Who's In It?

Haley Joel Osment plays David Swinton, Jude Law is Gigolo Joe, Frances O'Connor stars as Monica and William Hurt is Professor Hobby

Who Made It?

Steven Spielberg

Where's The Web site?
A.I.

What's It About?

Society has moved on to a new age in artificial intelligence.  Professor Hobby and his staff at Cybertronics Manufacturing have created a number of different "mechas" (mechanical individuals -- robots).  There are robots for every need from housekeeping to companionship but there is one need that no one has created a solution for.  Love.

Henry (Sam Robards) and Monica (O' Connor) have been recruited by Professor Hobby as his own test case.  Henry works for Cybertronics and has experienced a tragic experience in his life.  Henry and Monica's son Martin has been cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found for his terminal illness.  That makes them a prime target for Professor Hobby's newest creation, David (Osment).

The journey that follows takes David from the creation of a brand new robot, to a loving son, to an individual that is lost and is in search of himself and the world around him.  A.I. examines what love really is and the struggle that we all have for acceptance in a world that is not always kind.  What will David find?

Common Guy's Thoughts

This is a magnificent film on so many levels that it is hard to even try to isolate them all.  This project started as a Stanley Kubrick vision, and continued through its life as a Steven Spielberg production to the product that we see on the screen.  It is easy to see the influences of both Kubrick and Spielberg at the variety of points in this film.  This film has so many layers that it will take discussions after you leave the film, along with multiple viewings before everything will start to fall into place.

The visuals in this film are done so well that it makes you believe that you have been transported to a futuristic world where robots walk side-by-side with humans on a daily basis.  From the "book burnings" of tomorrow that are described as "flesh fairs" to the city of tomorrow that sells sexuality at every corner.  This film is a delight to the senses from a visual point of view.  Everywhere you look there is a future society that doesn't seem too far from realistic which helps the situation.

And then there is the acting.  Haley Joel Osment portrays David with the skill of a much older actor.  He is able to undergo the transition from a cold, mechanical robot to a beautiful loving boy with ease.  It is important for Haley to pull his role in this movie off as given his amount of screen time in this film, it would not work if it wasn't for Haley.  I would hope that come the end of this year that the Academy would not forget his work in this film.  Haley has proven that The Sixth Sense was not a fluke.

And with all of this going on, this becomes my favorite film of the first half of 2001.  It is not a summer film as we know summer films to be.  Instead it is a unique, refreshing look inside the human psyche and the struggle that we all face everyday.  That is the struggle for acceptance and love.  Is being able to love and be loved really too much too ask?  Kudos Steven Spielberg, Haley, and all of those involved in A.I., Stanley would be proud at this achievement.

Grade

A

Parents Guide

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and violent images.  A.I. is rated PG-13 thanks to some violent scenes at the "Flesh Fairs" as well as the futuristic city that Gigolo Joe leads David to during his journey.  These are more than likely inappropriate for most of the younger viewers and I wouldn't recommend this film to them without parents previewing things. 
 

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