A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Zone's Eye View of "A.I. Artificial Intelligence"

Visit EZ's Red Carpet Premiere of "A.I."

Synopsis of movie:

In the not-so-far future the polar ice caps have melted and the resulting raise of the ocean waters has drowned all the coastal cities of the world. Withdrawn to the interior of the continents, the human race keeps advancing, reaching to the point of creating realistic robots (called mechas) to serve him. One of the mecha-producing companies builds David, an artificial kid which is the first to have real feelings, especially a never-ending love for his "mother", Monica. Monica is the woman who adopted him as a substitute for her real son, who remains in cryo-stasis, stricken by an incurable disease. David is living happily with Monica and her husband, but when their real son returns home after a cure is discovered, his life changes dramatically. A futuristic adaptation of the tale of Pinocchio, with David being the "fake" boy who desperately wants to become "real".

Now for The Zone's Eye View

By Laura Alber

A truly tasteful science fiction story that opens you up to a heartfelt and emotional journey. Haley Joel Osment steals your heart in this science fictional fairy tale. There is no gray area though, you will either love it or hate it. If you open up your mind and see the beauty of the emotions that went into the writing of the story, you’ll love it. Along with the initial story, we have the unusual duo that originally discussed making this movie, filmmaker greats Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick. Two completely different directors and styles, but one shared vision, making Brian Aldiss’ short story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” into a feature film. Unfortunately, Stanley Kubrick passed away before the film was a reality, but Steven Spielberg utilized his talents and made a film that they could both be proud of.

A.I. is a hard look at the acceptance desired by one child, who happens to be a robot. David (Haley Joel Osment) has been built by Professor Hobby (William Hurt) who believes he can program a robot that can actually love. The couple that receives the first robot of this kind has just been told that their own son is terminally ill and is being cryogenically frozen. Overcome with emotion, desperation and naivety they bring home David as a kind of “replacement” for Martin (Jake Thomas). Monica Swinton becomes obsessed with her new child and so detached from the reality of the loss of her own son. She gives him Martins favorite toy called “Teddy” who is a high tech teddy bear who can walk and even talk on his own. Teddy is so likeable and cute, he almost steals the show.

Everything seems to be going ok until one day the Swinton’s discover that the doctors have found a cure for their “real” son Martin’s disease and he will be cured and coming home. Everyone is pleased, even David, who is incapable of disliking anyone. Martin on the other hand is not happy at all to have a new “boy-robot” in the house. He cooks up schemes to make David look like a troublemaker and a threat to their safety. Monica who has turned all of her affection towards her real son Martin doesn’t want David destroyed, so she takes him into the woods and tells him not to come back. David and Teddy, alone in the woods contemplate how they are going to get back home and get mommy to love them again. David remembers “mommy” (Monica) reading a story called Pinocchio and how the wooden boy turned into a real boy after seeing the blue angel. David decided this is what he had to do, find the “Blue Angel” and ask to be made into a “real” boy so his mommy would love him again.

(I’m sure it sounds like a children’s story, but I assure you, this is all so dark and almost disturbing, that I don’t even know that children should see it.)

While in the woods, David gets captured along with quite a few other robots for a futuristic sport in which the humans do terrible things to the “salvage yard robots”. While awaiting his fate in the cage below, he meets “Gigolo Joe” (Jude Law), a robot made specifically to please women. Once the ‘ringleader’ of this game brings out the child robot still grasping at Jude Law’s hand, the crowd can’t in good conscience see a child, robot or not, tortured like the others. So, the two escape with Teddy still in tow and find their way back to the woods. David tells Joe of his desire to seek out the “Blue Angel” and Joe assumes it must be a woman and that’s his specialty. Joe takes him to “Rouge City” where all the women are. They don’t find the Blue Angel, but they do find in this futuristic city filled with space-age cars, neon everywhere, electronic ID implants and more, the “Wizard of Oz” type character called “Dr.Know”. He “Know’s” Everything. He tells them where to find her and off they go to the now underwater island of Manhattan.

There is much more to this story, side plots and such, but this is the basic concept of the movie. The visual effects and the concepts that both Kubrick and Spielberg have are both masterful yet sometimes disturbing. There is a definite noticeable difference between Kubrick’s ideas and Spielberg’s. But all in all the film comes together and tells this profound story with the help of a wonderful cast. Haley Joel Osment again shows us that he is not going anywhere soon. As with his performance in The Sixth Sense, he brings his impeccable talent to the screen. Jude Law is a truly believable over the top, full of himself gigolo. If you listen closely, you will also hear the voices of cameos such as Robin Williams, and Ben Kingsley.

For such a dark movie, it will truly touch your heart. The Zone rates A.I. a 7 out of 10. I would be very curious to see what it could have been with both Kubrick and Spielberg. I’m sure the PG-13 rating would be raised to a PG-17 knowing Kubrick!