i found this to be a nice change of pace .
the story does have elements of comedy in it , but they also load it with strong dramatic touches , which makes this film far better than the unbelieveably uninspired hercules .
if there is anything disappointing about tarzan , it might be the omission of the ' n sync version of " trashing the camp " from the film .
i heard it on the soundtrack , and wondered where it was going to be .
i was upset that it was n't , because i had thought of taking a few friends of mine who like ' n sync to see tarzan .
oh , well . . .
overall , i was enthralled with tarzan .
i would n't hold it high the way i do with mulan or the hunchback of notre dame ( my all - time favorite disney classics ) , but this film deserves a high place among disney 's greatest achievements .
i give a nod to disney for following up their spectacular
*
*
*
* * masterpiece , mulan , with this great animated adaption of egar rice burrough 's tarzan .
answer:
P


question:
steve soderbergh 's " sex , lies , and videotape , " which won the grand prize at the cannes film festival in 1989 , arguably began the resurgence of independent films .
made on a shoestring budget of $ 1 . 2 million , with then relatively unknown actors , it is a provocative , thoroughly original drama .
the film mostly focuses on the four central characters , all in their late 20's - early 30 's .
ann ( andie macdowell ) , an unfulfilled housewife , is married to john ( peter gallagher ) , an insensitive lawyer , who , unbeknownst to her , is having an affair with her younger sister , cynthia ( laura san giacomo ) .
complicating matters even worse is graham ( james spader , who won best actor at cannes ) , john 's old college buddy , who comes to stay at their house .
ann is absolutely won over by him , even though she clearly has stated that she has very little interest in sex .
that is the set - up for the last hour of the picture , and since the film is entitled , " sex , lies , and videotape , " it is best to keep the rest of the story developments at bay so that they will come as a genuine surprise .
director steven soderbergh has proven to be a wildly offbeat filmmaker , ranging from the independent , to the mainstream ( 1998 's " out of sight " ) , to the downright kafkaesque ( 1997 's " schizopolis " ) .
he is the type of director who obviously takes a lot of chances , and believes in the work that he does , and , " sex , lies , and videotape , " is probably his most confident , and maybe even best , to date .
the performances are superb from all four leads , but macdowell stands out in what is probably the main character .
she is always a very winning actress , but this is probably her most three - dimensional role that she has had ( with a close second being altman 's 1993 mosaic , " short cuts " ) .
the other parts are perfectly cast as well , from spader 's ominous graham , to gallagher 's self - involved john , to giacomo 's outspoken cynthia .
the final act of the film , especially , comes right out of left field , and turns out to be both shocking and oddly touching , and it would be criminal to give away the film 's secrets .
suffice to say that , through one powerful sequence , ann is able to somewhat come out of her shell , and john learns a valuable lesson about honesty , as well as deception .
the film has one fault , however .
the characters are almost all emotionally cold and isolated from one another , and often unlikable .
if there had been a few extra scenes with gallagher , it probably would have helped , since his relationship with macdowell is n't quite as explored as i would have liked .
"
sex , lies , and videotape , " although minorly flawed , is still easily a brave and adult motion picture that is far more mature and honest about its subject matter than the usual film .
soderbergh clearly knew what he was doing while he was making it , and the final product certainly proves this .
answer:
P


question:
_
dirty_work _ has a premise of deliciously mean - spirited potential .
mitch weaver ( norm macdonald ) and his lifelong best friend sam mckenna ( artie lange ) are losers in life : they were constantly picked on in school , and now they can not hold regular jobs .
but as the trailer goes , " there is one thing mitch weaver is good at -- revenge .
"
so he and sam parlay their unmatched skill in getting - even schemes into a marketable revenge - for - hire business called dirty work inc .
this should be the groundwork for a wonderfully wicked black comedy , but for a film called _ dirty_work _ , what ensues is rather clean of spirit .
in fact , what makes mitch and sam start up their business is not a giddy desire to give bullies a taste of their own medicine , but rather
a more sappy reason : sam 's father ( jack warden ) needs a heart transplant , and in order for him to move at the top of the recipient list , his compulsively betting doctor ( chevy chase ) asks the guys for $ 50 , 000 to pay off his bookie .
so for all the scheming that goes on , beneath every underhanded plot is -- gasp !
--a
heart , which undercuts the inherent nastiness of the premise .
not that there is n't a lot of nastiness on display -- there is , but of a different sort .
there are frequent sexual references , most prominently in the form of prostitutes and sam 's impotent father 's ongoing lust for them .
and for a film rated pg-13 , director bob saget ( yes , that bob saget , of _ full_house _ and _ america's_funniest_home_videos _ fame ) and writers frank sebastiano , fred wolf , and macdonald himself , stretch the boundaries of good taste rather far -- arguably a bit too much so
( was not one , but two separate instances of sodomy between animals really necessary ? ) .
but the issue , of course , is not so much of taste as it is humor -- as in
, is it funny or not ?
the answer is a resounding no .
it 's not that macdonald is n't a funny guy .
he was one of the more consistently funny performers on
_ saturday_night_live _ before his much - talked - about firing , and his dry brand of smartass
wit translates well to the big screen ; it also does n't hurt that he 's a natural , likable screen presence .
he is able to give some of his lines a nice acid touch , but , for the most part , the oneliners , as written , are flat , and the broad slapstick gags just do n't work
( one running gag has him being literally tossed out of buildings -- a real riot ) .
still , macdonald 's few shining moments are just about the only moments the film has .
the late chris farley , as hysterical as he ever was , is amusing in a cameo role , but , as a whole , the supporting players are amateurish and seemingly free from any directorial guidance .
saget tries to juice up the proceedings with kitschy cameos by gary coleman , adam sandler , and john goodman , but their minimal novelty value can not prevent _ dirty_work _ from sputtering to the end of its brief 81-minute running time .
the film closes on a sad note of desperation , an indulgent reel of outtakes from which only those involved in the production would derive any amusement .
come to think of it , i can not imagine anyone but those involved in the production to find much amusement in the entirety of _ dirty_work _ .
answer:

N