"I'm a boy..."

AI: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (PG-13)

Reviewed July 9, 2001 - Check out the AI: Artificial Intelligence Website.

Studio Synopsis: It is a time when natural resources are limited and technology is advancing at an astronomical pace. Where you live is monitored; what you eat is engineered; and the person serving you is not a person at all. It’s artificial. Gardening, housekeeping, companionship -- there is a robot for every need. Except love. Emotion is the last, controversial frontier in robot evolution. Robots are seen as sophisticated appliances; they’re not supposed to have feelings. But with so many parents not yet approved to have children, the possibilities abound. And Cybertronics Manufacturing has created the solution.

His name is David (Haley Joel Osment).

A robotic boy, the first programmed to love, David is adopted as a test case by a Cybertronics employee (Sam Robards) and his wife (Frances O'Connor), whose own terminally ill child has been cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found. Though he gradually becomes their child, with all the love and stewardship that entails, a series of unexpected circumstances make this life impossible for David. Without final acceptance by humans or machines, and armed only with Teddy, his supertoy teddy bear and protector, David embarks on a journey to discover where he truly belongs, uncovering a world in which the line between robot and machine is both terrifyingly vast and profoundly thin.

Fuzzydog Review: Based on Stanley Kubrick's vision of a dark, robotic future, the Steven Spielberg directed AI: Artificial Intelligence is nothing if not bold, ambitious, and extremely thought-provoking.  This intense and often emotionally cold film takes us on a two and a half hour journey into a world where androids and humans uneasily coexist, and where a robotic boy follows a Pinocchio-like trek in search of his own humanity.  Haley Joel Osment is heartbreakingly convincing as David, the robot tragically programmed to love, with Jude Law equally good as the playful "sex-bot" who joins David on his journey.  There's a lot to look at, think about, and talk about in AI, and it's almost a "must see" if only for that reason.  Unfortunately, there's also an alienating detachment that pervades throughout this film, a sort of chill that makes it difficult to love despite its intelligence and sheer vision.  Despite what you may have heard, this is not a "bad" movie; in fact, many of the sequences in AI are both utterly amazing and unforgettable.  While watching it, however, it's hard to shake the feeling that something is just not...quite...right.  And I suspect that this is the kind of feeling that people (including myself) find difficult to work through (if they attempt to work through it at all).  See it for yourself and decide...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

Marianela Francesena gives this movie  star: "the movie had some funny parts ,but it had no substance and it to long" (10/3/01)

giggirl188@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "wow!! i mean it's breath taking it's a little slow by the end but over all it's a top 5 of the year!" (8/22/01)