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REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP
Our rating: 3 out of 5 Because of: sexual content, thematic elements Rated:
It is in the genes of mankind a desire to create. Perhaps in our own way, we create to grasp some sense of the love that God has for his own creation. But when human intellect is taken too far, something like Artificial Intelligence is born with a darker realism, a cool and often cruel glimpse of a surreal future. Yes, it is a world with sci-fi cars, fantastic holograms, and realistic robots. But this isn't the world of E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. And like young Haley Joel Osment's other films, it's definitely not for kids.
The film opens somewhere in the future in a world that has been melted under global warming. The earth's ice caps have submerged the major cities of the world, leaving only a few haunted buildings peering above the misty sea. In this future earth, space is limited and restrictions are placed on childbirth. Parents must earn the right to have children; the result is that thousands of human couples desire the right to raise children. With a ban on the human race, high-tech robots called mechas are swiftly becoming more popular. Mecha creator Professor Hobby has a solution to the pregnancy ban... to create a robot with the ability to form long lasting relationships... a child so realistic that he could be mistaken for a real boy. As a prototype, he is given to a family whose own son lies terminally ill, frozen until they can find a cure.
At first Monica cannot accept this "substitute" for her son Martin, but eventually we see her resolve begin to crumble. Her heart warms to this mechanical child and she takes the drastic step that cannot be reversed... she programs David for emotions, fully realizing the consequences... that she can never turn back the clock. This is a permanent arrangement, just as if he were flesh and blood. If she ever desires to go back on her promise, David must be returned to the factory and destroyed. For a time the boy is accepted and forms a strong bond with his new "mother," but then a cure is found for Monica's son Martin, whose return to the house causes emotional strife between the flesh and blood boy and the mecha. Unintentionally, his newly-programmed emotions fall prey to Martin's crooked sense of humor and irony and after a series of accidents where David nearly kills his brother, Monica is forced by her husband to return him to the factory. But unable to stomach the thought of what they will do to him there, she instead abandons him in the woods to find his own way.
Artificial Intelligence is many things, but the single word that often came to mind while I found myself in a dark mire of futuristic settings and inner turmoil was "disturbing." The ending closes on a somber note, and the film paces itself well for a time, but then begins to drag in the last half. There is only minor and much-needed comic relief on the part of Gigolo Joe, but even he can't lesson an intense an dark script. It tries to explain human frailties and instead exploits them. It deals with child abandonment and the emotional consequences that follow, suicide, prejudice and brings up some controversial religious issues. I probably represent a level half of the audience when I say that A.I. gave me a chilling feeling that something was terribly wrong with it on an emotional and spiritual level. Of course, coming from the pen of Stanley Kubrick, who could expect less?
The Biblical references to me were extremely controversial and often sarcastic or mocking. Joe says with a smirk at one point that he has solicited customers (for prostitution) outside of a church building. "They go in, they fold their hands and look around their feet, then they come home with me." At the flesh fair, the announcer opens the floor for abuse to mechas by using a slightly-altered piece of scripture: "He who is without 'sim' cast the first stone." God is also largely left out of the picture... where is He when the world is covered in the flood and then encased in ice? Where is He when all mankind is eventually wiped out? It's a film searching for some hope, but finds very little. Content-wise, this is on the high end of a 13 rating, not merely for sexual references and violence, but for dark thematic elements. Not to say the others aren't a problem -- many viewers will find images of realistically human mechas being demolished in public (shot through fans, melted with boiling lava, having their arms and legs pulled off) gruesome and horrific due to the fact that they look entirely human. Others, often with half-eaten away bodies, search through the trash for parts to replace those they've lost. At one point, a decapitated robot head flies toward David and the audience, only to glow eerily as it burns away into nothing.
You might also object to a mecha made purely for sexual pleasure. Although nothing is actually seen, dialogue makes up for it. Our first introduction to Joe is made in a hotel room in which he soothes and flirts with a nervous young woman. The dialogue isn't overly graphic but everyone knows what they're talking about. The scene ends with him climbing on top of and kissing her. He often makes sexual references and persuades a carload of boys into driving them to Rouge by projecting an image of a mecha prostitute. This town is garnished with sexual imagery and signs.
At first I was intrigued by the film, but as it went on, growing progressively darker and darker, I realized that only a select number will enjoy this production; others will find it morally or emotionally degrading. It was a bomb at the box office, and it's not hard to see why. In our time and age, we don't want to see stories about the end of mankind. The fact of having humans as the bad guys isolates even more viewers who want to find humans... well, humane. Even with fantastically realistic special effects and Oscar-caliber performances, Artificial Intelligence isn't for the faint of heart. The truth is, we will always seek to create, but nothing that we can ever imagine could ever equal the value of God's ultimate creation... mankind.
Viewer Comments: by Melinda Lav
Having become one of my favorite movies of all time, I cannot help but be slightly disturbed about continuous claims that A.I. is a Spielberg disappointment, that this movie is boring, ill constructed, flat, or a pile of trash. In my opinion, A.I. is an underrated gem—a movie that boosts up the quality of cinema as a whole and sets itself as a standard. If only other movies would measure up. Though it has its flaws as most movies do, A.I. is remarkable in several areas. First of all, the cinematography is just astounding. One could watch the movie on mute and just feast his or her eyes on the creative lighting, camera angles, and moods set by the visual elements alone.
Spielberg pays special attention to reflections and glass, giving
the feeling that the world in A.I. is only a slightly warped
image of our own world today.
There are disturbing elements in this story. Even aside from one scene that is best zapped through and a few moments of dialog that are worthy of the mute button, the entire premise for the story is one that is not warm and fuzzy. But just like it would be foolish to complain that one does not like a certain war movie because people die in it, it would be erroneous to complain about the more adult elements in A.I. The future of this world does not appear that it is going to be better than our world today—only worse. To expect that a movie in the future would not depict a raucous and perverse society would be naïve. Such is the world in A.I.
It is harsh and the actions of various characters are against our Biblical principles, but it is all realistic. Most disturbing is the fact that one of the main characters is a male robot prostitute (made specifically for that purpose), but save the scene mentioned above that should be fast-forwarded through, this aspect of this character is not shown explicitly. Spielberg could have done far worse. If he had done any less, the aura of waywardness he is trying to get across would not have been conveyed. The main city that glories in prostitution, Rouge City, is a vision of what the Las Vegases of this world may become some day; I do not feel that Spielberg over exaggerated its image.
Because A.I. tends to be a dark story that deals with adult topics, it is definitely not a movie for children. However, for an older audience who enjoys a marvelous blend of visual imagery through drama, sci-fi, and action, this movie is sure to be a memorable treat. Spielberg did well in creating this story that requires thought and study on the viewer’s part (something that is sadly void from most films in this modern age), and that is where he loses viewers. Modern cinema attendees and couch potatoes expect to be entertained without any demands made of them, and they will only settle for happy, solve-all endings. A.I. is not that type. Instead this movie leaves viewers with a vision of what real life is often like.
Some things cannot be solved in just two and a half hours. But this movie leaves us with the truth that love will always endure as the lovely duet by Groban and Fabian on the soundtrack says, “…for always, forever.”
Dallas Shipp
The name David will never be the same. This masterpiece is the most heart-tugging love story I have ever seen. It is a truly extraordinary science fiction drama that will go down as one of the best films of the year, if not decade. The pure beauty of this film's story makes it one of the best of all time. The treasure in this film is in the tale it tells. It also marks Haley Joel Osment's second Oscar-caliber performance, the first being The Sixth Sense. This actor has now become my favorite of all time. His on screen emotions are stunning and heart wrenching. His characters are complex, innocent, and overly masterful. Haley Joel Osment has a very bright future ahead of him. The other remarkable performances in this movie include Francis O'Connor, William Hurt, and the larger-than-life Jude Law waltzing about like Fred Astaire with an English accent.
A.I.'s story was deeply touching and heartfelt. Written up by some of the most respected moviemakers in Hollywood, the late Stanley Kubrick and Steven Spielberg, A.I's screenplay definitely hits the spot. The directing was also first rate. I also loved the musical score, composed by the master John Williams. One bonus are a few biblically correct references to Christianity that I greatly appreciated. Being a science fiction film, it does not adhere to theology, but serious quotes like "In the beginning, God created Adam to love him" and the mecha quote "Our creator constantly searches for his own" should not be ignored. Another aspect of the film is that humans designed A.I.. It makes you think how simple A.I. is compared to humankind. It leads to the conclusion that mankind has a designer and a creator as well… God. I found that aspect valuable as well. A.I. is an astronomical film. I enjoyed it immensely, and I highly recommend it. Due to the traumatic scenes concerning David being separated from his mom and the violent content, I do not recommend this film for children.
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ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE
But
the real world is not kind to mechas, and what follows is a horrific
arrangement of circumstance that blend realism with a Pinocchio-style
story for adults. David and his super-toy Teddy find themselves in
the real world... a world in which "flesh peddlers" are
determined to destroy the mechas, and engage in shockingly graphic
and brutal tactics to dismantle, decapitate, melt and implode them
for a cheering public in a 
The worst part is that the perpetrators believe themselves in the
right. It's kind of a space-age Holocaust with similar results. The
only thing that saves David from becoming yet another example of
boiling lava microchips is due to his childlike appearance. Viewers
will also cringe when David looses his temper violently at one
point, smashing the face of and decapitating his look-alike mecha.
What follows is a sinister, eerie trip through the factory, where we
see the hollow forms of more Davids. Undoubtedly Spielberg added the
last half hour to allow the film not to end where I believed that it
would -- in a very dark place.
The
acting cannot be refuted that it is anything but superb. Haley Joel
Osment plays the part of the young robo-boy who grows to be more
human and less machine as the movie progresses. He is able to
characterize this slow transformation in an extremely talented way.
The other actors and actresses in this move cannot be glossed over
either, as each puts out a fantastic performance. Perhaps the reason
why this movie is not appreciated is because it is so unusual. It is
not a clipped action movie, or a moving drama, nor a sci-fi show in
itself. It has all these elements, yet the way they are intertwined
together is something that the movie industry hasn’t seen in a
long while. Overall the movie has a depressing tone. Things seem so
bleak and lonely, and even when true love is shown (in the form of a
tender mother-son relationship), it is revoked in one heartbreaking
scene. But love is the thread that ties this otherwise desolate
movie together, giving it a heart of hope and warmth. It is this
spine that makes the movie what it is. Perhaps it is a story about a
rather fantastical picture of our distant future, but the simple
love shown is something that does not grow old as the years pass.