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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Widescreen Special Edition)

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Very good, but it could have been great
Review: On the Big Screen, it's several hundred years in the future, global warming has melted the icecaps, coastal cities have been inundated, and the height of computer technology is embodied in the "male" and "female" humanoid robots constructed to service the sexual needs of humans. One genius, Professor Hobby (William Hurt), is convinced that he can construct a "mecha" that is programmed for Love, as opposed to Lust. Thus the prototype, David (Haley Joel Osmont), created to exhibit the most basic human love, that of a boy for his mother. (It was here that I had my first twinge of pique. How about a kid's love for the Old Man? In this enlightened age where there are diaper-changing stations in the gents' loo, is fatherhood so insignificant?)

Monica and Henry Swinton have lost their only child, a son, to an unspecified disease. He remains in frozen, suspended animation until advances in medicine can effect a cure. Henry works for Hobby, and the Swintons are chosen as the ideal testbed for David. So, without notice, Henry brings the 'boy" home to his wife with the caution that she not articulate the seven-word code that will activate his "love" programming unless she really means it. You see, in this case, hardwired affection will be forever. Nonetheless, after a few soul-searching days, Monica speaks the equivalent of "Once you say you love someone, you can't take it back". All is rosy until the Swinton's biological offspring is suddenly cured and comes home. All four try to cope as a family, but it doesn't work out. David is, figuratively and literally, eventually left out in the cold. From there, he begins his journey back to find the only Mom he's ever known and "loved".

What is the nature of love, then? And can an intelligent machine feel it, especially if it's also capable of original and independent thought? ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, Steven Spielberg's vision of the late Stanley Kubrick's answers to these questions, could have been profound, but it falls short. The child actor, Osmont, recently of THE SIXTH SENSE ("I see dead people."), turns in another fine performance (although his cuteness has just about achieved its mileage limit, I think). Also terrific is Jude Law as the mecha Love Stud, Gigolo Joe. As befitting a Dreamworks creation, the effects are superb, and the cinematography is equally so. Dr. Know is very cool, as are the images of the Big Apple finally all-wet, and the pitiable state of the damaged robots scavenging the scrap heap. So, what went wrong?

The film has bits and pieces reminiscent of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, THE WIZARD OF OZ, and ET. It's also about thirty minutes too long. Moreover, the David and Gigolo Joe characters, while separately engaging, didn't seem to click as a team. But most detrimentally, the ending, besides being more fitting to another film altogether, is excessively maudlin by a hair - a lock of hair, actually. We all understand (I hope) that films are emotionally manipulative by design, but the conclusion of this one was so blatant about it that I found myself rebelling. Even my wife was left unaffected, so I know it wasn't just yours truly, Mr. Curmudgeon In-Training. (However, as evidence that I'm not mellowing, I did find Teddy, the mecha teddy bear, to be satisfyingly annoying.)

By any other director, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE would have rated 5 stars. Too bad for Spielberg that the bar is just a little bit higher.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Plotline That is Sure to Make You Feel Like an ...
Review: I had no idea that this movie was intended for children. Not because it is based on a fairy tale, not because of all the children robots in the movie, but because the narrator spoon-feeds the storyline, making me feel like a complete ...- just as when someone talks slowly and loudly to you because they think you are deaf.

The first act was intriguing, even though the dialog was bad; the second one brought up many themes and questions about the humanity and rights of robots, undying and unrequited love, real v. unreal, etc. but suddenly left them only a half-expressed gasp down at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, and then went on to the insanity of the third act. Of course, fairy tales are wonderful and imaginative and sane, but not when you attempt to add science or intellect to them. The aliens seemed to serve only as a plot device, or maybe they were just making a cameo from Close Encounters. The whole DNA/memory replication-whatever seemed only to help buffer the thud of the ending.

Jude Law acts well in this (though he's better in Gattaca), but his character only comes and goes as a signpost along the road, pointing the main character toward Rouge and Manhatten. He seems to be more of a taxi (actually 'getaway') driver in the movie. His character is useful only to help Haley push the entire mammoth movie along.

It had the potential to be a thoughtful and intellectual and question-raising movie, but Spielberg seemed to have spent too little time on writing the script, especially the ending, and too much time with the Jurassic Park series.

A star for Haley Joel Osment's superb acting and the emotion of his performance in the movie, and a star for the special effects on New York City.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Science fiction masterpiece
Review: An amazing film. Truly a work of art. Many folks are having trouble with the length and subject matter. I'll say this, go in ready to THINK. If you prefer not to think, find another film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Classic, Maudlin Spielberg
Review: This thing clashes more than stripes and polka-dots. Kubrick was going to make this a dark film, but Spielberg had to mess it up with lots of sentimentality. Why? It could have been compelling and suspenseful, but it has a tacked-on ending and just is, by nature, contradictory, trite, and maudlin. Sometimes Spielberg brings an incredible presence to his films, a style and air that are truly memorable. Other times he just has to put sentimental crap on the reels. It is like Jekyll and Hyde, a favorite story of mine. This is Hyde's film. Schindler was Jekyll. The Lost World was Hyde. Indiana Jones was Jekyll. 1941 was Hyde. Private Ryan was Jekyll. Say no to Hyde and avoid this film.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Horrible movie.
Review: This is the worst Spielberg movie ever. It is very boring and too long. Kubrick (God rest his soul) sinks to a new low, even 'Eyes wide shut' seems mediocre in comparison with this stinking movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: In a summer of stupid movies, A.I. is genius
Review: Loved every moment of it. This is probably going to be a modern classic in a couple of years. Spielberg and the late Kubrick are masterful in the work and Haley Joel Osment gives a performance that is better than 75% of all the Hollywood actors out there. Brilliant, yet this is getting worse reviews than Scary Movie 2 and Pearl Harbor? Come on people, show somesort of intelligence.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Brilliant mix of two Titanic Auteurs' Views
Review: It's a little bit Kubrick. It's a little bit Spielberg... When I saw AI on opening weekend i left the theater mesmerized and excited to see the film again. While it has some slow parts mid-way through, the film succeeds wildly.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Not Spielbergs best but close enough...
Review: This isn't one of Spielbergs best films up there with E.T. or Close Encounters, but it does rank up there with his better films. And I do have a few reservations about it. The second half falls apart a bit and the last third drags on. In the last third it really slows down, you keep thinking it's going to end but it keeps going.

Speilberg makes it into a Pinnochio fairy tale when I kept wanting it to ask more deeper questions of identity and what it means to be human. David gets rescued by the advanced androids in the future, I thought they were aliens from another world coming across the remains of human civilization. It wasn't very clear in the film, but either way works fine. But if it were aliens, it would have been ironic that the only way they can really understand the human race is through an android who wants to be real.

This is a film that left me stewing in my brain long after I've seen it.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Artificial UNintelligent
Review: This has to be one of the most unintelligable movies Spielberg has ever done. The only highlight was Haley Joel Osment and he even got boring. He starts out by insulting the audience with trype about Globle warming, then insults us more by narrating the ending. What happened to fantasy of a Artificial boy wanting to become human; and to be loved? I felt condemed to my seat waiting for execution. What horrible people we are to love something not human. Better to watch Disney's Pinocho, it's more fun and no so preachey..............

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just Plain Stupid
Review: A great concept that gets so full of its mission to make a heady statement that it falls under its own weight. Nice effects and great acting by the kid. Just a dumb story (and I love science fiction) with little character development. Many of the weakness of Star Wars Episode 1. I have many DVDs in my collection, but his one will not .


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