"A.I." is a tough movie to review. While watching it, I was waiting for something to happen, though I don't know what. Perhaps I was waiting for the ending that I wanted, and although the movie has about three endings (indeed, one guy who thought the movie was over walked out and yelled "it sucked" not realizing that there was another 20 minutes left), the ending I really wanted wasn't one of them. I was sitting in the theater watching the movie, fascinated by everything on the screen, but something about the story didn't seem right. I bought into the emotional aspects, but the story itself seemed as though something was missing. The movie ended and I walked out feeling a slight dissatisfaction, but the movie lingered. For hours afterwards, certain things about "A.I." wouldn't leave my mind.
Though there's a lot that goes on in the movie, the basic theme is the love between mother and child. I'm glad to be a guy, 'cause I don't have to deal with the hell that comes along with a 9-month pregnancy and I don't have to go through menstruation every month, but guys miss out on something big. A woman who carries a child has a life inside of her. She has a child in her womb, and the child comes out of her. Guys will never know what that's like. When a child is born, that child has a bond with his or her mother that is impossible to put into words. Of course, I say this when very recently, a sick, demented woman in Texas drowned her five children. Ugh, that story disgusts me, but not as much as the fact that this woman actually has people who have sympathy for her... including her husband. Fine, she was depressed, and yes, post-partum depression must be devastating (again, as a male, I can never understand what that's like, just like I can't understand the severity of PMS or menstrual cramps), but this woman killed five of her own children. I don't care what she was going through, what she did is simply unforgivable.
Anyway...
Because the child is a robot (his name is "David"), there needs to be some serious suspension of disbelief if you're gonna accept a lot about the movie. In order to sympathize with the robo-child, you need to forget that it's not true emotion he's feeling, it's data. At first, I didn't accept it, but as the movie went on, I did. It probably helped that the child was played by Haley Joel Osment, a child actor who's so talented it's scary.
Some may consider "A.I." to be a rip-off of "Pinocchio," but it isn't. Of course, there are similarities, but that's where it stops. "Pinocchio" is featured heavily in the movie as almost a guidebook to "David," so the similarities are taken advantage of.
In order for this movie to work at all, the integral role of the robot boy (or "mecha," as he's referred to in the movie... "mecha" is short for "mechanical") has to be played by a great actor. Haley Joel Osment is definitely talented enough to carry the burden. The kid is amazing. I remember him in "Pay It Forward," I remember him in "The Sixth Sense," and I remember him in "Forrest Gump" (which will finally be available on DVD on August 28 in a very cool 2-Disc Special Edition). I really hope that he doesn't screw up his life with drugs or any of that other crap. The pivotal role of the mother whose love "David" covets is played by Frances O'Connor. She was recently in "Bedazzled" as the woman who Brendan Fraser was trying to win the affections of, but I never saw that movie. My only time ever seeing Frances O'Connor in a movie was in a small Australian flick I saw a few years back called "Kiss or Kill." I thought the movie was okay, but she was great in it. Born in England and raised in Australia, O'Connor did a good job with the American accent, and she was completely convincing in this movie. It would be a complete failure if these two weren't outstanding in their roles, but they are. Also in the movie is Jude Law, who I've only seen in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," and quite honestly, I don't remember him in that movie. He's been in quite a few movies recently, but I haven't seen any of 'em, so in "A.I," I got to see him do his thing, and I was very impressed. Jude Law is very good, but I'm not sure why he was in it. I'm referring to the character, not the actor. He didn't seem necessary to me. Maybe there's a symbolic purpose, but if so, I didn't catch it. The voice of the narrator belongs to Ben Kingsley. There are a few other times you'll hear a voice, and it seems that there are a couple of celebrity voice cameos, but I won't say who they are. See if you can figure 'em out.
One of the coolest characters in the movie is named "Teddy," and he's a teddy bear. "Teddy" is a combination of Stan Winston's animatronics and computer animation. That damn teddy bear was awesome! I'm 28 years old, but I want that teddy bear. The voice of "Teddy" belongs to Jack Angel, and though it's unlikely you've ever seen him before, it's more than likely that you've heard him. He's done tons of voice work.
As many of you may already know, "A.I." was originally a project by the late, great Stanley Kubrick. When Kubrick was alive, he gave up on "A.I.," which he'd been working on for years, and asked his friend Steven Spielberg if he wanted to direct it. Spielberg politely declined. After Kubrick's death, his family approached Spielberg and successfully convinced him to make the movie. Spielberg made the movie as a tribute to Stanley Kubrick, and it's fairly obvious. Many of the shots are right outta Kubrick's playbook. What you end up with is something that's half-Kubrick and half-Spielberg, and I'm not sure if it works. They're both polar opposites in the way that they tell a story, so there seems to be some conflict there. But ultimately, Steven Spielberg is the director, and what he's done is amazing. There are things in this movie that I've never seen before, things I couldn't even imagine. Many of the special effects seem impossible, I don't have a clue how they were done.
The screenplay for "A.I." was written by Spielberg, and he wrote it from the screen story by Ian Watson. "A.I." is Watson's debut. This was all based on a concept by Stanley Kubrick, a concept that came to him from a short story he read called "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," which was written by Brian Aldiss.
I should probably mention that this movie deserves it's PG-13 rating. Parents may be taking their kids to see it thinking that since it's Steven Spielberg, and it stars a little boy, it's a family-friendly film. Well, it's not. It touches on a few things that kids probably shouldn't be exposed to just yet, not the least of which is prostitution. Besides, kids won't like the movie. They'll be bored to tears.
"A.I." is a very deep movie, and there's a lot that it's trying to say. I didn't figure it all out, and I'll probably have to see it a couple more times to truly understand it. It isn't a fun movie like "The Fast and the Furious," but it's not a completely absorbing movie like "Magnolia." It's something truly different, and I'm not sure what to make of it. I know I like it, but not as much as I could have. Sadly, I don't know what that missing piece is that would have made me totally love the movie. Still, there are things about it that still haunt me, and they probably will for a while.
Scale of 1-10: 8