Do Androids Dream of DVD Extras? (A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs))

Member Name: Sullivat

Product:	A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2 DVDs)
Date:	11/03/02 (237 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Pristine movie presentation, gobs of extras

Disadvantages: the movie itself, lack of commentary

A.I. (Two Discs) (DVD) (Widescreen) (2001)
Region 2 Disk Released 18th March 2002
The following is a review of the Region 1 US Disk.

Pinocchio meets Blade Runner meets The Elephant Man meets 2001 : A Space Odyssey".

The fusion of Spielberg and Kubrick and a (very) short story entitled "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss has resulted in a very emotionally manipulative movie that's three parts cute to two parts cold, that will get you talking and WILL divide audiences.

In a nutshell, the plot revolves around a small boy (Haley Joel Osment) seeking his place in the world and to love and be loved by his mother(Frances O'Connor). But there's a catch. The 'boy' is an android replacing a child lost by the mother.

And things get more complicated and go downhill from there...embracing adventures with a mechanical Gigolo and a meeting with the creator...

Region 1 DVD
English 5.1 DTS Surround Sound
English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound
English 2.0 Dolby Surround Sound
French 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound

English, French and Spanish subtitles

1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen (doesn't say if enhanced for 16x9 screens oddly).

The supplements seem to be the same for both the US and UK disks, the UK disk appears to have less language options (English only!), but does have a niftier case!


A.I. Extras (92 minutes and 33 seconds)

Acting A.I.
-----------
A Portrait of David (9m 6s)
Spielberg notes that Kubrick had a mechanical child built for the film that "was a disaster".
Spielberg chose Haley Joel Osment for the part of the android David. Haley, who is spookily older than his years, talks about being part of the film. Next time your kid traipses mud into the house you'll wanna trade.

A Portrait of Gigolo Joe (6m)
Jude Law talks about his involvement
with the picture and learning to dance like Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly.



Designing A.I.
--------------
A.I.- From Drawings to Sets (7m, 26s)
Production Designer Rick Carter and Conceptual Artist Chris Baker discuss their efforts. Chris Baker (who has an aka of Fangorn)originally worked with Kubrick on various designs for his version of the film, considering Spielberg seems to have started again on the film it's surprising how many of Fangorns's concepts are still in the movie.

Dressing A.I. (5m 28s)
Interview with Costume Designer Bob Ringwood. Not as exciting as the Special Effects supplements from my point of view, at least, but it's not everyday you get to hear the costume designer talk. Bob notes that Jude Law's frock coat was made from fishing line nylon and the shirt from plastic, it's no wonder that whenever you see Jude behind the scenes he's busily cooling himself with a small fan.

Lighting A.I. (4m 23s)
-------------
Interview with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, who notes that he likes working with ambient effects such as smoke, and does pretty much his own thing.

Special Effects (7m 45s)
---------------
Physical Special Effects (as opposed to the Computer Generated (CGI) Effects) are discussed by Spielberg regular Michael Lantieri.

Robots of A.I. (13m 41s)
--------------
Steven Spielberg, Stan Winston, Jack Angel (Voice of Teddy), Alan J. Scott (Effects Supervisor, Winston Studio), Lindsay MacGowan (Effects Supervisor, Winston Studio) and Ve Neill (Key Make-Up Artist)

Spielberg discusses the Robots along with Stan Winston and crew, it is noted that 46 puppeteers worked on the Flesh Fair set, and 6 puppeteers were required for Teddy alone. Jack Angel, the voice for Teddy, provides the god like voice that graces countless movie trailers.

Special Visual Effects and Animation ILM
-------------------------
---------------
An Overview (5m 10s)
Dennis Muren (Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM) talks about working with Kubrick, in fact this is most that Kubrick's work on the movie is discussed at all. He Says "I didn't know if Stanley was ever going to get it made, boy with Steven doing it, we could do it".

One of the most astonishing developments discussed here is a system whereby virtual sets that would be added later by the computer folk could be viewed live through the camera irregardless of the camera movement. To do this bar coded targets were fixed to the ceiling with a video camera watching up from the current camera position and thus the camera's relative position to the CGI building could be calculated and the appropriate view added in to the monitors. I don't know if you're going to follow that unless you see it on the documentary, but this is massively impressive to computer nerds.

The Robots (3m 23s)
Scott Farrar (Visual Effects Supervisor, ILM) discusses how the CGI Robots were integrated with the live action, including the signature shot where a Mecha secretary's face peels open revealing the machine within. (I get goose bumps).


The Miniatures (4m 16s)
Discussion regarding filming miniatures, notably Coney Island Park sequence shot "dry for wet".

The New York City Sequence: Shot Progression (2m 51s)
A talk through the sequence noting which elements were models, which CGI and which photo elements.

Animating A.I. (8m 6s)
The various animation processes used to bring A.I. to the screen. with the following sub sections:

Teddy
On the screen you really can't tell where puppet sequence ends and CGI begins.
Dr. Know
3-D animation for the Robin Williams voiced Dr. Know.
The Futuristic Robots and The Specialist
(for whom the inspiration was Alec Guinness!)
Blue Fairy
Who does look
like she escaped from Shrek.


The Sound and Music of A.I.
---------------------------
Sound Design (6m 45s)
Gary Rydstrom notes where the various sounds came from in probably the least interesting section of extras (unless you're itching to work in Radiophonics).

The Music (5m 48s)
Interview with John Williams who notes the waltz from "der rosenkavalier" Opus 59 by Richard Strauss
was a piece of music that Kubrick insisted should be used somewhere in the film and it is during the drive into Rouge City.

Subtitles
Spanish
French
- once again indicative of the care that has gone into this DVD, subtitles on the extras...


Closing: Steven Spielberg: Our Responsibility to Artificial Intelligence (2 mins 25 secs)
-------------------------
A little moralising from Steven Spielberg and an ode to the electric toothbrush(?!)


A.I. Archives
-------------
Trailers
Theatrical Trailer 1
Theatrical Trailer 2
Storyboards
Storyboard art depicting three scenes from the movie.
Joe's Goodbye
David's Leap
Slightly different from the finished sequence (thankfully).
David and the Blue Fairy
Storyboards fail to get me really excited, but do give you a good feel for the movie making process.

Chris Baker's Portfolio
Artist Chris Barker's (aka Fangorn) concept art for the movie revealing a couple of significant concept changes, but also how closely some of his designs were followed from the Kubrick to the Spielberg reign.

Production Design Portfolio
with (gorgeous) illustrations by James Clyne, Chris Baker, Tim Flattery, Warren Manser, Jim Carson, Chris Ross and Oliver Scholl.

ILM Portfolio
Portrait Gallery Photographs by David James
Steven Spielberg Behind the Scenes Photographs by David James



Cast
--
--
Usual minimalist career notes and filmographies
Haley Joel Osment
Jude Law
Frances O'Connor
Sam Robards
Jake Thomas
Brendan Gleeson
William Hurt
Voice Jack Angel


Filmmakers
----------
Usual minimalist career notes and filmographies
Steven Spielberg - Director/Writer/Producer
Kathleen Kennedy - Producer
Bonnie Curtis - Producer
Walter F. Parkes - Producer
Jan Harlan - Executive Producer (main carry over from the Kubrick project)
Michael Kahn - Editor
Janusz Kaminski - Cinematographer
John Williams - Composer
Rick Carter - Production Designer
Bob Ringwood - Costume Designer
Stan Winston - Special Robotic Effects
Michael Lantieri - Special Effects Supervisor


Production Notes
----------------
Kubrick is supposed to have offered Spielberg the chance to direct A.I. with the comment
"Well, you know, I think this movie is closer your sensibility than mine"


Overall then a flawless DVD experience from the picture and sound point of view.
Over 1 1/2 hours of DVD supplements chronically nearly all aspects of the movie production.
Notable by their absence any sort of commentary track, which Mr. Spielberg shuns, and to my mind the most disappointing loss is any in depth look at the work Kubrick undertook during A.I.'s 10 year gestation. I recall hearing Kubrick was filming Jurassic Park's Joseph Mazzello in the part of David for example.
On the bright side no DVD-Rom features. Good. As I'm bored of seeing recycled websites.

Go read the reviews on the movie, watch it, make your own mind up as to wether it's a cynical exercise in maternal manipulation or if there's poignant things said about the human condition.

Summary: