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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Big movie needed a bigger payoff
Review: Maybe it was the confusion of which director's vision was supposed to come out. Maybe it's the feeling I have that the ending should have been "happier", although some can argue that it was a happy ending. I'll try to express this without giving away too much, but I feel that the film goes through an awful lot of good things, only to leave me saying "Huh?" when it ended.

On the good side, Spielberg seems to have put as much effort into this film, both plot- and special-effects-wise as anything he's done. The story begins in the near future, where lifelike, but unfeeling robots are commonplace. William Hurt plays a scientist that wants to take it one step further and create robots that have feelings. Done with good intentions, it is done to give people who can't have children of their own something to love that can respond to them. This is, of course, when an old-fashioned puppy just won't do.

So they make a robot that looks just like Haley Joel Osment, who is named David. They try it on a family whose only son had been frozen after having an incurable disease. These first moments are some of the best in the movie, as we can see reluctance, followed by acceptance, followed by something that comes pretty darn close to being love.

Alas, a question is asked early in the movie. If we create robots with feelings, then, do we as humans have a responsibility for those feelings? This comes to a test when the frozen human son brought back to life and cured. All of a sudden there is a lack of compatibilty between the human son and the robot. Even though we lean towards the robot as more loveable, we can't just dump the original son, so the robot goes.

At this point the movie has it's good points and bad points as David explores the world in search of a mother. He is joined by his robot teddy bear, who is underused in the movie, and another robot, played by Jude Law, whose function is that of gigolo. Here the creators of the movie get a free ride to show us the state of movie effects, and we get to see a political movement that doesn't like the robots. While not uninteresting, I wish less could have been spent on effects, and more on character development.

I won't get into much spoiler detail here, except to say that an incredibly patient David just tugs at your heartstrings trying to fill his robot function, which is to love his mother. I say incredibly patient, because a span of 2,000 years goes by at one point with his faith undeterred. With all this effort put in, then comes the ending I thought was unsatisfying.

Yes, one can debate whether it is a happy ending or not. Technically, David SEEMS happy at the end, and he does technically reach his goal, but that's where the "Huh?" comes in. I suppose if Kubrick had done it, the ending wouldn't have nearly been as upbeat as this one, and we should be grateful for some kind of Spielberg touch here. But in a movie filled with an incredible amount of love, David deserves a lot more. Even if he is just a robot.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Maybe the best movie ever.
Review: This is one of the most original movies ever and the plot is really unique. This film is so touching as you can feel the strong bond between the mother and the child. The hero of the story may be a robot but he loved his human mother so deeply. This is a kind of a post-modern version of Pinocchio with much to offer to the watcher as the artificially intelligent and totally human-looking robot is putting him self into a great deal of trouble seeking for the blue fairy who will turn him into a real human child so that his mother will love him. I definitely believe this is one MUST SEE movie for everybody. Of course you have to tolerate Spielberg's imagination (something that I believe we are all used to do) since he turns the movie into a totally different way than we expected, he managed to merge so many movie genres into one. He also gives us the happiest and touching ending possible. There will be moments that you will deeply feel the scene inside you. Finally, I believe this I a masterpiece and I unreservedly suggest it to everybody and especially mothers.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Film
Review: This is a great film about the power of the love that parents and children have for each other. It may also be (if you want it to be) about how human beings should not be afraid of creating a race of AIs, who would in every meaningful sense be our children and would love us with the same irrational attachment as our flesh and blood offspring. That such a film is seen as "sentimental" shows how far Western civilization has fallen into a jaded cyncism about any art or culture that portrays human life as anything other than a meaningless nightmare. If you don't like this film, I suggest you are a prime candidate to be attending a Flesh Fair some time in the future.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Movies Make You Think...
Review: Brilliant movies make you question. And this is a brilliant movie. The reason this movie is great is obviously the acting, special effects, story, and of course, the two masterminds behind this project. What make this movie brilliant, though, are the questions raised and finally answered as the long epic ends. There are many of these in this movie and most have been reflected here. However, I feel one important quandary has been left untouched. The question: Can the creator, whose creation was made to love the creator, love the creation? This may raise some eyebrows, as this can be analogous of God as creator and humans as the creation. If you do not want to read, as some may perceive as blasphemous, please refrain from reading any further, this is only my opinion. My words will be judged when it is my time. I just feel I need to say something, to get this off my chest.

The answer to this question is answered throughout the movie but really reaches finality when the epilogue ends, even though some may say an unnecessary epilogue. My conclusion is that the answer is straightforward in the movie and tells us: No, the creator may be fooled into loving its creation for a while but in the end, the creator will not truly love its creation. The creator will always be reminded that the creation is artificial. You are to recognize throughout the movie that this is a robot but in some instances you may be fooled by its looks or its love. Some people, notably film critic Roger Ebert, did not buy into these facades; this may be a flaw in the movie for some but shouldn't be the reason why not to recommend the film, it seems naive to do so...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Strange, touching (at times) but ultimately disappointing
Review: I have to wonder how this movie would have been treated by the late Stanley Kubrick -- it was to be his next project after EYES WIDE SHUT. Instead, A.I. was approached by the unquestionably talented Steven Spielberg. Unfortunately, the movie plays out like a strange fairy tale dream, including yet another -- and entirely overused -- reference to Pinocchio (recall CE3K?). (How many times did they need to refer to the "Blue Fairy"?)

Overall, A.I. is all a bit too unsatifying and downright bizarre -- you'll know what I mean when you see the final 30 minutes, which will have you scratching your head. I got the feeling that this sequence was almost added as an afterthought.

Spielberg's fascination (dare I say obsession?) with the innocence and wonder of childhood is admirable, but only the first hour involving the family comes off as having any depth and warmth ... in fact, you almost forget that you're watching a futuristic sci-fi movie. The remainder of the film is chilly, surreal and somewhat cheesy sci-fi (e.g., the annoying "Flesh Fair" [a monster truck rally for the late 21st century? And we still got rednecks!], the ridiculous "Dr. Know" scene). There's definitely a lot of retread of BLADE RUNNER throughout. None of the side characters are well developed with the exception of Teddy, the mechanical teddy bear! Even Jude Law's "mecha" character seems out of place and almost unnecessary. There's never any real bonding between him and David after escaping the Flesh Fair. After peering into the lives of mecha David's family, we are swept away to Act II where things, quite frankly, take a turn for the worse. The storytelling is cold and distant (perhaps intentionally), and in the end, even the warmth, emotions and sentimentality seem artificial.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fairy tales are man's best invention
Review: Kubrick gives us here one of his final visions of his conception of life, at the end of his life. In the future the earth will be plagued by destruction due to the hot house effect. Billions will die but the remaining few will be even more powerful and rich because they will put a strong brake on procreating and will replace humans with robots. The robots will be so identical to men that they will be just our own mirrors, the mirrors of our hopes, of our desires, of our fears, of our hatreds. In this film this idea is pushed one point further with the invention of a child robot whose only destination and aim is to love his mother. A robot that is able to love. But by inventing this new step in technology, man opens another door to a further evolution. If a robot can love, a robot can have dreams and imagination. The child hence becomes the center of a quest for Pinocchio's Blue Fairy. He finds her on Coney Island and he hopes she will make him a real boy. But the end of the earth comes right at this moment. But even when he is discovered after the final death of humanity by some extraterrestrials who can read and realise all his memories and desires, this one desire cannot be realised : his mother cannot be really brought back to life for him to love her and her to love him. It is only a transient impression, episode that cannot last longer than one day. All fairy tales are good in our life to give us imaginary objectives, but these imaginary objectives are just as many illusions that prevent us from seeing how humanity is marching into death. And yet it is this imagination that is the only creation of man that will survive his fate. Maybe we should go back to our fairy tales and start implementing them in our own lives. But this is not possible, unluckily.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Only Online Review I've Ever Written Because of This Movie
Review: I'm not a writer, but I watch a lot of movies and I thought this movie literally bites. It was a disgrace to Spielberg and seems like this movie was made to, well, I have a lot of money so lets make a movie. Who cares if it entertains. The idea of artificial intelligence, our human race, what we think, what is becoming of society and technology are all thems that the director tried to define in 3 hours; portrayed through the emotions of the characters. If I want an emotional roller coaster, then I can find one like most people; but I'm definitely not going to pay money for one. This movie was kind of like making art just to make art for art's sake. You know how you wonder where people get the time to do stupid things like stand in line for four months to see Star Wars? I wonder who had the time to make this movie. I'm sorry but I am easily entertained and like 90% of the movies I see (I'm definitely far from critical), but this movie was horrible.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great classic
Review: when i first watched this film at theatres, i was not impressed with it. but then i rented it a short while back and found that i understood more of it than i did the first time. it turns out that the mixture of two very different directors actually did work out well. you can feel the steely coldness of stanley kubrick in many scenes and the cheesy warmth of steven spielberg in other scenes and they actually match up quite well.

I am impressed with this film based on the very first scene where the doctor philosophizes with his class about the idea of love. can an android, a robot, show love? more importantly, can the human show love back to the robot? and then they went on to a bigger discussion about our own humanity and whether or not we love our Creator.

this film is worth more than the criticism it has received. Kubrick has always wanted us to think beyond the box whenever he made his films, and this one does the same. maybe the fact that it is intermixed with the more heavy-handed Spielberg is stopping some of us from questioning the way Kubrick wanted, but that shouldnt be an excuse.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Technical masterwork
Review: Artificial Intelligence is a film that was originally given some work by Stanley Kubrick. The idea is from a short story by a veteran science fiction writer Brian Aldiss. Kubrick never got very far with the idea but for some reason Stevan Spielberg ended up making it. He acknowledges Kubrick's contribution in the opening credits.

A lot of the critical discussion about the film has centred on canning Spielberg as a director and suggesting that if Kubrick had done it, it would be miles better. It is hard to see why. Kubrick as a film director has a considerable reputation but his work is generally stodgy with jokes that are laboured and un funny and any ideas that he expresses are telescoped and lack subtlety. Kubrick made a number of films that dealt with issues but they are generally unsubtle and more in the realm of propoganda. My final and unrefutable argument is "Eyes wide shut". Spielberg on the other hand delights in film making and every one of his films are constructed with a rare technical excellence.

Artificial Intelligence is a long film in which there are no jokes, the dialogue is sparse and never really interesting and the main characters face up to a succession of horrible events. Despite this the film is compelling and captures the viewer.

Most of the elements of the plot have been revealed in the release publicity and in a review in the New York Review of Books. A robot child is created with the power to love. It is used as a substitute for parents whose real child has become ill. When their child recovers, the robot child is rejected to wander about in a cruel world. As he has been made to love his "mother" each moment of separation is a moment of agony for him.

The robot child hears of the Pinocchio legend and he desperately tries to seek out the Blue Fairly to be made human and to be accepted again by his "mother".

The film is almost unrelentingly sad. It is unusual for an American film and it may well have contributed to its failure at the Box Office.

Despite what some critics have said the film shows clearly the genius of Spielberg as a director. Despite sparse dialogue and limited exposition a future world is created which seems to make sense. One is drawn into the story despite not really liking anyone at all in the film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: THE BEST MOVIE I HAVE EVER SEEN
Review: I think everyone should watch this Steven's new movie.
everything in the movie is great!
I would sure love to live in a world like that...


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