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 A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs)
Description: Genre: Science Fiction & Fantasy - Science Fiction / Theatrical Release: 2001 / Director: Steven Spielberg / Actors: ... more  A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs) ... Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor (II) ... / DVD released 18 March, 2002 at Warner Home Video / Features of the DVD: Anamorphic, Box set, Dubbed, PAL, Widescreen / 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 WalkerNewest Review: ... child - they eagerly agree. But then their real son wakes from his coma, and when he's fighting for attention with David the ... more ... robot boy (played by Haley Joel Osment) there's only one choice they can make. Much like a Christmas puppy, David is dumped in the woods.
But he's been programmed to want his mother's love, so he sets off to search for how to get that.
Haley Osment does very well in this at portraying the other-worldly feel of something not-quite-human. However, the real star of this for me was Gigolo Joe (played by Jude Law). Basically a sexbot who runs off when he discovers his client has died he befriends David, taking the &q...more |
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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs): Awaiting Interpretation (1753 words)
by plipplop - written on 30.07.07 (Very useful, 112 readings)
Rating:
It is some point in the not too distant future. Earth has suffered environmental catastrophe as a result of the polar ice caps melting, and consequentially a large number of the planet’s shoreline cities have been flooded. Millions of their inhabitants have been made homeless, and the planet is under greater pressure from over population than ever before. In order to prevent the situation escalating, the governments of the civilised world have put in place regulations that prevent couples from having any more children unless they are vetted and licensed to do so. As countless couples across the globe struggle to cope without children of their own, attention has turned ...
Very Artificial and Rather Unintelligent (872 words)
by sandrabarber - written on 04.01.03 (Very useful, 86 readings)
Rating:
It is the future. Earth has suffered environmental crisis, cities are flooded and the planet is critically overpopulated. No one can have children unless licensed to do so. To appease the childless, robot children are created. They do as they are told and say the right things, but they are incapable of feeling. For scientist Professor Hobby this is not enough. He wants to make a child who can feel and who is capable of real 'human' love. After twenty years of striving, his work is complete, and the child, David, is given to a couple whose own son has long been in a coma from which he does not look likely to recover. The woman does not want David ...
A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs): Is Intelligence Artificial? (1599 words)
by marandina - written on 28.04.02 (Very useful, 174 readings)
Rating:
Some things are meant to be. You are meant to be born, live a life and die. In between, in the natural order of things, you should by all rights have a mother and a father. In the time allotted, you should be able to develop a nurturing relationship with your parents, which will see you through into adult life. A.I. works on the classic premise of "what if?". In this case, what if a humanoid child that could love substituted the child? Moreover, what would happen if the human offspring returned to share the same parental home as the robot child? These issues only begin to graze the surface of a deep thinking movie. I watched AI with a sense of ...
