Spirited dazzles and entertains like no other movie this year. It also comes to a satisfying conclusion and never once seems to take shortcuts. Miyazaki is one of world cinema's most wondrously gifted artists and storytellers.

The result is something quite fresh and delightful.

Although not without a certain cheeky, outrageous charm, Chris Kennedy's film isn't nearly as much fun as it seems to think it is.

The film feels contained — its design, visual effects and cinematography all in the right balance and proportion. Spider-Man is the hero, and not some element in the filmmaking process.

Yet another feature comedy that began life as a TV show sketch and is still stuck in infancy (not to mention infantilism), "Run Ronnie Run!" has about 10 minutes of sharp, funny satire to its name before running out of laughs. [15 Jan 2002]

Along with his writing partner, actor Owen Wilson, who also plays (hilariously) a supporting role in the film, Anderson reveals himself to be a highly original comic talent, impressive both for his strongly controlled deadpan style and for providing a sense of emotional heft lacking in most mainstream film comedies.

The film, while slavishly faithful, contains little innovative juice outside of its visual richness.

There is no denying the passion or intelligence of this work, which is meant to be an encouragement to explore the films for ourselves rather than a dry history lesson. On that level, "Viaggio" fully succeeds.

Denzel Washington ventures into the dark side as a seriously corrupt narcotics cop in Training Day, and the results are electrifying. So is the picture, thanks to taut, sinewy direction by Antoine Fuqua and a compelling script by David Ayer (The Fast and the Furious).

A valuable cautionary tale that serves as a handy correlative to the many fictional films in which the biggest problems depicted about the music biz are the pitfalls of having too much drugs and sex.

Stiller performs a good balancing act not only with his many jobs on this movie but also in keeping the big picture firmly in mind. It's not always easy to be both silly and smart, but Stiller for the most part pulls it off.

Perhaps returning to Apocalypse Now will reinvigorate the once brilliant storyteller. Certainly, the images, colors and design still astonish. And let's hope that Apocalypse Now Redux will become the definitive version. For the movie hits home even harder now. [14 May 2001]

Predictable, cutesy and surprisingly short on genuine humor, Legally Blonde gets by thanks to the magnetic presence of Witherspoon.

The fun of a movie like this is not found in its logic, but in scary stunts and supercharged emotions.

A sweeping romantic epic with a strong feminist backbone, the thoroughly entertaining Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also happens to boast a generous offering of seriously kick-ass action sequences that make 'The Matrix' seem downright quaint by comparison.

Agreeably upbeat and filled with expected sequences of gung-ho Aussie living, Paperback is light on its feet and pleasantly diverting. [09 Aug 2000]

Woo masterfully stages fierce and memorably destructive cinematic sequences, but his use of slow motion becomes tiresome, and the motorcycles-and-kung fu finale gets pretty hokey. Cruise comes off as fearless and virile, and his fans should not be disappointed in the slightest. [24 May 2000]

Emphasizing brawn over brain and spectacle over intimacy, Ridley Scott's Gladiator nevertheless is an impressive accomplishment in its re-creation not only of the golden age of the Roman Empire but of the unspeakable brutality with which one of the world's greatest states conducted its business.

Julia Roberts marches through Erin Brockovich like a force of nature. Granted, the movie gives her all of the best lines — to say nothing of its most eye-catching wardrobe. But the actress seizes the film's eponymous role with fire-in-her-eyes possessiveness and injects the character with all the energy and drive she can muster.

There's a playful exuberance on display in Better Than Chocolate, a bright, funny and sexy romp set in the heart of Vancouver's vibrant lesbian community. Although it has a little trouble deciding what it wants to be when it grows up - romantic comedy or full-throttle farce - the picture's tonal ambiguity also happens to be part of its unpredictable charm. [12 Aug 1999]

Director Brad Bird (TV's King of the Hill, The Simpsons), adapting the original children's book by the late British poet laureate Ted Hughes, has created a wonderful character in the huge childlike visitor from space.

Christopher Nolan's noirish thriller is an uncommonly polished and assured feature debut, highly clever textually and supremely accomplished technically. This ultra low-budget exercise marks the emergence of a significant directorial talent. [13 April 1999]

An extremely funny white-collar satire filled with enough delightfully askew characters to pack a boardroom and the bright talent to do them justice, the picture should strike an achingly familiar chord with 9-to-5ers the world over.

Visually, the film is skin and bones. Iscove and cinematographer Francis Kenny ("A Night at the Roxbury") have the most fun with "Grease"-like dance numbers in the finale. [27 January 1999]

Anderson and Owen Wilson’s concise screenplay deftly avoids sentimentality but somehow manages to be touching anyway. The former’s astute direction displays an excellent knack for visual as well as verbal gags, and Robert Yeoman’s widescreen lensing is unusually beautiful and textured for a comedy.

While appealing as a pet show, as a movie, "Babe" is penned in by the lackadaisical story line and the film's grimy sensibilities. Despite the funny flourishes of the costumes and some sprightly animated figures and spunky effects, "Babe" is a pretty oppressive-feeling production. [25 Nov 1998]

More than two hours in length, The Sentinel packs too much into a weird tale that shifts ground between political thriller and psychological drama -- too much to be completely comprehensible except to Desplechin himself. It would require a severe editing job to rescue it, even for the friendly art-house crowd. [19 May 1992]

Feature debuts don't come more audacious than this effort by Gaspar Noe, a filmmaker in his mid-20s obviously determined to shock - and he achieves his goal. The difference is that he also displays real style and intelligence, and this brilliantly controlled effort marks the emergence of a true talent. [14 Sep 1998]

A harrowing World War II epic about the struggle to uphold decency in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, the visual masterwork finds Spielberg atop his craft, weaving heart-pounding action and gut-wrenching emotion — often during the same sequence — that will leave viewers silently shaken.

As a director, Lee continues to hone his considerable craft and is unafraid to take creative risks along the way. But after leaving the scripting to others for his past few feature outings, he has returned to the word processor — and it's evident his screenwriting abilities haven't kept pace.

Despite fine performances by Stephen Fry and Jude Law, Wilde is a disappointingly predictable and uninvolving film portrait of Victorian wit and writer Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned for being homosexual. [01 May 1998]

This tale of a despondent man's attempt to find someone to help him commit suicide never really hits the emotional heights it should; it may be that the film's proponents are confusing simplicity with profundity. [30 Sept 1997]

A deliriously fractured film, ambitiously packed with bowling, bimbos and other great inspirations of latter-day thought. Closest in style and temperament to Raising Arizona, this Gramercy release should roll box office strikes with select-siters and score some winning spares with mainstream viewers.

On a few occasions the film lives up to its potential, but overall it's too slick and unintentionally funny. [12 Jan 1998]

Narratively, Titanic is a masterwork of big-canvas storytelling, broad enough to entrance and entertain yet precise and delicate enough to educate and illuminate.

Faced with an ungainly scenario in which vigilante cops go from bad to worse and involving far too many twists and surprise revelations to sustain credibility, the viewer has little interest in the fates of cold-blooded but vaguely idealistic killers in writer-director Jim Kouf's murky, overlong "Gang Related." [6 Oct 1997]

While humor abounds, the reflective piece nevertheless carries an emotional heft that tends to sneak up on the viewer after the fact. It's a testament to Leigh's tremendous skills as a storyteller and the splendid performances of his leads, Katrin Cartlidge ("Breaking the Waves") and newcomer Lynda Steadman. [7 Aug. 1997]

Despite its lineage and some impressive special effects, Contact is a disappointingly earthbound production, weighed down by the ballast of talking-heads dramaturgy and bloated storytelling.

Spike Lee's first feature-length documentary is an uncharacteristically restrained effort by this major filmmaker, lacking the intense style and outlandishness of much of his earlier work. But it tells a powerful story simply and movingly and thus serves as an important cinematic document of one of the most heinous crimes of the civil rights era: the 1963 Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that resulted in the deaths of four young children. [11 July 1997]

Under director Emir Kusturica's gifted hand, lunacy here takes a poignant and, ultimately, uplifting turn. [28 Oct 1996]

Packed high with explosive action and loaded with high-stakes jeopardy, Con Air charts a generally sound narrative course, although it hits some story turbulence before it hits its climactic jackpot.

The visual style and the natural, unaffected performances by a talented cast help create an atmosphere of verisimilitude that makes the story all the more powerful. [23 Oct. 1996]

Badly in need of more humor and humanity, like that found in his best Hong Kong features, Tsui Hark's long-awaited big-budget debut "Double Team" is doubly problematic. Beyond a few sequences with some of the Hark magic and the formidable presence of NBA superstar Dennis Rodman, the Columbia Pictures release is not exactly an airball, but it bounces around the rim and finally fails to go in. [2 Apr 1997]

Turner Feature Animation dishes out some fancy footwork with "Cats Don't Dance," a delightful animated musical that conjures up a blend of those all-singin', all-dancin' vintage Hollywood extravaganzas and those deftly satirical Looney Tunes installments of the '30s and '40s. [21 Mar 1997]

What makes this movie work is Jennifer Lopez's electric performance as Selena, capturing the charismatic aspects of Selena's stage persona and the essence of her maturity as a growing woman.

What truly makes Liar Liar work, however, is Shadyac's inspired sense of comic proportion. While torquing the hilarities to the max, he never loses sight of the story's important human side. His blend of farce with heart is perfect.

It was hard to tell if the resulting groans from the audience were relief or derision. [13 Jan 1997]

Neither the establishing dramatic linchpin nor the final conversion of conscience is terribly convincing, leaving this pared-down rendition of the original work diminished in power and meaning as well.

Overall, Space Jam is a seamless marvel as Jordan slams and jams in the Looney Tune world.

The chief wonder of this rock 'n' roll cast is Tom Everett Scott, whose easy charisma, dreamy smile and undersurface intelligence should shoot him up the acting charts like a bullet.

Uplifting yet speckled with a flinty perspective on life, Fly Away Home is a terrific PG family film, one that will appeal to grown-ups as well as kids. [03 Sep 1996]

It's not a trip of ''Nashville'' sweep. In fact, it's closer to Dullsville. [13 May 1996]

Despite its seamy nature, Cyclo abounds with touching small moments, acts of kindness and acts of charity. [01 Aug 1996]

Peach will enthrall viewers with its blend of comedy, stop-motion animation and special effects. [8 Apr 1996]

Hong Kong writer-director Wong Kar-wai's "Chungking Express" is hip and entertaining... Technically, the film is first-rate, while all the principal performers are excellent. [9 June 1995]

A marvelous debut film for its director, writer and lead actors, Bottle Rocket is propelled by a fresh approach to the caper genre, with a trio of youthful Texan misfits thoroughly botching their half-baked "adventures," with the goal of someday graduating to more ambitious levels of criminality.

George Clooney is the best reason to submit yourself to From Dusk Till Dawn, an exceedingly grotesque thriller-horror-comedy that fails to live up to the promise of its opening reels.

With "instant classic" written all over it, Toy Story, the first full-length feature entirely composed of computer-generated animation, is a visually astounding, wildly inventive winner.

Unfortuately, the film emerges more as a listless travelogue than as a philosophical trek. Stylized in the manner of "Badlands" with a flat voice-over from the film's dullard female lead, River of Grass is a meandering and ultimately uninvolving film. [26 Jan 1994]

Steeped in high-tech paranoia, Winkler's film has a nice kinetic energy, effectively portraying the extent to which computers have become an intrinsic part of our lives. The screenplay, however, for which Winkler shares credit with four others, feels like watered-down John Grisham. [24 July 1995]

Most of the performances range from adequate to uninspired. Leary's talents are largely misused, while Doug E. Doug (Cool Runnings) as a superstitious short-timer rises above the pack. [28 Jul 1995]

It's a nicely chained movie melody of high adventure, of both the heart and the battlefield, set, of course, in the golden city of Camelot. [27 Jul 1995]

A favorable flop of the ears to director Kevin Lima for the film's overall winning tone. [07 Apr 1995]

As directed by Bill Condon (Sister, Sister) it could be redubbed "Farewell to the Fresh," having been watered down into a standard, run-of-the-mill slasher film, the only remaining hook being the one that its one-handed heavy uses to impale his victims. [17 Mar 1995]

Painstakingly formulaic and uninspired (it could have been called The Mighty Guts), the lumbering comedy will unlikely make much of a dent at the boxoffice. [17 Feb 1995]

Neither conveying the flavor of the swampy South nor juicing the story's murky undercurrents with compositional correlatives, Glimcher's framings and pacings are disappointingly flat, coagulating finally in a batch of cliched action gumbo. [13 Feb 1995]

Undeniably, it's a strange and savage blend, and Altman has undressed the fashion world as a heap of dirty laundry. He has fashioned a super satirical sendup. [9 Dec 1994]

Writer-director de Souza, with the help of five editors and 12 assistant editors, is unable to tell a coherent story or put together a decent fight sequence. There are likewise far too many characters to keep track of, undercutting what instant allegiances one forms for those heroes or villains that make a strong impression. [27 Dec 1994]

The plot, of course, is merely an excuse for an endless series of gags, and the percentage of them that score is fairly high. But since the jokes are based over and over on the fact that Lloyd and Harry are really, really dumb, a certain repetitive factor sets in.

Talkington indulges in a lot of directorial flourishes, some of which work and some of which don't, but they definitely lift the proceedings above the mundane. [28 Nov 1994]

Once the stardust settles and the generations of "Star Trek" fans pass in judgment, this splendid production may emerge as the best movie to date inspired by the multiple-series TV phenomenon created by the late Gene Roddenberry. [15 Nov. 1994]

A stunning achievement. [14 Oct 1994]

Borrowing liberally from the likes of "RoboCop," "Mad Max" and, of course, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," "Double Dragon" struggles and ultimately fails to find a satisfying tone (and pace) of its own. [03 Nov 1994]

Stargate is a blast from the past in many ways, but it imaginatively employs the latest special effects technology to give audiences new thrills. [24 Oct 1994]

In this brilliant depiction of the early years of TV and the phenomenal powers it asserted in breaking down the walls of America's living rooms and homogenizing our culture, director Robert Redford has crafted a superb piece of cracked Americana. Buena Vista will win heartfelt plaudits from mature audiences and, come awards season, will certainly increase its viewership through anticipated nominations. [9 Sept 1994]

In the lead roles, both Robbins and Freeman are outstanding, layering their performances with snippets of individuality: Their small, daily sustenances and minor triumphs are wonderfully inspiring.

Lee's direction is utterly masterful: delicate, lively, rambunctious and spontaneous all at once. The performances are similarly splendid, particularly Sihung Lung as the embroiled father and Chien-Lien Wu as his careerist daughter. [03 Aug 1994]

Contrasting Forrest's unassuming innocence with the upheavals and rancor of the times, the film is a wisely goofy commentary on the stupidity of smartness.

Director Mulcahy's fast-moving dynamic, aided by cinematographer Stephen H. Burum's rhythmic shots, editor Peter Honess' zesty punctuation and composer Jerry Goldsmith's titanic score, brings necessary bulk to The Shadow's surface dimension. [01 Jul 1994]

A scrumptiously delightful moviegoing experience.

Vague and unsastisfying, but not as immediately dismissable as Propaganda's 1993 shocker dud "Kalifornia," "Dream Lover" has going for it the lure of Spader and Amick going for broke and a plot that will bring on post-screening discussions. Either masterfully restrained or badly out of whack, depending on how one interprets the conclusion, "Dream Lover" is problematic enough to earn only passing notice in the marketplace. [11 Apr 1994]

It's a bust. The characters are bland; the dialogue is lame; and the situational comedy and inevitable dramatics are mediocre at best. The quietly released Warner Bros. film might play well on naval bases and ships at sea, but everyone else will steer clear. [25 Apr 1994]

Although the story line is somewhat stretched and overly neat, "The Paper" is a tight and entertaining read, uh, view. [14 March 1994]

Polanski's crisp and twisted direction unravels one kinky film. [18 Mar 1994]

Throwing verbal spears, constantly working themselves into a frenzy and then backing off, Davis and Spacey use their talents as serious actors to enhance what could have turned into a repetitive and unsatisfying curse-fest. [07 Mar 1994]

Bad cop crosses paths with even badder hit woman in the stylistic but ultimately unsatisfying"Romeo Is Bleeding. Gary Oldman's gritty lead performance is not enough to save writer Hilary Henkin's modern-day noir fable from shooting itself in the foot. [4 Feb 1994]

Car 54, Where Are You? makes the other recent big-screen adaptations of old TV series seem like episodes of "Masterpiece Theater" in comparison. [27 Jan 1994]

An excellent documentary film. [3 Nov 1993]

Director Rachel Talalay squeezes the life out of the suspense sequences by dragging them on for too long, and doesn't always hit the macabre witty tone the gruesome murders seem to call for. [30 Dec 1993]

Despite the premise's admittedly thin motivational set-up, "Act 2" skits along on exuberant charm and zippity humor. [10 Dec 1993]

As written by John Milius and Larry Gross and directed by Walter Hill, "Geronimo: An American Legend" makes interesting characters dull as dirt, makes a great story confusing (while taking predictable liberties with the truth) and, worst of all, trivializes the subject matter it tries to splendidly mount. [06 Dec 1993]

Weakest of the performers is Chris O'Donnell as D'Artagnan. He's certainly young enough to portray Dumas' "Don Quixote of 18," but most traces of D'Artagnan's hot-blooded, big-hearted Gascony traits have been blunted in favor of mere eager stubbornness. [12 Nov 1993]

The mangy humor provides a steady stream of laughs, but Look Who's Talking Now won't be confused with the better breeds of film comedy. [3 Nov 1993]

Just identifying the references is a feast for film buffs, but the comedy here is so specifically film-oriented that the laughs, with rare exception, have no deeper resonance. The gags, both sight and verbal, come fast and furious, and more than a few connect. But the ultimate result is wearying, as if one were forced to sit through an endless succession of "Carol Burnett Show" parodies. Another problem is that the films parodied are often less than stellar; "Sleeping With the Enemy," for instance, was already a tired thriller rehash. [19 Oct 1993]

Overall, Ordinary Magic is not a bad film. Those looking for family entertainment with a tinge of radical revisionism could do a lot worse. [01 Nov 1993]

The humor, both physical and verbal, is extremely weak. Aimed at suburban mall hoards, it might connect with young children. But no one else except maybe the filmmakers' friends and bums at all-night theaters will sit this one out. [11 Oct 1993]

A haunting glimpse into the horrors of mental illness as well as the harsh world of mental-health care, "Mr. Jones" is, unfortunately, sugarcoated with a glossy doctor-patient love story that diminishes its emotional strengths. [6 Oct 1993]

In terms of rollicking wacky gorefests, "Freaked" has nothing on "Dead Alive," the superior New Zealand cult hit from earlier this year. Still, the uniqueness of the project will ensure a number of die-hard fans. [4 Oct 1993]