Rating: 
Summary: Kubrickian Vision Fails in Hands of Fantasy Pulpmeister.
Review: ....you could just about tell what Spielsberg took from Kubrick's storyboards and what is pure Steven Spielsberg. My problem with this moovy is that such a drama and collaboration would have gone over bigtime 10 years ago....pre 2K, dig? But certain things in the moovy seem forced. Jude Law doesn't seem to really form a bond with the Boybot (or is this the closest thing to bonding Mechas do?), the teddy bear was it supposed to be more humorous? Osment comes off as being creepy, period. Particularly in that scene where he's trying to mock his 'mom' eating and laughs at strands of noodles in his mouth.C'mon folks. Had Kubrick lived to flesh out his darker, thinking mans' vision, it would have been a masterpiece a la A Clockwork Orange or 2001. This product, however, failed to live up to it's great promise.
Rating: 
Summary: A.I.: An Interest
Review: When this film first came out, I kept hearing that it stunk. Thus, when I did finally rent it one day, I had expected it to be rather dull and stupid. But after watching it, I have to admit that it's growing on me (I suspect that if I watch it more and more, I may give it an extra star). The whole Pinnochio motif was a surprise. I was also surprised with the cinematography. I was dissapointed in the slowness of the plot, but Spielberg made up for it with its characters and concepts. Concerning the concepts, I originally thought that Spielberg missed out on some possibly good concepts (I think that the Flesh Fair scene's implications of humanity could have been embellished more). Indeed, the film takes on a fairy tale prose that lacks the kind of darkness that Kubrik would have used. But it does present a different pallette of ideas that can also be interesting. The characters are well developed. The special effects are very interesting (especially towards the end). The story line is interesting. This film is simply an interesting film.
Rating:
Summary: Very Uneven
Review: I sat down to A.I. expecting a movie full of wonder and amazement. I got that at times. At other times, I wanted to turn it off. When it was finally over, I really wanted to like this film but I just felt like I was in a ship on stormy seas and was seasick from it all. The movie starts out in a very somber tone. It explains how the earth is suffering the effects of global warming and the creation of robots, specifically one who can love. David, the loving Robot, is purchased by a family whose own son is on life support. Soon enough, the son improves and the mother decides she doesn't need David anymore. So she drops David and Teddy (the best and warmest character in the movie) in the woods and David goes on a journey to become a real boy and to earn the love of his mother. This is a very sad way to start the film, but it is then that we start to see a little of a "quest" in the movie (a la Wizard of Oz) and it begins to feel magical. Then, we get depressed again as we are introduced to a "pleasure robot" and how a woman is afraid of his "functional abilities." This totally lurches the movie from a kind of magical quality to in your face smut. Then, we see a "flesh fair" in which defective robots are destroyed in an arena to the delight of the humans. Then, we are taken to a city which has buildings in the shapes of women in provocative poses. I knew this was a pet project of Kubrick but I didn't know a lot of his perverted imagery and characters would be included in the film. Once we get past that, then we have a few more magical moments and then we are introduced to more dark images and finally, more magical moments. By the time it is all over, I was exhausted. Did I like the movie? I liked the Spielberg "moments" but I disliked the Kubrick ones. This maybe what they had intended but to me, it made for a very uneven and overall unsatisfying film.
Rating: 
Summary: "To sleep, perchance to dream."
Review: Perhaps the hallmark of a culturally important movie is its ability to inspire serious debate. On this basis,'AI' succeeds entirely. It is nothing less than the best film of director Steven Spielberg's career, the one that will be appreciated by generations of film enthusiasts. The debate about this movie (on [Amazon.com] at least) appears to be about the morality of its technological premise. The fact is that experiments in creating intelligent machines have been going on for years. Anyone who has used a computer may understand this. For that matter man has been attempting to create a better version of himself for hundreds of years. The notion that we may one day create "lifelike" robots is not so far-fetched. Indeed it seems to be a mere matter of time before we see creatures such as David. After all, if the human mind is capable of dreaming of such a creation (and dreams are central to David's quest in AI) then to some degree mechas already exist. What is such a movie as AI than the realization of a vision of artificiality no different than organic man himself, sometimes even more so? You can see this in David's need to make himself as human, a quest that reminds one of philosophers such as Descartes, who famously stated 'I think, therefore I am." In David's case it could be put as "I love, I dream, therefore I am." This is course a central conceit of the movie. In other words, what is the moral bargain we take upon ourselves in the quest to create? What are our obligations to intelligent machines? It's clear that David's mother is the vehicle through which we see this struggle. The enormous emotional strain put upon her is the example of how difficult it shall be to uphold this repsonsibility of acting as gods. Forget whether or not David is a real boy. To his mother he is: he is needy, loving, and imperfect. And if David is capable of those traits, and seeks like many to be loved and find his place in the world, then he must be human. So what is the point of this anyway? Nothing less than the paradox of existence, really. It may seem hard to believe, but in fulfilling Kubrick's vision of the future, Spielberg has come upon what it means be be alive, to exist, to have been. That is why the last 20 or so minutes of 'AI,' criticized as they have been, are crucial to understanding the intentions of the filmakers. For it is not just our understanding of life, but what those decisions will lead to for future generations. The advanced robots who find David are humanity's very sons and daughters. They never would have existed without David, but ultimately they belong to man, the next step of "human" advancement, if that is what they can be called. Remember, it has been said that man cannot really understand God. Likewise, man cannot really understand what man creates. It is left to the future to determine the results of how we acted while alive. In this regard, creating robots who can love and reach out to others is not such a bad idea, after all. There are far worse gifts we could leave for the future. Still not convinced? Watch it again and remember what happens to David when the day with his mother ends. He lies beside her, closes his eyes, and sleeps. But he can't sleep, since he's not human, right? Wrong. The cruelty of Kubrick's premise has come to bear out. The fate of humans, i.e. our foreknowledge of death, has been passed on to mechas; death has been our great gift to them, in return for the desire to love, and it's the ultimate form of self-consciousness. 'AI' is entrancing, mind-shaking and terrifying in its contemplation of life and mortality. Thankfully, however, the experience of living has not been without purpose.
Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies ever!!
Review: It seems like everytime a movie from either Stanley Kubrick or Steven Spielberg comes out it's either loved or hated. Both men have made some of the most amazing movies ever and of course each film that they do has to live up to everyone's expectations and be just as huge as their biggest hits. Eyes Wide Shut wasn't A Clockwork Orange, 2001, or Full Metal Jacket but it's still one of Kubrick's greatest films and what a final film it was, love it or hate it. Spielberg is the genius behind many of the biggest films in movie history. This is the guy that has brought you films like the Indiana Jones trilogy, Jaws, Saving Private Ryan and many many others. For me Spielberg has has had some off moments in his carrer but the moment that A.I. ended I knew that I just witnessed something amazing. I'm only 24 years old but I was lucky enough to see E.T., which is one of the greatest films ever along with the Star Wars films in the theater (it happend to be the first movie I ever saw in the theater). I don't rmemeber seeing it but I do recall seeing it many times since then. After viewing A.I. I just was in awe and couldn't saw anything. It was such a breataking, heartbreaking film much like E.T. was 20 years earlier. To me this is Spielberg's sequel to E.T.! Speilberg has become such a serious film maker since E.T. and this was such a treat and proves that Spielberg is one of the greatest film makers alive and can still bring that magic to the screen. Many people who are fans of Kubrick feel that this film would've looked alot different had Kubrick lived to make this film and many have bashed Spielberg for destroying Kurbrick's vision but it's not like Steven Spielberg just stole his ideas. Kubrick was working with Spielberg on this project and as a tribute to the great film maker he finished it. I do think that this is what a collaboration between these two greats would've looked like. This movie is a little bit of both directors visions and i'm damn glad this film was made. Like it or not but this truly is a film that has to be seen. Like all of Kubrick's projects this will continue to be judged. All of his other ideas are either understood or missunderstood to the point that the viewer just dislikes the film, which is a shame. As for the acting in the film I think it's top notch. I've always disliked Haley Joel Osment's acting (I lothe the overrated garbage that is The Sixth Sense)but in this film he truly shines and makes you feel for the character that he's playing. Bottom line..this is what you get when you put two visionaires ideas together. The end result it one of the greatest films in movie history.
Rating:
Summary: Without Redeeming Characteristics, Awful Story
Review: This movie will make you feel REALLY REALLY BAD. It's a combination of the most wrenching aspects of Frankenstein [in the creation and subsequent utter abandonment of a "living" creature who loves], Pinocchio [dangerous quest for something that doesn't really exist] and Close Encounters [nice aliens to offset cruel, destructive, petty and mean-spirited humans]. Haley Joel Osment is a pleasure to watch, a fine young actor, and if his character turns out to be the last "living" and active remnant of a dead human civilization, we could do worse than to have it be he. At the same time, the way his character is treated and the way the story's world is make one positively glad that no human survives to taint the universe. Kubrick tends to showcase the negative in the human creature, and he does it here through "mecha's" who are present at every level of society, primarily as toys and servants or slaves, and their position in it. They are throw-aways, exacberating the human need to trod underfoot some segment of its population to make itself feel powerful and safe. Spielberg was chosen, as I guess, to take over Kubrick's project because he likes to showcase the things human beings like about themselves, the more admirable characteristics. However, he routinely does it through contrasting types, playing the flawed against the godlike or turning the marginally corrupt into examples of courage and dignity. On the face of it, this collaboration should have worked. I think it doesn't because our present civilization has serious and lingering doubts about its worthiness to survive and even its capacity to do so. Making a film like this makes those doubts and fears more tangible than we would like in something from Spielberg. And he creates an ending where David the artificial boy finally gets the love he craves from his mother [for one day] and falls asleep forever with her in her bed, feels like a cheat. After telling us a horrid truth about ourselves, Spielberg sends us home with pretty lie. We aren't that dumb; we know some things can't be whitewashed by nice aliens with honkey-dorey technology. To try to do this is to excise the only good thing this film had to offer: truth about the human condition. The film was very thoughtful, but I wouldn't want to retread the thought-path again anytime soon.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst movie I've ever seen
Review: Though I appreciated the premise of AI, I found this movie horrible. Not only was its plot totally scattered, it went off on tangents that were so odd I could not resolve them with the movie's "Pinocchio" inspiration. The only reason I kept watching AI was to see if it could get more awful... at least in that capacity it did not disappoint. I would not use this DVD as a coaster, let alone recommend it for rental or purchase.
Rating:
Summary: The qualities of "A.I."
Review: The good:
-It Pinocchio in the future
-Amazing metropolis The bad:
-Confusing story
-Action scenes are not all that interesting The strange:
-How the hell are you supposed to raise something that wants to love you but all(including his so called family) discriminate on it? The awards for:
Stupidest character-The robot's(Osment) father<Hey, if you are not going to treat that boy droid like a real boy, then don't buy it at all.> The overall:
Well, if you are that obsessed over robots, this could be your movie. Otherwise, forget this movie.
Rating:
Summary: The tale of two stories
Review: Lets get the technical stuff off the table before reviewing the video. Great look, wonderful sets, Fabulous production values, CGI and special effects. The actors are superb, the characters are complex and multi-dimentional, rich and believable. The story line is engaging, surprising and entertaining. So why do people seem to either hate or love this movie. Because underlying the entire movie is the theme that human beings, in general, are an evil disease infecting the universe and should be eraticiated. Every human being featured is a degrading, psychopathic monster with a civilized veneer. The final scenes are horrific in an emotional sense and deeply disturbing as well as intellectually false. Do not let your children watch this movie. No matter how artfully done, I wouldn't want to watch someone torture a being (organic or artificial) to death. This video is the intellectual equivalent of bear baiting.
Rating: 
Summary: Moving But Maybe Not In A Good Way
Review: I first watched this movie right when it came out on tape and I was shocked. The storyline follows a robotic boy. The company that creates the robotic boys tells the family, before their purchase, that if they ever decide they don't want the boy, he will have to be destroyed. The mechanical children are hard wired for one family and one family only. Well as you can guess the family ends up deciding they don't want the boy. Instead of doing the humane thing by taking him to be destroyed they abandon him. This boy spends the entire life of a world trying to become human so his family will love him again. I must say this movie left me with a disturbed feeling in my stomach an while I didn't like this feeling much I have to respect the movie that caused the emotion. Spielberg has outdone himself with this movie. I usually do not like his films but this one is well developed and it makes you think about things. You know I have heard people say the movie is too long and I don't think so, I thought it moved smoothly. A great movie for anyone to watch.
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