Rating: Summary: Artful, Intelligent Review: I saw A.I. in the movie theaters and was very disappointed. I think I expected more whimsy (like the classic E.T.). Perhaps the misleading marketing of A.I. led me down the wrong road.After viewing the film a second time on DVD, I have a completely different reaction. I absolutely love A.I. and consider it one of Spielberg's best. (I loved EMPIRE OF THE SUN too ...) So why the big difference between viewings? One reason is that A.I. is a dense film - you can't catch all the different layers of story and theme on the first viewing. Spielberg has created a modern fable that, like most classic fairy tales, has a dark side. The Grimm Brothers' tales had some macabre elements. The best Disney films are scary and pyschological as well. Emotionally, I was very moved by A.I. Spielberg has told a tale that confronts some basic human existential questions: how long does love last? When will our parents die? And, most importantly, what is the nature of love? David, the "artificial intelligence", is a robotic boy. He exists to fill the emotional void for a childless couple. However, what do the couple owe him in return for his love? What is their responsibility? Can they return him to the manufacturing plant? Can you love a machine? A.I. is a fascinating film with incredible special effects. The story is very human and its emotions are universal.
Rating: Summary: An Ode to the Enduring Love of Children Review: ...This is a feeling movie. Whether or not Kubrick or Spielberg were consciously aware of it, this film is about one thing - the pure love of children for their mothers. The story shows how necessary love is to a child, and how that love and need of love lasts on and on in a hope of fulfillment that never wants to end. By using an artificial child, A.I. allowed us to witness an "ideal" version of bonding and imprinting that we don't often see in our flawed, neurotic lives. The real humans in the film were certainly proof of that. The scenes that most powerfully depicted this attachment and hope were: the abandonment, waiting with the blue fairy, and the perfect day with Mommy. Haley Joel Osment portrayed this endearing love with beautiful, exquisite intensity. If our own childhood love and need was thwarted or never met (like David's was until the end) watching this movie may bring up many uncomfortable feelings. To keep from feeling such painful emotion, I suspect many will say that the performance was unrealistic. I assure you, it was not. Have you ever seen the look of little children who bounce into bed on a Saturday morning? Or run and jump into your arms after work? Or scream when separated from their mothers? Most of all, the film showed that the needs of children are so very simple - they just want to be close, want to be loved, and want to feel special in their mother's eyes. Why is that so much to ask? In this era of daycare, divorce and Ritalin, this film is not a fairy tale or science fiction - it's a cautionary wake-up call to the American family. Children need to be loved, attached, and appreciated. Thank you Stanley and Steven.
Rating: Summary: Great movie, VERY BAD PICTURE QUALITY (here's why) Review: The picture quality is bad for the same reason Close Encounters looks so bad. The morons at the studio put a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix AND a DTS 5.1 mix on the SAME DISC!!! This left hardly any room for a good picture so they had to compress it to the point of being able to see heavy pixellation and digital noise. The solution would've been to release 2 copies or versions, like Nine Inch Nails recently did for their new concert DVD. This insures optimal picture quality. My copy of 2001 from 1969 has less pixellation and noise. The movie however is fantastic. People didn't like this movie because they were expecting E.T. and got something much darker. It made people feel things they didn't want to feel and it made them uncomfortable to watch it. These are the reasons why people watch Stanley Kubrick's movies, and the people who didn't like AI will probably say they liked A Clockwork Orange because they thought it was "cool."
Rating: Summary: A great film. Review: I just saw this film for the first time last night, (beautiful DVD), and I'm still thinking about it. I think that BRYAN FROM CONCORD pretty much summed up my feelings in his review. Bottom line for me is, this is an entertaining film that stirs the imagination and makes you think. In my book, that's a GREAT film!
Rating: Summary: Deep Story; Deep Movie Review: I have always wanted to watch AI because of it's trailers and how they didn't give us too much information of what the film was about. Now, After waiting for AI on DVD, I watched it, and was *really* impressed. It was very compelling with lots of visuals and deep meaning to human emotions. I especially liked the idea of the toy robot, Teddy. Without getting too sweet, his part in the movie made me feel very comfortable, David had lots to understand about the real world and with Teddy being a guide for David, was an excellent piece to add into the film. Also, the acting is great! Haley Joel Osment is superb, as usual, so is the amazing Jude Law (gigolo joe), and very surprising was Frances O'Connor (david's mother) and William Hurt (david's creator). Both of them give very worthy performances in this film and gives additions in AI that deepens the realtionship between their characters and David. Therefore, AI is truly a movie that is sure to please both kids and adults. The DVD is also a great buy, lot's of information on the story and the characters. Not to Be Missed
Rating: Summary: I changed my mind, definitely 5 star movie Review: In these movies, it's not really the question if it's 5 out of 5, but is it 10 out of 10? Really they are in a higher level than 99% of all movies, and I think A.I. is almost a perfect movie and when I say perfect I really mean it, the story is multi-layered and complex and touching enough and the story telling is really remarkable job by the genius Spielberg. I wrote a review before so I don't want to say the same things again but I write this one after having the DVD and watching it 3 times more, the more I watch the more the flaws of the movie disappear, it's really about capturing the whole spirit and words of the movie at one time, and then it makes a sense but it's really a hard movie and I have still questions about the plot in my head, I figure them out one by one but isn't easy. But when watching again, ask yourself this question for example: If we can't consider the things we create as real, then are we real or not from the eyes of those things who created us if they exist in "real"? Find yourself more questions because the movie is questioning lots of things in 2 hours and 20 minutes, not look at it as a fiction only, the lightning and photography in the last 10 minutes is different enough to tell that what you see is not just a fiction.
Rating: Summary: SIMPLE STORY........ Review: Steven Spielberg has the unique ability to touch the Soul. Forget about all of the technical mumbo-jumbo and all that jazz - it's the performances that remain - the boy [the artificial one], the mother, the odd 'tin-man' friend ..... And just where are the nominations for Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law? Pity, its superlative work on a great, grand scale, but do not be overwhelmed by the effects, excellent though they are - it's really a love story. See it THAT way.
Rating: Summary: AI suffers from a lack of intelligence and interest Review: Bicentenial Man is a far better choice of movies if one has an interest in this basic plot premise. This movie never goes beyond the most basic of premises and never pulls you in. No surprises... within 10 minutes you already know the whole film. With some movies, you sometimes get pulled in, emotionally involved and almost forget it is only a movie... NOT IN THIS CASE. AI is so stiff and artificial you simply never care about any of the characters or what happens to them. With all due respect to the hard work people must have spent on effects and scenes for this movie, it suffers from the common Hollywood ailment these days......... 95% special effects and 5% story telling. If you want to spend 3 hours on human studies... rent and watch Bicentinial Man and the Straight Story back to back, but I can not recommend this movie at all.
Rating: Summary: This movie is sentimental, sweet, and amazingly good Review: I really enjoyed this movie. It was unique in that it portrayed a young man-made robotic boy's, (played by Haley Joel Osment) love for a cold, insensitive, selfish woman whom he called mother. This woman scarcely even noticed him, and was only trying to fulfill some selfish desire, and once she got him reared him as some sort of pet in which she occassionally found funny and odd. Upon receiving him as a gift from her husband, she was warned that she should never used the words "I love you" to the man-made robotic boy without sincerely meaning her words. Because once the man-made robotic boy heard those words, he was forever emotionally tied to her. It appeared as though her adoption of the man-made robotic boy into her home was merely out of selfishness. She later assumed the role as "mother" and was met with the same unconditional love that she eventually gave. She had a son who was in a coma. At the beginning of the movie, the diagnosis for his improvement was grim. This lead to the implementation of the man-made robotic boy. The movie never gave many specifics as to what was actually wrong with the biological child. However, as soon as he began to come out of his comatose state, the mother nearly rejected the man-made robotic child over her own. The real child assumed his rightful place as the apple of his parent's eye, and apparently all was to be well; yet the competiveness of the man-made robotic boy was sad and heart-breaking. It was annoying to see the real boy lavished with love and security. While the other child assumed a position that was almost non-existent. The climax of the movie was when the mother convinced the man-made boy to go with her for a ride. She drove him several miles away from the home and abandoned him in a wooded area. It was difficult to watch the struggle that existed between mother and son. The boy kept pleading for his mother not to leave him. And eventually she jumped in her car and sped off leaving him like a hurt, sad, and grief-stricken. After running after the woman, who undoubtedly told him that she loved him. He was left alone with a broken-heart, and many questions as to why his mother who loved him so dearly would just leave him. His journey for the life that he once knew began when he encountered another man-made robot,( played by Jude Law). The man-made boy remembers a childhood story that mentions a blue fairy that granted the wish of a puppet who wanted to be a real boy. He believes that by finding the blue fairy that he would reunite with his mother. He felt that by finding the blue fairy his wish of having the motherly love that we all craved could eventually be satiated. This movie literally broke my heart. I cried because it was so moving and so real. A lot of people wanted this man-made boy to get over his emotions for his mother. They wanted him to assume his natural identity as a robotic being. The boy only wanted what he deemed as his -- a mother's love. The story was so ironic and the ending even more baffling than its beginning. It was if for several hundred years the man-made boy remained under sea, praying to a statue of a blue fairy that he would establish a relationship with his mother again. It is sad . . . The ending is beautiful, light, and magical. Anyone who has a heart would find it moving and warm. Though this movie to me had lots of potential, apparently several people did not agree because it performed poorly at the box office. Nevertheless, I am not other people, I am me, and to me this movie was sentimental, sweet, and amazingly good.
Rating: Summary: A.I. is a interesting journey Review: Artificial Intelligence is an interesting journey of a boy named David(Haley Joel Osment) as he tries so hard to be a real boy. And it's a film of journey as we watch him try to get back to his mom. David is a product of Dr. Hobby(William Heard) who decides that they must create a robot that can love. They have shown that they can create robots who can feel pain, but none have had the ability to love anyone. And one of the interesting questions is asked in the movie by one of the students he is talking to, "What if the human doesn't love the robot back?" Which is the problem that Dr. Hobby doesn't really touch upon. Monica is given David(the prototype) from her husband, since their son is terminally sick. Monica at first is not to happy with this gift, and fears it. After time though she starts to play with it and talk with it. She finally decides to program it to love. David then bonds to his mom. But then her son gets better. After he comes home the son makes David do bad things, and David messes up a couple of times. They then separate David from his family. And this is where the journey starts as David just wants to find the Blue Fairy to become a real boy so his mom will love him. The Blue Fairy is from Pinnochio and he thinks she is real. This journey is the best part of the movie though at times a little long at times. The movie is great and it has a lot of Pinnochio elements to it. And Spielberg does a good job of making Kubrick's vision live. The DVD contains many featurettes, some trailers, and behind the scences looks. Get a copy today.
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