Susan Granger’s review of “A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE” (Warner Bros.)
Steven Spielberg is a cinematic genius. So was Stanley Kubrick. But this unconventional, collaborative effort may mystify movie-goers. Some will be beguiled, as I was. Others may be frustrated and/or disappointed. Told as a sci-fi fairy tale for adults, the story revolves around a perfect robotic child named David (Haley Joel Osment), adopted by a Cybertronics employee (Sam Robards) and his wife (Frances O’Connor) whose own seriously ill child (Jake Thomas) has been cryogenically frozen. David is programmed to love, but those around him aren’t – because he’s ‘mecha’ (mechanical), not ‘orga’ (organic) – and, therein, lies his dilemma. Like Pinocchio, he yearns to be a real boy. But how? When he’s abandoned with only his supertoy Teddy bear as a companion, he’s sets off in search of a dream. Steeped in romanticism, the plot is divided into three segments: the domestic drama, the quest or odyssey, and then the futuristic underwater/ice sequences, a consequence of global warming. This fragmentation breeds problems. In the darkly disturbing road trip, for example, David meets up with Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a ‘love mecha,’ who takes him to the Flesh Fair, a nightmarish carnival, filled with robot torture devices. Then the eerie, sentimental third segment evokes “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of a Third Kind,” moving grandly, yet tediously. There’s a lack of cohesion, a feeling of schizophrenia. Hayley Joel Osment is truly amazing and Jude Law is charismatic. The rich visuals – sets, costumes and creature/make-up effects – are stunning. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” is an unpredictable, intriguing 10. Love it or hate it, it’s a triumph of innovative film-making, a blend of science and humanity, and a brilliant collaboration of two acknowledged masters.
