Movie Review: 'A.I.'

When a great director dies, his projects and his visions die too. But in the case of Stanley Kubrick and his futuristic, scientific vision "A.I. Artificial Intelligence," another great director, Steven Spielberg, decided to take Stanley's ideas and produce/direct/write this sci-fi drama.

"A.I." is about a little mecha (robot) boy named David (Haley Joel Osment) who goes on a series of adventures to find the Blue Fairy. Do you remember "Pinocchio?" Well this is exactly where the Blue Fairy comes from. David hears the story and decides that if his owners (parents) are to love him, he must become a real boy.

So he goes on a journey to find the Blue Fairy with his teddy bear, a super-toy named Teddy. Upon wandering the woods in search of the Blue Fairy, David gets caught and brought to a terrible place called "The Flesh Fair." This is where they destroy robots. In the cage where David and other robots are kept, a man in black leather enters David's world, Gigolo Joe (Jude Law).

Joe and David join together and search for the Blue Fairy while encountering all kinds of neat and usual people.

One of the best characters in the movie was Teddy. A toy that plays with a child in exactly the same way a babysitter would, Teddy is the film's comic relief. Watching his tiny legs run, his animated facial expressions move, it was so adorable! If there really was a toy like Teddy, I would be running out to buy one right now!

Haley Joel Osment did a spectacular job portraying David. I have always enjoyed Haley in his other flicks but this was the topper. Haley is remarkably skilled for a boy of 13. I think of other child actors and think that Haley is the only one who could have pulled this job off.

"A.I." is an intellectual thinker in some scenes. A person really has to pay attention to see what is going on and what might occur. "A.I." continually keeps the audience guessing and makes a person want to keep watching.

Some very unusual events occur in the film, but one in particular does not do the film justice, the ending. What a disappointment compared to the rest of the movie. "A.I." had so much thought and creativity but the end was rather bland and dull. There was really no substance to the ending. It almost seems like it was put in at the very last minute as an afterthought.

"A.I." is truly a film that makes people think. Throughout the movie I had this eerie feeling, I didn't know why, but upon discussing the film I reasoned that this robotic reality could very well occur in the future and that scientists are working on this project of making mechas to do our yard work, babysitting, deliver mail, and so on. I don't know if I'm ready for that. I like our world as it is.

I give "A.I." 4.5 out of 5 stars.