I seriously don't know how to explain A.I. It's simply one of the most weirdest and bizarre movies I have ever seen. Honestly, I don't think that I've ever watched a movie with cool special effects and an equally impressive child performance, that becomes a drowsy, sleepy, overlong, wrongly paced and bizarre movie ever up to screen.
There was a system of hype surrounding A.I. in the summer of 2001. The project had been started by Stanley Kubrick, director of 2001: a Space Odyssey, which is today considered a sci-fi masterpiece. Considering that 2001 is today rated as a classic masterpiece, you could at least expect A.I. to be a movie worthy of a concentrated viewing. Sadly, Kubrick died before he could commence filming, but not before he had passed off his idea to Steven Spielberg, a long time friend. Spielberg almost made A.I an artistic, visual achievement. The problem is that we've already seen Star Wars and Star Trek plenty of times, and the Lord of the Rings: the Fellowship of the Ring also took off in the winter of 2001,. All of those movies were an achievement far greater then A.I in every aspect.
A.I. is simply the story of Pinnochio applied to a world similar in the later 2002 Minority Report. It's set in the future where humans have gained the ability to create and program highly-advanced robots. They decide to make a child robot who can love, like how a child loves his parents. The result is David, who believes that he is unique, one of a kind, and he loves his family. After a few life-threatening incidents, which David did not intentionally start, the family throws David and his teddy bear, which can walk and talk (the teddy remains by favorite character in the movie), out in the forest. David embarks on a journey to become a real kid, with Teddy serving as his guide and advisor along the way.
The only reason why I give this movie any stars at all are for the impressive child performance by Haley Joel Osment as David, and for the actual character of Teddy (he's the only character who I could somewhat relate to in this pic). Other then that, A.I. is a snoozefest, and I had to actually try to keep myself paying attention to the screen.
A.I. is substantially overlong, unengaging, wrongly paced, and too out of narrative. I guess I have to say this: it was boring. Yes, boring. For me at least. I could have had more fun watching stupid Saturday cartoons. A.I. is almost so devoid of any real sense of humor, so lifeless. In addition, it's also heavily marred by a weak, overlong and completely overblown ending.
I am sorry that this came out the way it did. For a movie of the combined imaginations of Kubrick and Spielberg, both of whom are great movie directors, I would have expected a lot more. I guess that my opinion on A.I. is in a stark contrast to other critical reviews, most of which greeted the movie positively.
Spielberg takes A.I. and turns a nice concept into a completely different direction, as so that the movie itself seems artificial. That's a real shame.
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