A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen) [2 Discs]

A.I. puts the blame on the humans, who are abusing the "mecha," humanized robots, that they have created. Although the premise is worthy, A.I. leaches all hope out of the viewer and replaces it with utter bleakness. The scene of the toy teddy bear lumbering after his abandoned robot boy master (Haley Joel Osment) in the dark forest is almost as unbearable as the endless scene of the same boy robot's open, staring eyes as he has been trapped at the bottom of the ocean for many years. The scenes of innocent Mecha being systematically destroyed for human entertainment, including a gentle nanny robot, are a kind of robot Schindler's List.

The film is too long. Jude Law gives the best performance as a robot gigolo who befriends the boy. The special effects are flawless, but in this case they just serve to make your depression more realistic. A.I. fails in its mission to be thought-provoking, which is very unfortunate, because this could have been a masterpiece.

Next, the imprinting burn-in - another rediculous contrivance. An AI brain as sophisticated as the boy's would behave like a real boy. It would develop attachment like an orphan adopted into a family - over time by mental imprinting - not some half-baked process like entering your serial number whilst installing Photoshop.

Now, remember that the parents signed up for this experimental robot-boy with the "Dad's" company. Why then did the "mom" dump the boy in the forest? Didn't she realise that the company was going to wonder where their $80 billon robot was? Why couldn't she just give it back to the company? Maybe because this begs the very interesting question, "what are they going to do with it then?" But this movies carefully avoids these and other interesting questions.

What about the robot hunters? Why are they flying in a futuristic balloon? Why not one of the many cool flying cars in the movie? And how about their "futuristic" bounty-hunter lingo? Is this cliché dialog Spielberg or Kubric? I guess it doesn't matter - it's bad both ways.

Let's jump to the end. The ET-looking-people have travelled the countless zillions of light-years, settled on the earth, and can bring "Mom" back to life but only for 1 day! This is the final blow. After witnessing this, I felt used.

CONCLUSION:

Instead of being achieving a kind of gestalt effect, "AI" suffers from it's association with both of it's great directors. It not only fails to address REAL questions of AI, it avoids them. The periodic introduction of contrivances makes it painful and sometimes laughable to watch. There is really no end to the movie. It just kind of slows to a full and complete stop.

Although the film goes on longer than it had to, this Spielberg/Kubrick effort is simply wonderous in its tale of how an uneasy humanity confronts ever-increasingly human-like robots. Throughout the film one can sense the approach-avoidance emotions that the actors have with the machines that take over more and more of our lives. The machines clean our houses, make our products, and even satisfy our more elementary needs. And, perhaps, they begin to do all of this too well. Could it be that humans have manufactured their own replacements? And that unease only deepens when mechanical children enter the picture. Can one love a robot? Can one love back?

The plot has been relayed in depth here, so I won't repeat it, but suffice it to say that the plot is solid, makes sense in the confines of the film, and doesn't strike too many false notes. I did think the film was going to end several times before it finally did.

This is a good film to buy, because one's appreciation of the film will only deepen upon repeated viewings.

And I can't say enough about the special effects, nor Jude Law's performance. It's frightening and heart-warming at the same time. And Haley Joel Osment is as good here as in 'The Sixth Sense'; the perfectly lovable, er, robot.

Highly recommended.