A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A retelling of Pinicchio. The script problems and lack of attention to detail lead me to believe that Spielberg got bored or fed up with this project after Kubrick handed it to him.

Osment is cute, spooky, and perfect, but it’s hard to sympathize with a characters who’s emotions are a computer program. Why is everyone so impressed the first time they see him? There shouldn’t have been other mechas so human so that there would really be a contrast between the lifelike boy and more mechanical, older models. You would think that a device designed to love would be incapable of rage/suicide, yet he jumps off a building. You wouldn’t think that a robot programmed not to eat (since it would kill him) would eat anyway. I understand that the boy is not supposed to blink (which is supposed to be “cool”), but isn’t he manufactured to be as lifelike as possible? How is teddy so much more human than the boy? If they can make teddy speak and be so human, what’s so special about the boy? A more detailed explanation of how the mechas love and find the will to live would have been nice. Would the boy go on to learn and be more human (like the Terminator)? With a bit of adaptation, this movie would be the perfect introduction to the Terminator series.

Probably would have been better if they would have left the alien ending out of it. But since they didn’t… Wouldn’t his skin rot sitting in that spaceship? Does he have an endoskeleton like the Terminator or is he completely synthetic? What’s his power source?

The best story was the mom’s. Her understandable uneasiness with the new boy made her the most emotional character. It should have been a story about Monica. Does she think she is still in the past when she wakes up?

The subtitles with aliens were funny, then they speak english later (presumably cuz they downloaded knowledge of the language when they connected with him). Like Contact, the aliens create a familiar environment for him. The alien sitting on bed with arm around David, with the moon shining through window is one of the cheesiest moments in film history. The carnival mecha sacrifice was a bit much. Apocalyptic New York once again. Was that Robin Williams as the voice of Dr. Know? Reminded me of Ask Jeeves.

I wish the ones who were sent out to get the mechas were shown as efficient and methodical rather than crazy road warriors. Why do they always have to have dumb robots in every sci-fi movie?