1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- A.I. Artificial Intelligence

#1037- A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Starring: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, William Hurt
Directed by: Steven Spielberg


Plot Summary: In an age where mankind is trying to rebuild itself after a declining population from global warming, robots are created and despised by many humans who are afraid they will replace them as the dominant beings. Cybertronics of New Jersey has developed a prototype for a robotic child that is able to look, feel, think, and love like a real human child. The prototype's name is David, who is brought in to live with Henry and Monica Swinton amid family tragedy that has left their son Martin in a state of suspended animation due to disease. When Martin wakes, tension builds within the family since they have taken a liking to David. David dreams of being a real boy so Monica will love him, and when he proves to be dangerous for their family, Monica takes him to the woods and leaves him there to fend for himself. He embarks on a mission to find the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio to make him a real boy so his mother will truly love him.


After the great Stanley Kubrick died in 1999, the directorial duties on A.I. Artificial Intelligence was passed on to his friend Steven Spielberg. Now, Kubrick had been developing this film since the '70s, this was going to be his grand vision brought to life, and he wanted to collaborate with his good friend Spielberg, only for the project to be shelved time and again due to commitments to other movies. There were many times where Kubrick wanted Spielberg to direct, but Spielberg convinced Kubrick to stay on as the project's director and it wasn't until Kubrick's death that Spielberg opted to take the reigns as director and writer for A.I., so it's easy to recognize that this was not going to be an easy film for Spielberg to accomplish. Spielberg had the difficult task of keeping the original vision of Kubrick alive while also bringing his own iconic flavor to the film, in what should have been the ultimate blend of directing styles from two of the greatest filmmakers in history (talk about pressure). Not to mention the fact that Spielberg chose to direct this movie over the first Harry Potter film. I repeat...we had the opportunity to have Steven FREAKING Spielberg direct Harry FREAKING Potter...but instead, we have A.I. So for my sake, this movie had better be worth it.

The movie is about David, a robot child capable of having thoughts and emotions played by Haley Joel Osment. This was at a time when Osment was the biggest child star on the planet thanks to The Sixth Sense. I bring that up since it ties into his performance in A.I. David is absolutely TERRIFYING when you first meet him. He's just so creepy and awkward to watch that it makes you uncomfortable, and I think that was the goal. As a human, you're taken aback by David at first (just like how humans segregate robots in the film), but once you start to get to know him, there's something about him that grows on you. You can understand his motives and feelings and really want him to succeed at becoming a real boy (even though it's painfully obvious that his journey is a long shot to everyone else except him). We see him pushed to his limits by seeing him deal with problems at home, as well as problems in the real world but he does not let them stop him from his goals. Admittedly, David is massively naive, but he's brand new to this world and he's a kid so you can't really fault him for it, it's just the cards he was dealt.

Along the way, David encounters a male prostitute robot named Gigolo Joe, played by Jude Law. While I enjoyed Joe as a character thanks to his endless sexual euphemisms and artificial charm (I can't call it natural since it's programmed in him), there's something about his side of the story that just didn't fit within David's story, nor is it given enough time and attention to say that they share the narrative together. Joe is a sidekick on his journey, but I do believe that his euphemisms play a part in one of the themes biggest themes. Anytime he tries to help David, he can't help but use his knowledge of women and sex, since that's all he really knows about since he was programmed for a specific function. That's what sets David apart from all the other robots, that his specific function is to love and think and feel like a human, which is a very specific function in concept with very broad after effects. Still, you can feel a friendship develop between these two, with Joe showing compassion whenever David hits a bump in the road on his journey.

Part of the reason I don't feel a prostitute robot fits in this movie is probably because of Spielberg. You can only imagine that in his mind, creating a PG-13 science fiction film that is tailor made toward general audiences probably would have a more family friendly character than Gigolo Joe (even if his sexual stuff is downplayed quite a bit). Now, Teddy, voiced by Jack Angel, feels more up Spielberg's alley. Teddy is my favorite character in the film because he perfectly embodies the film's themes of loyalty and compassion to someone else, regardless of whether you are human or robot. Teddy is a robotic teddy bear who befriends David and throughout the entire film is absolutely loyal to him. They get separated, Teddy finds where David is going. David gets in trouble at the Flesh Fair, Teddy tries to spring him out. David's obnoxious brother Martin, played by Jake Thomas (that annoying brat from Lizzie McGuire), tries to take advantage of him, Teddy does his best to be his conscience. It's obvious this movie has a theme similar to Pinocchio, but it took me a little while to connect that Teddy is this film's Jiminy Cricket, and he's the real MVP on this mission because he goes to any lengths to help David.

Naturally in a movie like this you gotta talk about the effects, right? Of course the effects look great, it's Spielberg for crying out loud. The problem with the design isn't the effects themselves, but in the execution. They enter a place called Rouge City, a place that Joe alludes to having as many women as there are stars in the sky (basically, I was predicting a town full of prostitutes). So when they get there, there's bright colors, holograms, and giant sculptures, but nothing other than those mouth tunnels (which are admittedly really cool) resemble the town that was described. You know if Kubrick was still alive to direct this movie that Rouge City (as well as Joe's character) would've been a lot more perverse and would have left a bigger impact with the audience, as well as displaying how much of a fish out of water David was. Even if they look nice, the effects are also proof that Spielberg was out of his element on this project, since they had potential to create something even grander to behold.

When I think of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, all I can think about is the word "letdown." Spielberg was going into a project that he couldn't win. He had to maintain what Kubrick wanted in honor of his friend, but also had to add his own style to it so it looked like something from him as well. The result was very mixed for me. There were a number of decisions made that took a potentially "ok" movie and made it something that felt like an absolute chore for me to watch (the ending seems to come to mind). All this made me want to do was go see more Kubrick movies to get the idea of what his vision could have looked like. In fact, that's what I'm going to do. I've got two more Spielberg movies this month, but after that, I'm going to cover the best movies of the legendary career of Stanley Kubrick. Now that's what I call a proper tribute and blend to the careers of Spielberg and Kubrick.


Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a textbook example of how films can falter when their directors try to emulate someone else. Both Spielberg and Kubrick are master visionaries, so when their styles get blended together the combination doesn't exactly click well. If you are big fans of either of these filmmakers, then I guess it's worth at least a rental. But the casual moviegoer could pass this one up in favor of other works from both these directors.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence and movie images are copyrighted by DreamWorks Pictures and Warner Bros.