TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you must classify if a given review is positive/negative, indicating your answer as P or N.
PROBLEM: dora ( fernanda montenegro ) sits behind a make - shift desk at rio+s major train station .
she , in her colorful demeanor , offers a service that is unheard of in the states .
she writes letters for the illiterate , who pass through , to try to find lost relatives , find love , or search after lost debts .
she+s
quirky , she+s elderly , she+s caring .
totally trustworthy , right ? not a chance .
once home , she never sends these letters , saving money on postage , and relishing in the drama contained therein with her neighbor irene ( mar ?
lia
p ? ra ) .
one of the letters is sent by a young mother with her nine - year old son , looking for their father .
shortly thereafter , she gets hit by a bus , and the son is orphaned .
days go by , and the boy , named josu ?
, roams around the station , hungry , desperate , and somewhat clueless to his predictament .
through a series of circumstances too precious to elaborate upon , dora somehow takes a responsibility in trying to find josu ?
+ s father .
this means leaving the security of rio , traveling to the outskirts of brazil , where unpaved roads , religious devotees and the poverty - stricken become commonplace .
films like this remind me as to what i enjoy about some foreign films .
it is an opportunity for me to get a fresh breath in another part of the world , so distant from my own .
it does so entertainingly , and so heart - wrenchingly
.
and yet , it+s backdrop is merely that .
the focus is on the minute transformation of dora , of how she learns to love this little kid , without being cloying or sentimental .
the most interesting backdrop is the amount of religious dedication is in the film .
dora being an amoral scam - artist , could care less about the amount of bickering between the candle - lighting of the catholics versus the bumper - sticker mentality of the evangelicals .
but neither side is trivialized .
she even begins to develop an affection for a non - drinking evangelical , who sees the problems with dora , if not initially .
fernanda montenegro surprisingly got an oscar nomination for this very delicate performance , but the true marvel is that of vinicius de oliveira , who plays josu ? .
he , like the discoveries of j ?
r ?
mie renier
( _ la promesse _ ) and giorgio cantarini
( _ life is beautiful _ ) , prove that the true acting discoveries may be outside of the united states .
he is a natural , and never once grating .
send a memo to jonathan taylor thomas .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: studio expectations must not have been high for " great expectations " -- the film 's release date was pushed from late december to late january at what appeared to be the last minute , therefore putting any academy awards chances it has off until this time in 1999 .
it 's actually a smart move , because while this updated take on the charles dickens tale is n't quite oscar fodder , it * is * strong enough to be distinguished from the cinematic dumping ground that usually makes up the first five or six weeks of any given year .
" great expectations " also demonstrates how to modernize a classic story right , especially after the excruciatingly wretched excesses of baz luhrmann 's " william shakespeare 's romeo + juliet .
" " great expectations " opens somewhere in 1970s florida ( the original story is set in 19th - century england ) , as eight - year - old finn ( jeremy james kissner ) meets a trio of people who will have a profound effect on his life in the future .
there 's icy , 11-year - old estella ( raquel beaudene ) , a pseudo - playmate of finn 's ; ms .
dinsmoor ( anne bancroft ) , estella 's auntie who 's quite off - kilter over a past romance that never took off ; and a mysterious prisoner ( robert de niro ) whom finn saves the life of .
finn , who lives with his sister 's affable boyfriend ( lone star 's chris cooper ) , fancies himself an aspiring artist , and proves his prowess by whipping up an unusual portrait of estella using only ms .
dinsmoor 's lipstick , eyebrow pencil and the wallpaper from her dilapidating mansion .
flash forward into
the ' 90s ( after a brief stop in the ' 80s ) , and finn ( now played by ethan hawke ) , despondent over a strange hot - and - cold relationship with the elusive estella ( gwyneth paltrow ) , receives quite a bit of money from an unknown benefactor ; it 's enough cash to send him to new york to focus on a career in art .
there , finn seems to gain everything he could ever want -- wealth , prestige and a high place in the glamorous art world .
when estella resurfaces -- albeit with an aloof fianc ?
( hank azaria ) --
finn also sees the chance to renew their mutual attraction .
but she 's not the only ghost from finn 's past that 's going to be paying him a visit .
comparisons with the afore - mentioned " romeo + juliet " seem inevitable since these films are the only ones in recent memory to plop classic drama into a current setting .
" great expectations " is a much better venture , though , because it treats its source with even - handed respect , where " romeo " was never quite sure whether to be a spoof , a homage or both .
the movie is a visual banquet thanks to emmanuel lubezki 's sexy cinematography ; notably , he captures a revisited fountain kiss between the two leads with a luscious , erotic charge that 's steamier than the film 's ( surprisingly muted ) love scenes .
the eclectic rock soundtrack compliments the on - screen action beautifully , especially new songs by tori amos , mono and duncan sheik .
acting credits are first - rate , often hiding the screenplay 's occasional slip - ups .
hawke is sincere and solid as a leading man ( something we also learned from " gattaca " ) , and his finn is quite a likeable guy .
paltrow 's estella , on the other hand , is rather underdeveloped .
while the actress is at her icily seductive best , we 're not told very much about her character , and as a result , it 's often hard to understand why finn would appreciate her beyond a physical level ( but , oh , * what * a physical level ) ; sometimes , we root for finn although we do n't quite understand why she 's fueling his fire .
robert de niro is nice and sophisticated in the benevolent kind of role he rarely gets to play ; on the other end of the acting spectrum is bancroft , a macabre , throaty delight who mambos and sucks down cigarettes with an eerie enthusiasm that would make norma desmond jealous .
alfonso cuaron 's visually elegant direction helps to distract from the dry moments that pop up more frequently around the movie 's climax .
another problem is predictability ; you can guess your way through the plot even if you are n't familiar with the story .
despite its script flaws , though , " great expectations " is undeniably romantic without being corny or gloppy .
and frankly , it 's nice to see a film that embraces softened sensuality other than explicit sexuality .
perhaps that renovated release date , awfully close to valentine 's day , will end up helping " great expectations " ' seemingly average box office chances after all .

SOLUTION: P

PROBLEM: once upon a time a solitary ogre named shrek ( mike myers ) was really annoyed to discover that his swamp had been invaded by three blind mice , seven dwarves and all the other fairy tale characters in the land , banished from their home by lord farquaad ( john lithgow ) .
unwittingly befriended by a non - stop talking donkey ( eddie murphy ) , shrek travels to dulloc to speak with farquaad , where he stumbles into a joust and comes up the winner .
his prize ? to save princess fiona ( cameron diaz ) from a tower surrounded by molten flame and protected by a dragon so she can become farquaad 's bride .
the ogre agrees to the task in return for getting his solitary lifestyle back in " shrek .
"
it took four writers ( ted elliott and terry rossio ( " the road to el dorado " ) , roger s .
h .
schulman ( " balto " ) and joe stillman (
" beavis and butthead do america " ) ) to adapt william steig 's children 's book .
the bad news ?
they 've genericized an already simple plotline while heavily under the influence of william goldman 's " the princess bride .
"
the good news ?
there 's so much wacky humor culled from both fairy tales and popular culture that this movie should keep you in stitches .
we get our first inkling that we 're in for a real treat as one of farquaad 's men ,
intent on rounding up magical creatures offers ' five schillings for the possessed boy ! '
after observing dreamworks ' rendition of disney 's animated pinocchio .
meanwhile within the castle walls , a gingerbread man being tortured by farquaad spits icing and yells ' eat me ! ' before breaking down and solemnly asking ' do you know the muffin man ? '
shrek , a green giant with bobbly antennae - like ears , is a grumpy recluse who really yearns to fit in ( although who could put up with his habit of making candles from his own ear wax ? ) .
donkey is a hyperactive , endearingly stunted creature who can talk and , therefore , believes will make a great misfit pairing with the uncooperative shrek .
donkey proves his worth sweet talking the princess - guarding dragon .
the princess proves to be more than a shade offbeat after learning she 's not getting the fairy tale issue rescue she 's been expecting .
when fiona 's true colors are exposed ( including opportunies for some tomboyish gross out humor ) , a spark develops between her and shrek .
the script 's details are gleefully impish , constantly poking fun at disney from the theme park world of farquaad 's dulloc with its turnstyle entrance and ' it 's a small world ' parody of an information booth to the blue bird which meets a most un - disneyish fate after duetting with fiona ' snow white ' style .
popular culture is represented with film references to " babe " and " charlies ' angels " via " the matrix .
"
myers chooses his ' so i married an axe murderer ' scottish brogue for shrek in order to give his voice some heft .
while this may prove distracting for anyone familiar with that film ,
overall it works more than not .
eddie murphy steals the show as the fast - talking , motown - singing donkey , proving once again his talent as a vocal performer ( is it another wink at disney that donkey is paired with a dragon , a creature murphy portrayed in disney 's ' mulan ? ' ) .
lithgow 's a good choice for the supercilious , height - challenged villain lord farquaad .
diaz is energetic but ultimately nondescript voicing princess fiona .
( a better choice would have been minnie driver , who 's proven herself a terrific vocal talent in such diverse animations as disney 's " tarzan , " " princess mononoke " and the " south park " movie . )
the computer animation looks terrific ( particularly donkey ) , although it wo n't elicit the types of oohs and aahs of pixar 's work ( " toy story , " " a bug 's life , " " toy story 2 " ) .
in keeping with its hip style , pop music is used , which like myer 's voice may be initially jarring , but ultimately satisfies ( while surveying bridal candidates via a ' dating game ' parody broadcast by snow white 's evil queen 's mirror , farquaad is told ' fiona likes pina coladas ' - cue jimmy buffet ! ) .
" shrek " has good lessons for kids and humor targetted at every age group in the family .
while it may be derivative of the 1987 's " the princess bride , " " shrek " addresses a new generation with similar sensibilities and does n't suffer in the comparison .

SOLUTION:
P