Additionally, Spielberg's attempts at heartfelt melodrama are overwhelmed by the film's elaborate effects. A.I. falls into the scrap pile of modern-day blockbusters that no longer have the ability to amaze us with something we've never seen before. Despite its exact attention to detail and abundance of digital imagery, A.I. never makes one wonder: How exactly did they do that? The sad reality is that with today's special-effects-driven blockbusters, the fantasy movie experience is no longer all that fantastic. -- SR (Rated PG-13)

The ANNIVERSARY PARTY -- (Grade: A) What happens when you trust a pair of hyphenates (actor/writer/first-time director) to make a film? If the pair in question is Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, you sit back and enjoy the show.

Their Party focuses on the recent reconciliation of a British novelist about to direct a film adapted from one of his books and his early thirty-something Hollywood actress wife as they host a celebration marking their sixth anniversary.

Much can be made of the stellar supporting cast including Kevin Kline, Parker Posey and Gwyneth Paltrow, among others, who are friends of the filmmaking duo. But the true impact of their work comes from the sense that this is more than simply an inside look at the lifestyles of Hollywood couples and the 21st century bohemian set. The Anniversary Party seeks to expose a set of people, sometimes petty, sometimes confused, but who are always very human. These are actors, yes, but once you join their party, you might feel the need to cry and share your own foibles with them. -- t.t. clinkscales (Rated R.)

ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE--(Grade: B) The geeky hero in Disney's rousing animated adventure is Milo Thatch (voice of Michael J. Fox), a museum mapmaker who discovers a long-lost book that leads him and a team of quirky adventurers to the lost continent of Atlantis. The latest cartoon extravaganza from directors Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale sidesteps the Disney canon and follows in the free-wheeling footsteps of Japanese anime legend Hayao Miyazaki's 1980 comic-book adventure, The Castle of Cagliostro. The result is a wide-screen spectacle that captures the exotic world of Atlantis: The Lost Empire in wondrous fashion.

From the film's explosive opening with Atlantis's catastrophic descent to the ocean floor, it's clear there are no cute and furry animals in this Disney adventure. Instead, Wise and Trousdale deliver a high-flying adventure that combines the adventurous spirit of a super-hero comic book with Industrial Age imagery of a Jules Verne novel. -- SR (Rated PG.)

THE ANIMAL -- (Grade: D) Not-so-funny Rob Schneider bumbles and fumbles his way through another uninspired slapstick comedy. Schneider plays Marvin, a shaggy-haired loser who dreams of ditching his file clerk job at the small-town police department and becoming a real cop. After undergoing emergency surgery with animal transplants, Marvin uses his newfound "animal" abilities to become a super-cop. The slapstick question is whether Marvin will lose control of his beastly instincts. The Animal's lack of comic worth ultimately rests on Schneider's leading-man deficiencies. It's amazing to me that a man as nondescript as Schneider can end up starring in his own movie. His Jerry Lewis-inspired shenanigans aside, Schneider's shaggy loser turns out to be nothing more than a Barney Fife wannabe. Schneider is enthusiastic. But The Animal would be more worthwhile if it could claim one ounce of cleverness. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

BABY BOY -- (Grade: B) Writer/director John Singleton strikes a surprisingly melodramatic tone for his companion piece to Boyz N the Hood. A cinematic return to the gritty streets of South Central, Los Angeles, Singleton's Baby Boy hits levels of high-drama that equal the histrionics found in a typical soap opera. Thankfully, the film has more than its share of searing family drama to compensate for any over-the-top storytelling.

Singer and MTV VJ Tyrese plays the 20-year-old Jody, a jobless womanizer who refuses to accept responsibility for the two babies he's father by two different women. Tyrese elevates Baby Boy with natural charisma and youthful verve. While most on-screen Romeos appear trite and cliché, Tyrese makes "baby boy" Jody into something complex and real. For Singleton, after last year's commercial success over his forgettable remake of Shaft, returning to the confines of South Central proves to be the best creative decision he could ever make. -- SR (Rated R)

BLOW -- (Grade: B) OK, here it is: Blow is the best film of 2001. So far. I know, we've got a long way to go. But we may have to wait a while before the next best thing comes along.Blow is based on the true story of George Jung (Johnny Depp), the American behind the introduction of Colombian cocaine into the U.S. during the late '70s and early '80s. The film has its share of the wild signs of the times that politicians and other moral pundits will eagerly denounce without paying attention to the human lessons.

Blow has the spirit of Boogie Nights and the substance of Traffic. But Demme's film comes to life in the flesh-and-bone story of its doomed man. It's Depp who makes Jung as compelling as his story. -- ttc (Rated R.)

BRIDGET JONES'S DIARY-- (Grade: C) From the producers of Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill comes the latest romantic comedy to feature Hugh Grant opposite an American actress. Bridget Jones's Diary is based on the best-selling book by Helen Fielding. Grant enjoys a stretch here, playing a cad. Renée Zellweger gamely takes on a Brit accent and some well-publicized extra weight to bring this thirty-something "singleton" to life. Bridget Jones's Diary is full of supposedly adult, professional girls hooking up with the wrong guys at work, listening to the same Van Morrison song, and making embarrassing, public declarations of love.

To its credit, Bridget Jones's Diary doesn't stop there. Bridget fumbles into a bit of success on the job and observes her parents working through their own relationship issues. These real-life moments elevate a film that, like its heroine, desperately wants to be loved. Zellweger's efforts aren't entirely wasted, but I don't fall in love so easily. -- ttc (Rated R.)

THE CIRCLE -- (Grade: A) After watching Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi's third film, The Circle, there is no doubt in my mind that some of the most humanistic stories are coming from the world of Arab cinema. Panahi's The Circle, an emotionally searing tale about a group of women facing unjust persecution, offers an unflinching, critical look at a woman's role in Arab society.

Like The Mirror Panahi's earlier critique on Iran's male-dominated society, The Circle continues to be banned in Panahi's homeland. While the context of the film, the ongoing rift between Arab men and women, is clearly militant, Panahi still emphasizes his female characters and their emotional journey.

Recently, more and more Western audiences are discovering the rich storytelling that has become the trademark of Arab cinema. While other leading Arab filmmakers like Dariush Mehrjui and Abbas Kiarostami have gained some much-needed recognition, The Circle proves that Panahi is ready to join their ranks. -- SR (Unrated)Crocodile Dundee films so popular with 1980s audiences is clearly missing from this third Dundee adventure. -- SR (Rated PG.)

DR. DOLITTLE 2 -- (Grade: C) In this sequel from Steve Carr (Next Friday), Eddie Murphy, that master of multiple personalities, transforms himself into Bill Cosby. Over a decade ago, Eddie's raw brand of humor was deemed too harsh for young audiences by Cos himself. Now, older and wiser, Eddie speaks fluently with animals as well as children.

The film is nothing more than a sketchy collection of family sitcom moments. Dr. Dolittle 2 launches fart jokes and pop culture references with far less sophistication than Shrek or Sky Kids. One typically uninspired gag involves Dolittle receiving an offer he can't refuse from the animal kingdom's underworld leader, the Beaver. Unfortunately, since this isn't the Farrelly brothers or Keenen Ivory Wayans, there are no heads in the bed.

Between Dr. Dolittle and Shrek, Eddie is bound to keep the kids in the not-so-cheap seats happy, but I want to know when he's going to offer something more for the rest of us. -- ttc (Rated PG.)

DRIVEN -- (Grade: F) Driven is predictably bad for the reasons we thought it would be. Joe Tanto (Sly Stallone) is a one-time champion racer who becomes the mentor of rookie racer Jimmy Bly (Kip Pardue). It seems that Bly is slipping in the rankings and Tanto is just the man to straighten him out. To say anything more would give the impression that Driven actually tells a substantial story. First, consider its writer. That would be one Sly Stallone. Throw out the first couple of Rockys, and what has this guy done to deserve a spot in the writers union? Then there's director Renny Harlin. An inventive filmmaker at one time in his career, Harlin has come to mean "dud" in Hollywood. Pair together these two over-rated hacks and you get, well, a vacant movie like Driven.

Even the racing effects, arguably the film's lone draw for non-race fans, are weak. But if you're a fan of Cutthroat Island, or if you dug the dialogue in Rambo II, then this movie just might surprise you. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

EVOLUTION -- (Grade: F) David Duchovny appropriates his trademark character X-Files Agent Fox Mulder for an uninspired farce about alien invaders. Director Ivan Reitman borrows the laughter/screaming rule book from his 1984 comedy Ghostbusters. However, his end result is a derivative parody that contains few laughs and fewer thrills.

Creepy-crawly aliens start popping up everywhere soon after a meteor slams into the Arizona desert. Luckily, a pair of slackerish community college science professors (Duchovny and the sassy Orlando Jones) stand in the way of alien invasion. Actually, these two bumbling professors are part of the gooey problem. Evolution is one of those laughless comedies that makes everyone look bad. Even Jones' sarcastic banter fails to jolt Reitman's digitized fiasco to life. It's clear that Evolution employed an army of effects engineers to manufacture its menagerie of alien monsters. What it really needed was one decent comedy writer. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS -- (Grade: D) The paper I wrote in sixth grade on Abraham Lincoln, the one that I copied verbatim out of the encyclopedia, was less plagiaristic than The Fast and the Furious. Certainly, there are movie formulas. You come to expect that in Hollywood. But the blatant copying of an entire script is out of control. The Fast and the Furious is Point Break. Substitute surfing for street racing, bank-robbing for electronics heists and the Zen-like misunderstood gang leader played by Patrick Swayze for the Zen-like misunderstood gang leader played by Vin Diesel. Otherwise it's the same film.

Campy bad actor Paul Walker takes Keanu Reeves's role as the dreamy agent who infiltrates the underworld and then gets caught up in it. It's amazing how both actors' line readings manage to sound exactly the same.

Furious does have a few thrilling moments but you'll be too distracted, wondering why it all seems familiar, to really enjoy them. -- RP (Rated PG-13)

JOE DIRT -- (Grade: C) The one thing broad comedies tend to lack, besides intelligence, is heart. Joe Dirt, the white trash David Spade vehicle, has loads of heart. If only it had a hair more class, the movie might really have been something. Of course, we're talking about a mullet-sporting hero. Class has no place here.Dirt (Spade) is traveling the country looking for his parents, after (he believes) he was mistakenly left at the Grand Canyon. His adventures lead him to several colorful characters and several off-color situations. Toilet humor used to mean anything "dirty." Now it literally means someone gets crapped on. We just don't need to see it.

Spade loses his smart-aleck Spade-isms and vaguely attempts to act. It's a valiant effort. Luckily, the character is well-drawn enough to keep you liking Dirt. Dennis Miller is his usual brilliant self, and Christopher Walken is the most alive we've seen him in years. Kid Rock makes his cinematic debut but, like the film, it's too hollow to really care about it. All in all, Joe Dirt is a fun but soiled movie. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

JOURNEY INTO AMAZING CAVES -- (Grade: B) Cavers Nancy Aulenbach and Hazel Barton put an adventurous face on microbiology in the rousing OMNIMAX film Journey Into Amazing Caves. All the OMNIMAX tricks are tossed into this family-friendly nature documentary about exploring the Earth's underground frontiers. Actor Liam Neeson provides celebrity narration. The Moody Blues supply a soundtrack appropriate for aging baby boomers. Endless tracking shots take audiences over canyons, rain forests and icy tundra in dizzying fashion. Anything less stomach-churning would be considered a disappointment. -- SR (Unrated.)

MEMENTO -- (Grade: A) Director Christopher Nolan's stylish thriller is a moviemade puzzle that keeps getting better each time I watch the film. What's astounding is how Nolan makes sense out of a narrative whirlwind of friends, foes and shadowy locales. Guy Pearce is riveting as Leonard Shelby, a man desperate to avenge his wife's brutal murder. But there is something odd about Shelby. He wears expensive suits and drives a Jaguar. Yet, he also lives in fleabag motels and pays for everything with a thick wad of cash. Shelby's problem is that he suffers from a rare affliction of short-term memory loss. Basically, Shelby is incapable of remembering what happened 15 minutes ago. With the help of photographs, charts, notes and tattoos across his body, Shelby tries to find his wife's murderer.

Carrie-Anne Moss offers gritty support as a femme fatale who appears at Shelby's side. Joe Pantoliano is even creepier as a supposed friend with a shady purpose.

Watched earlier at festivals in Toronto and Sundance, it's clear that Memento ultimately belongs to Pearce and his obsessive habits. He's the intense soul of Nolan's clever memory thriller. -- SR (Rated R.)

MOULIN ROUGE -- (Grade: A) Right from the start, it's evident that Moulin Rouge sets out to push cinema's storytelling boundaries. For director Baz Luhrmann, Moulin Rouge is a triumphant reinterpretation of Golden Age Hollywood musicals. Although his film tells a familiar story, Lurhmann combines old-fashioned melodrama, operatic staging and a Pop-influenced soundtrack into a hip and frenetic package that's appealing to today's techno-influenced moviegoers.

Moulin Rouge offers audiences a roller-coaster perspective of its colorful Parisian nightclub. The cameras never stop moving. It's difficult to determine specifically where Moulin Rouge gets all of its energy. Ewan McGregor, playing a young writer named Christian who has come to Paris to experience the bohemian revolution, captures the shyness and emotional clumsiness that's appropriate for a love-struck poet. As the film's whirling dervish in red curls, Nicole Kidman is equally sexy and funny as the vamping Satine. There's no doubt that her comic sass is the spark that keeps Moulin Rouge running at full speed. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

THE MUMMY RETURNS -- (Grade: D) Everybody runs in writer/director Stephen Sommers' silly update of Boris Karloff's archaeological villain. Adventurer Rick O'Connell (Brendan Fraser) runs from giant bugs and mummified warriors. O'Connell's Egyptologist wife, Evelyn (Rachel Weisz), dodges a 3,000-year-old reincarnated royal (Patricia Velasquez). O'Connell's desert friend Ardeth Bay (Oded Fehr) sidesteps an army of undead jackals. All of them run from a supernatural creepie called The Scorpion King (played by WWF Wrestling Champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson). The Mummy Returns is one of those computer-generated blockbusters disinterested in taking the time to develop characters, build dramatic suspense or tell a substantial story. In a tale set eight years after Sommers' first Mummy adventure, O'Connell and Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) face new dangers when their long-time foe Imhotep (Arnold Vosloo) is resurrected at London's British Museum. Rick and Evelyn are now parents of a young son named Alex (Freddie Boath). But these husband-and-wife adventurers have no interest in hiring a babysitter. For the O'Connells, saving the world becomes a family affair.

Sommers tosses out every computer-generated trick in a desperate attempt to compensate for his film's threadbare storytelling. Granted, some of the effects in The Mummy Returns are spectacular. But the best moment in The Mummy Returns arrives early in the movie. O'Connell and friends ride a speeding double-decker bus through the London streets in a desperate attempt to escape a pack of reanimated mummies. If the rest of The Mummy Returns only matched that early scene's intensity, Sommers could claim a film that's as entertaining as it is box-office friendly. -- SR (Rated PG-13.)

PEARL HARBOR -- (Grade: D) Director Michael Bay pushes the special-effects envelope with this ultra-budget look at the day that lives in infamy. Yet, despite all the money, time and effort, Bay has made an over-the-top failure we've seen before. Ben Affleck, Kate Beckinsale and Josh Hartnett are the young faces who add a romantic triangle to the explosive histrionics. It's to Affleck's acting credit that he stands equal to the film's frequent explosions. By comparison, Beckinsale and Hartnett are transparent.

It's clear that Bay and screenwriter Randall Wallace emphasize wartime spectacle over romance and human drama. But Pearl Harbor is even disappointing as an action blockbuster.-- SR (Rated PG-13.)

SHREK -- (Grade: A) In directors Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson's Shrek, the role of the handsome prince is switched to something ugly and green. Everything about Shrek (voice of Mike Myers) screams, "Blech!" It's what one expects from a Scottish ogre. In the school of animated heroes, Shrek is intentionally unorthodox. The adventure starts when the laughable villain Lord Farquaad (voice of John Lithgow) sends Shrek and his unlikely friend, a talking donkey (voice of Eddie Murphy), to rescue Princess Fiona (voice of Cameron Diaz) to bring her back to be Farquaad's bride. Of course, Shrek doesn't realize Fiona is cursed with a magic spell.

Lifelike computer imagery courtesy of the engineers at Pacific Data Images (the company who made Antz) gives Shrek a stylish edge over its animated peers.

Shrek takes full advantage of every satirical opportunity with parodies that run the gamut from Grimm's Fairy Tales and The Dating Game to Gladiator and big-time wresting. Some of Shrek's best gags lie with its pokes at the Disney mythos.

Fractured or otherwise, Shrek is still a fairy tale at heart. That matters end "happily ever after" is a dramatic given. Shrek just happens to give the time-honored phrase a playful jab in the ribs. -- SR (Rated PG.)

SONGCATCHER -- (Grade: B) Independent filmmaker Maggie Greenwald makes a dramatic return with a compelling tale about a musicologist (Janet McTeer) discovering a newfound passion for life while researching folk songs in 1907 Appalachia.

McTeer delivers a heartfelt performance as the tenacious Lily Penleric. After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Penleric strikes back at the male--dominated world around her by heading to Appalachia with a recording device and some writing tools. Penleric is intent on completing her research, no matter what her male colleagues do or say.

First watched at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, Songcatcher is another quality indie film that has struggled to find its way into theaters. For a film that displays the ongoing struggle between rural lifestyles and modern progress with heartfelt integrity, Songcatcher deserves a better shot at reaching audiences -- SR (Rated R)

SWORDFISH -- (Grade: D) As corrupt C.I.A. agent Gabriel Shear, John Travolta begins the caper film Swordfish with a rambling monologue. "You know what the problem with Hollywood is?" Shear says, speaking matter-of-factly into the camera. "They make shit." The unintended irony is that Shear could be talking about his own awful movie.

At least Swordfish director Dominic Sena knows how to grab an audience's attention. Early in the film, a bank heist explosion, filmed from a whirling 360-degree, digitized vantage point, jolts Swordfish to life. It's an astounding effect. But soon afterwards, Swordfish becomes just another threadbare actioner filled with redundant pyrotechnics and car chases.

Sena is one of those hi-tech filmmakers who emphasizes lenses and filters over storytelling. At its best, Swordfish is a superficial comic book. At its worst, its firepower is painfully redundant. -- SR (Rated R.)

TOMB RAIDER -- (Grade: B)When I was growing up, boys my age wanted to be Indiana Jones. Boys today are going to want to do Lara Croft. Otherwise, brand new Tomb Raider and 1981 blockbuster Raiders of the Lost Ark are close cousins. Tomb Raider, starring bad girl Angelina Jolie, goes toe-to-toe with Raiders on all counts, except one. Whereas Tomb Raider is a blast to watch, full of envelope-pushing action and the strongest adventurer since Indy, it lacks heart. Mind you, it's still entertaining, but it seems like hollow entertainment.

Nevertheless, Angelina Jolie helps make you forget any quibbles you might have with the film. It's her star vehicle, and she rides it like a champ. On her chutzpah alone, Tomb Raider shines. She has the uncanny ability to be tough and sexy simultaneously. It might be the toughest role a woman can attempt. Go too far one way, and you're butch. Go too far the other, and you're Charlie's Angels. Tomb Raider nails Jolie's unique blend of erotic toughness. And while his script lacks depth, West manages to make a fine movie independent of its video game origins -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

WHAT'S THE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN? -- (Grade: C) This caper comedy from director Sam Weisman generally clicks. The clever plot about a double-crossed thief and the jokes it sets out to make both hit their marks. The only real criticism is that the gags aren't anything special. They keep you smiling, but I saw no rolling in the aisles during the screening.

Martin Lawrence stars as a professional thief who gets crossed by a multibillionaire SOB, played by Danny DeVito. The game of revenge between them escalates after DeVito swipes Lawrence's good-luck ring during a botched robbery. It's not long before both their lives are turned upside down. Lawrence and DeVito play off each other well, but have too few scenes together to really bill this as a comedic pairing.

About three-quarters of the way through, the film's meager plausibility is thrown out the window in favor of inanity. It's right then that the comedy fizzles. -- RP (Rated PG-13.)

WITH A FRIEND LIKE HARRY -- (Grade : A) The thrills begin in banal fashion for Michel (Laurent Lucas), his wife, Claire (Mathilde Seigner), and their three infant daughters. A stop at a highway restroom turns into an unexpected rendezvous between Michel and an old classmate, Harry Ballestero (Sergi Lopez).
"We know each other," Harry casually tells Michel.
"I don't think so," Michel replies.
"We do," Harry insists.

Few films start off as cleverly as co-writer/director Dominik Moll's French thriller, With a Friend Like Harry. It's unnerving when something as ubiquitous as a visit to a roadside rest stop leads to bloodshed. With a Friend Like Harry thrives on the creepy undertones Moll places beneath these ordinary occurrences. The giddy thrills are a result of Moll's powers of suspenseful persuasion. And while all the Alfred Hitchcock comparisons that have suraced are deserved, With a Friend Like Harry is devilishly creepy in its own right. -- SR (Rated R.)

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