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A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Average user rating
4 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

David (Osment) is a Mecha-boy, a robot prototype who thinks and feels like a real boy. Monica and Henry (O'Connor and Robards), whose natural son is in a vegetative state, afford him a wary welcome, the mother's need overcoming her trepidation. Then, when their own son makes a miraculous recovery, sibling rivalry gets out of hand, and Monica abandons the surrogate in the woods to fend for himself. A schizophrenic animal, Kubrick and Spielberg's love child begins in cerebral sci-fi mode before switching abruptly into a heart-rending fairytale redolent of E.T., The Wizard of Oz and especially Pinocchio. Spielberg adopted the project and, whatever Kubrick's input may have been, took sole screenplay credit for the first time since Close Encounters. The result is surprisingly clumsy and ill-integrated. Yet A.I. is ambitious, personal and revealing. A film about childhood as opposed to a film for kids, it has more than its share of beauty, wonders and mysteries. The SFX are miraculous; Osment and O'Connor scarcely less so. At heart it's a terribly anguished expression of rejection, loneliness and love. If only it knew when to stop.

Author: TCh

Time Out Film Guide


User reviews of this film

  • Haley Joel Osment Fan said...
    Posted on Jan 27 2011 15:49 The kind of movie that makes you cry. Haley Joel Osment is a brilliant, brilliant actor and he really carried out the roles well. THe only issue was that it was a bit lengthy, but it was all together a beautiful movie.
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  • Nina said...
    Posted on Dec 18 2009 06:46 It's a nice movie, but heart breaking. I wish the child had some happiness and that someone had loved him. The mother was such a monster to leave him in the woods. Somehow the film seems badly connected, but all in all makes for a sad tale. I love the little actor. He is adorable.
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  • Louise said...
    Posted on Sep 06 2008 16:58 Profound film about the enduring power of love
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  • Kees said...
    Posted on Feb 07 2008 20:47 I especially like the end of the movie when te robot child sinks and is found thousends of years later and he can spend some time with his long deceased mother. It's a great movie!
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