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A.I. Artificial Intelligence Movie Review

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Haley Joel Osment and Jude Law. It’s the director’s most underrated movie.

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“We are suffering for the mistakes they made

because when the end comes, all that will be left is us“

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David, a highly advanced robotic boy, longs to become a human child so that he can regain the love of his foster mother who abandoned him. This very tumultuous production began with Kubrick who dropped out of the project as he found the VFX in the nineties not good enough for this particular material. Eventually, Spielberg came onto the project and he fast-tracked it after Kubrick’s death. The movie was released in 2001 to only solid reviews, and nowadays most people do not regard it greatly.

That clearly puts me in the vast minority as I absolutely adore this film, and I even regard it among Spielberg’s best efforts. Unlike what many think, this movie follows Kubrick’s vision very closely, thus the accusations of schmaltz directed toward Spielberg in this instance are unjust and ludicrous. The movie isn’t manipulative at all, and I find it frustrating that they accuse this film for being manipulative when many of his other movies get a free pass.

A.I. ended on a very moving note. It wasn’t manipulative, but rather earned as you follow this boy’s quest to reunite with his mother for so long that you come to really root for him. That entire last sequence was beautiful and filmed in such a magical, cinematic way that it fittingly felt frozen and out of time.

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The entire story is very powerful. The ‘Pinocchio’ references and homage felt not overdone, but endearing. The movie explores robotics very powerful, and especially the idea of humanity, and what we humans regard as, well, human. The first half is basically this very strong family drama that explored into minute detail what it would be like to have an android child. The movie is elaborate in details, themes and mostly very well crafted plot points throughout.

Haley Joel Osment is wonderful in the main role of David. His casting was great as he proved himself as a powerful child actor during this period. Jude Law is also terrific as Gigolo Joe, and again perfectly cast. Maybe a bit too perfectly, but still this type of typecasting works as Law clearly had a lot of fun playing this over-the-top, dancing android gentleman. Frances O’Connor is also wonderful in the role of Monica.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is a technically tremendous piece of filmmaking, and I am not just talking about the special effects, which are themselves stunning. It was a clever idea to wait before the early 2000s to make the film, and the results are robots that look so believable.

But again, the other technicalities are even more worthy of note. The score is very good, the direction is among Spielberg’s best and most accomplished, and the pacing is excellent as the film is very engaging throughout its runtime, though the middle act did introduce some elements and plot points that were undercooked and not as necessary.

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The dialogue is sophisticated, some of the imagery is truly artistic and the highlights include the underwater scenes, the blue fairy and that final sequence, which was fittingly brightly colored and tender. As for the alien-looking mechas, I actually really liked that development. Not much was explained, but again from a child’s point of view it wasn’t necessary to explain too much. The mechas themselves looked cool and those moments were very intriguing.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence is Spielberg’s most underrated movie and one of his greatest. The effects are terrific, some of the imagery is truly artistic and the direction is excellent. The movie isn’t jarring at all, but actually superbly crafted on all levels. There is a lot to be said about Kubrick’s involvement in the movie (and most of the arguments surrounding this issue are utterly false), but ultimately that doesn’t matter as the movie ended up being actually moving instead of manipulative, thematically sophisticated and engrossing in plot throughout.

My Rating – 4.5

You can get this underrated gem on Amazon.