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A.I. Artificial Intelligence [2001] - 2 disc set


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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

History will place an asterisk next to A.I. as the film Stanley Kubrick might have directed. But let the record also show that Kubrick--after developing this project for some 15 years--wanted Steven Spielberg to helm this astonishing sci-fi rendition of Pinocchio, claiming (with good reason) that it veered closer to Spielberg's kinder, gentler sensibilities. Spielberg inherited the project (based on the Brain Aldiss short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long") after Kubrick's death in 1999, and the result is an astounding directorial hybrid. A flawed masterpiece of sorts, in which Spielberg's gift for wondrous enchantment often clashes (and sometimes melds) with Kubrick's harsher vision of humanity, the film spans near and distant futures with the fairy-tale adventures of an artificial boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), a marvel of cybernetic progress who wants only to be a real boy, loved by his mother in that happy place called home.

Echoes of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun are evident as young David, shunned by his trial parents and tossed into an unfriendly world, is joined by fellow "mecha" Gigolo Joe (played with a dancer's agility by Jude Law) in his quest for a mother-and-child reunion. Parallels to Pinocchio intensify as David reaches "the end of the world" (a Manhattan flooded by melted polar ice caps), and a far-future epilogue propels A.I. into even deeper realms of wonder, just as it pulls Spielberg back to his comfort zone of sweetness and soothing sentiment. Some may lament the diffusion of Kubrick's original vision, but this is Spielberg's A.I., a film of astonishing technical wizardry that spans the spectrum of human emotions and offers just enough Kubrick to suggest that humanity's future is anything but guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

On the DVD: A perfect movie for the digital age, A.I. finds a natural home on DVD. The purity of the picture, its carefully composed colour schemes and the multifarious sound effects are accorded the pin-point sharpness they deserve with the anamorphic 1.85:1 picture and Dolby 5.1 sound, as is John Williams's thoughtful music score. On the first disc there's a short yet revealing documentary, "Creating A.I.", but the meat of the extras appears on disc two. Here there are good, well-made featurettes on acting, set design, costumes, lighting, sound design, music and various aspects of the special effects: Stan Winston's remarkable robots (including Teddy, of course) and ILM's flawless CGI work. In addition there are storyboards, photographs and trailers. Finally, Steven Spielberg provides some rather sententious closing remarks ("I think that we have to be very careful about how we as a species use our genius"), but no director's commentary. --Mark Walker


A.I. - Almost Intelligent
Review date: 2008-10-04 Rating: 6 out of 10

We (family) started watching this film on TV, but as it was on late, could only watch the first hour. What we saw gripped us, so I quickly rented it on DVD. We sat, wanting to find out what happened to David, the robot boy brought to `life' by a woman who thought she had lost her own son and so was able to programme David so that he looked on her as his `mummy'. Would he find refuge with the wide-boy android in the seedy underworld where droids and people mixed - or would they be caught by the droid-hating humans, who saw fit to destroy robots in terrible and sadistic ways?
This opening promised so much - and yet - we were hugely disappointed. The film after this seemed to lose itself and lurch into fairy stories: Wizard of Oz, Pinocchio (of course, as David longs to be a real boy so Mummy will love him.) A confused middle bit and then a whole load of `endings' that just seem to go on and on -with David being trapped in ice for 2000 years until Aliens find him. ("Aliens? What's all THAT about?" says my 12 year old.) Ah but - these Aliens can recreate his world from his memories, and bring back his mummy, but she can only last for a day - and on it goes.
Perhaps if we had seen the film all the way through the first time, the gripping start might have helped us suspend our belief. It was just SO disappointing as it had the makings to be a really superb film - looking at what it is that makes us human. The cinematography is atmospheric, the special effects are good, there was a real sense of involvement and tension built at the start. Sadly, it ended up being let down by its flabby plot.


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Reviews


ONE OF THE MOST DISTURBING MOVIES IN YEARS.
Review date: 2008-08-28 Rating: 6 out of 10

This movie which is as complex as it is disturbing on many levels involves a couple. Who have lost there son and with the help of the cybernetic corporation the Father works for are given David. He is an advanced robot programmed to mimic a human and learn to in effect become one. The earth which has been ravaged by global warming leaves the remaining Human population living on smaller continents. Humanity have built thousands of Machines who become more human like to take the work load from them. David is the most advanced and he through time want's to become a human ( which isn't a new idea, Look at Data in TNG ). However some parts of humanity despise the Sims and the most disturbing part for me. Was to witness the ' Circus of the Flesh' where the robots are ritually destroyed to a baying mob. This is a good film but not one if you don't want nightmares for a long time afterwards.

No intelligence full stop!
Review date: 2008-05-29 Rating: 2 out of 10

I remember at the time my girlfriend harping on about this film, saying it was the best thing ever, she said I would love it! I watched it and as a result lost all confidence in spielberg as a director and also dumped the girlfriend, I couldn't look at her the same way again after the AI experience.
The thing about this film, is that you don't really like any of the characters, the world is painted as being such a bleak and selfish place that I just couldn't force myself to enjoy watching the film and just wanted it to end. When the end finally comes, well it's true testament that spielberg has definitely lost the plot in recent years. I'm sure it reads much better in the written form but AI is one to avoid.

Success has many fathers.... and this great movie had four!
Review date: 2008-02-05 Rating: 10 out of 10

I loved this movie. It may be not as magnificent as other Spielberg and Kubrick works, but it is still a great moment of cinema. I watched it with a great emotion and I was afraid for the little hero (or rather two little heroes - let's not forget Teddy...) from the beginning to the end. It made me cry twice, no matter how much I tried not to. It really reached deep into my heart as no other movie managed to do in years... So, there is no other possibility - five stars.
I agree however that AI is clearly a patchwork of ideas rather than one project. It is because this story was worked in all successively by four very talented but very different men.
It began as a short story ("Supertoys last all summer") by Brian Aldiss, a great name of British SF, known mostly for his magnificent "Hothouse" novel. As most of SF writers from 60s and 70s Aldiss was very pesimistic and his writings are usually rather sad and gloomy. His mark is clearly visible in the movie.
The short story was rewritten in a scenario by another great name of SF, Ian Watson, who of course left his own personal inprint.
The person who had the idea of making a movie about a modern SF version of "Pinocchio" was the great Stanley Kubrick. He never realised it however and when he died, according to his last will, the project went to Steven Spielberg.
Spielberg inherited a very sad, depressing and dark tale of suffering and despair and he simply couldn't realise it like it was. He changed the story, mainly removing the "horrible bad ending" and replaced it with a kinder "not so happy end" which so many reviewers didn't like. Well, me for one I think he was right because ending AI differently would give a movie that only a really bad person (and by saying this I really mean "a sadistic sociopath") could like...
You probably already know what this story is about - a robot child, who was programmed to love his foster parents and who wants just to be their child, nothing else... but even that little will prove to be too much to ask... No other spoilers.
Haley Joel Osment gives here a performance as brilliant as the one he gave in "Sixth sense". Jude Law and William Hurt are good in second roles. A great "star" of this movie is Teddy, a little teddy-bear robot, once a very expensive and cool toy, now obsolescent and falling in pieces... The scenes in which he is fixing himself with a needle and some yarn will probably touch the coldest hearts.
This is NOT a movie for children! I strongly warn you against watching it with them, unless they are at least 12. Some of the scenes are very disturbing (like the execution of "strays", robots which were abandoned or chased away by the owners) and even after the little Spielberg touch, this movie is still terribly sad....
All in all, I believe you should watch this movie, at least once - you will not regret it. And you can also use AI as a medical test - if the final scene doesn't have any effect on you, you should see a doctor....

Near faultless.
Review date: 2008-01-20 Rating: 8 out of 10

Thoughtful sci-fi story about a robot boy (played by Haley Joel Osment) who wants to become a real boy like in the story Pinocchio so that the woman who purchased him (whom he considers his mother) will love him like she loves her real son. An intelligent sci-fi tear jerker from Steven Spielberg who as usual knows exactly what he is doing. A near faultless movie - ruined only by subplots involving Jude Law that don't go anywhere and a final scene that I felt could have been a bit better - that is emotionally satisfying and far superior to I, Robot (a film with a similar theme of whether robots should be treated like human beings). Spielberg went on to make the also excellent Minority Report the following year, so he was clearly on a roll. Very nearly 5 stars out of 5.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Frances O'Connor
Jake Thomas
Haley Joel Osment
Jude Law
Sam Robards

Creators:
Haley Joel Osment (Primary Contributor)
Jude Law (Primary Contributor)
Steven Spielberg (Producer)
Steven Spielberg (Writer)
Bonnie Curtis (Producer)
Jan Harlan (Producer)
Kathleen Kennedy (Producer)
Brian Aldiss (Writer)
Ian Watson (Writer)

Director(s):

Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900213301
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen,
Release date: 2002-03-18
Number of discs: 2
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
Region code: 2
Running time: 145 minutes
Theatrical release date: 2001-06-29
Language: English (Original Language)
Language: English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: Italian (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired)
Language: Arabic (Subtitled)
Language: Bulgarian (Subtitled)
Language: Dutch (Subtitled)
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: French (Subtitled)
Language: German (Subtitled)
Language: Italian (Subtitled)
Language: Portuguese (Subtitled)
Language: Romanian (Subtitled)
Language: Spanish (Subtitled)
Language: French (Dubbed)
Language: Italian (Dubbed)

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