Subject: Review: A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

From: [email-masked] (SSG Syndicate)
Date: 23 Jun 2001 02:32:53 GMT

http://www.susangranger.com/

Susan Granger's review of "A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE" (Warner Bros.)

Steven Spielberg is a cinematic genius. So was Stanley Kubrick. But 
this unconventional, collaborative effort may mystify movie-goers. 
Some will be beguiled, as I was. Others may be frustrated and/or 
disappointed. Told as a sci-fi fairy tale for adults, the story revolves 
around a perfect robotic child named David (Haley Joel Osment), 
adopted by a Cybertronics employee (Sam Robards) and his wife 
(Frances O'Connor) whose own seriously ill child (Jake Thomas) has 
been cryogenically frozen. David is programmed to love, but those 
around him aren't - because he's 'mecha' (mechanical), not 'orga' 
(organic) - and, therein, lies his dilemma. Like Pinocchio, he yearns to 
be a real boy. But how? When he's abandoned with only his supertoy 
Teddy bear as a companion, he's sets off in search of a dream. Steeped 
in romanticism, the plot is divided into three segments: the domestic 
drama, the quest or odyssey, and then the futuristic underwater/ice 
sequences, a consequence of global warming. This fragmentation 
breeds problems. In the darkly disturbing road trip, for example, David 
meets up with Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a 'love mecha,' who takes him to 
the Flesh Fair, a nightmarish carnival, filled with robot torture devices. 
Then the eerie, sentimental third segment evokes "E.T." and "Close 
Encounters of a Third Kind," moving grandly, yet tediously. There's a 
lack of cohesion, a feeling of schizophrenia. Hayley Joel Osment  is 
truly amazing and Jude Law is charismatic. The rich visuals - sets, 
costumes and creature/make-up effects - are stunning. On the Granger 
Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" is an 
unpredictable, intriguing 10. Love it or hate it, it's a triumph of 
innovative film-making, a blend of science and humanity, and a 
brilliant collaboration of two acknowledged masters.

--