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A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Reviews
Steven Spielberg has managed the seemingly impossible: a harmonious marriage of his own brand of glowing optimism and the cynical, alienating style of the late Stanley Kubrick.
Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Apr 30, 2024
A movie with magical moments and force but lacking in sustained narrative power.
Full Review | Original Score: B | Apr 30, 2024
A.I. isn't without a few hiccups, but in my opinion, is severely underrated when it comes to Spielberg's credits as a director.
Full Review | Original Score: A- | Apr 23, 2024
Spielberg’s future world is densely detailed and, although the film is tonally inconsistent, this remains one of the director’s most interesting and underrated works.
Full Review | Jul 3, 2023
... a dark, visionary fairy tale. Call it a cyberpunk 'Pinocchio' with a robot boy who wants to be human despite the cruelty and hate he finds on his odyssey.
Full Review | Apr 14, 2023
For a solid, well-made Steven Spielberg movie, check out Artificial Intelligence.
Full Review | Mar 21, 2023
It's a film whose humanity is kept at a distance so audiences might question how to define it, challenging us through its narrative to approach humanity from a human-less perspective.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Mar 18, 2022
In addition to its study of love, A.I. examines the morality of creating something that can love, that must love, but whose deeply-felt affections may not always be returned.
Full Review | Jul 6, 2021
It's Spielberg's distinct sensibility that makes the difference. Rejecting the cynical trickery some people prefer in drama, his A.I. is equal to Kubrick's finest work.
Full Review | Jun 30, 2021
A.I. Artificial Intelligence manages to honor its Kubrickian origin while Steven Spielberg adds his own touch.
Full Review | Jun 29, 2021
Aside from the conflicting ideas on artificiality and humankind and love (and the ill-defined boundaries of David's capabilities), the visuals are spectacular.
Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Sep 25, 2020
Although [A.I.] falls short of answering the questions raised by the basic premise of the film, it nevertheless makes you take pause in showing the irony of robots who are actually more human, and definitely more humane, than the humans themselves.
Full Review | Nov 6, 2019
The movie consistently goes against the grain of the emotional expectations that it invokes in Spielberg's expertly realized shorthand...
Full Review | Aug 17, 2018
An incredibly ambitious (if not always successful) sci-fi effort...
Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 11, 2018
Flawed, to be sure, but beautifully crafted, unimaginably complex, visually dazzling, rich with metaphor and deeply affecting.
Full Review | Original Score: 9/10 | May 16, 2011
A confined domestic drama, a considerable morality tale, a fleeting futuristic noir, a persecution parable, an on-the-nose fairy tale adventure... and then it keeps going.
Full Review | Apr 21, 2011
An unsettling sci-fi fairytale mlange of "Pinocchio" and "The Wizard of Oz" that's elegantly written, visually opulent and thematically challenging and discontented. One of Steven Spielberg's finest, and most fiercely misread, films.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/4 | Sep 25, 2010
Provocative movie suitable for teens.
Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 2, 2010
A "good" A.I. would be of infinitely less value than the A.I. that we have...a staggering creation.
Full Review | Original Score: 10/10 | Feb 14, 2010
Steven Spielberg tries to rescue the world's most elusive filmmaker from an unhappy ending.
Full Review | Sep 1, 2009
He just wanted to become a real boy
Stanley Kubrick always referred to the story as “ Pinocchio .” It mirrored the tale of a puppet who dreams of becoming a real boy. And what, after all, is an android but a puppet with a computer program pulling its strings? The project that eventually became Steven Spielberg’s “A. I. Artificial Intelligence” (2001) was abandoned by Kubrick because he wasn’t satisfied with his approaches to its central character, David, an android who appears to be a real little boy. Believing special effects wouldn’t be adequate and a human actor would seem too human, he turned the project over to his friend Spielberg. Legend has it he made that decision after being impressed by Spielberg’s special effects in “ Jurassic Park ,” but perhaps “E. T.” was also an influence: If Spielberg could create an alien who evoked human emotions, could he do the same with an android?
He could. As David, he cast Haley Joel Osment , who had scored a great success in “ The Sixth Sense ” (1999). Osment’s presence is a crucial element in the film; other androids, including Gigolo Joe ( Jude Law ) are made to look artificial with makeup and unmoving hair, but not David. He is the most advanced “mecha” of the Cybertronics Corporation — so human that he can perhaps take the place of a couple’s sick child. Spielberg and Osment work together to create David with unblinking eyes and deep naïveté; he seems a real little boy but lacking a certain je ne sais quoi. This reality works both for and against the film, at first by making David seem human and later by making him seem a very slow study.
David has been programmed to love. Once he is activated with a code, he fixes on the activator, in this case his Mommy ( Frances O'Connor ). He exists to love her and be loved by her. Because he is a very sophisticated android indeed, there’s a natural tendency for us to believe him on that level. In fact he does not love and does not feel love; he simply reflects his coding. All of the love contained in the film is possessed by humans, and I didn’t properly reflected this in my original review of the film.
“We are expert at projecting human emotions into non-human subjects, from animals to clouds to computer games,” I wrote in 1991, “but the emotions reside only in our minds. ‘A. I.’ evades its responsibility to deal rigorously with this trait and goes for an ending that wants us to cry, but had me asking questions just when I should have been finding answers.”
That is true enough on the principal level of the film, which tells David’s story. Watching it again recently, I became aware of something more: “A. I.” is not about humans at all. It is about the dilemma of artificial intelligence. A thinking machine cannot think. All it can do is run programs that may be sophisticated enough for it to fool us by seeming to think. A computer that passes the Turing Test is not thinking. All it is doing is passing the Turing Test.
The first act of the film involves Henry and Monica Swinton ( Sam Robards and Frances O’Connor). Henry brings David home to fill the gap left by their own sick little boy, Martin ( Jake Thomas ). Monica resists him, and then accepts him. But after Jake is awakened from suspended animation and cured, there is a family of four; Jake is fully aware that David is a product, but David doesn’t understand everything that implies. Possibly his programming didn’t prepare him to deal one-on-one in real time with real boys. He can’t spend all of his time loving Mommy and being loved by her.
He imitates life. He doesn’t sleep, but he observes bedtime. He doesn’t eat, but so strong is his desire to be like Martin that he damages his wiring by shoving spinach into his mouth. He’s treated with cruelty by other kids; when he reveals he doesn’t pee, a kid grabs his pants and says, “Let’s see what you don’t pee with.” After faithfully following his instructions in such a way that he nearly drowns Martin, he loses the trust of the Swintons and they decide to get rid of him, just as parents might get rid of a dangerous dog.
Monica cannot bring herself to return David to Cybertronics. She pauses on the way and releases him into a forest, where he can join other free-range mechas. He will not die. He doesn’t get cold, he doesn’t get hungry, and apparently he has an indefinite supply of fuel. Monica’s decision to release him instead of turning him in is based on her lingering identification with David; in activating him to love her, she activated herself to love him. His unconditional love must have been deeply appealing. We relate to pets in a similar way, especially to dogs, who seem to have been activated by evolution to love us.
The center act of the movie shows David wandering a world where mechas have no rights. He is accompanied by his mecha bear, Teddy, who is programmed to be a wise companion, and they are discovered by Gigolo Joe, a mecha programmed to be an expert lover. They visit two hallucinatory places designed by Spielberg on huge sound stages. One is a Flesh Fair, not unlike a WWF event, at which humans cheer as mechas are grotesquely destroyed. David, Joe and Teddy escape, probably because of their survival programming, but is David is dismayed by what he sees? How does he relate to the destruction of his kind?
Then there is Rouge City, sort of a psychedelic Universal City, where Joe takes him to consult a Wizard. Having been fascinated by the story of Pinocchio, who wanted to be a real boy, David has reasoned that a Blue Fairy might be able to transform him into a human and allow Monica to love him and be loved. The Wizard gives him a clue. After Joe and David capture a flying machine, they visit New York, which like many coastal cities has been drowned by global warming. But on an upper floor of Rockefeller Center, he finds that Cybertronics still operates, and he meets the scientist who created him, Dr. Hobby ( William Hurt ). Hobby is Geppetto to David’s Pinocchio.
Now again there are events which contradict David’s conception of himself. In an eerie scene, he comes across a storeroom containing dozens of Davids who look just like him. Is he devastated? Does he thrash out at them? No, he remains possessed. He is still focused on his quest for the Blue Fairy, who can make him a real little boy. But why, we may ask, does he want to be real so very much? Is it because of envy, hurt or jealousy? No, he doesn’t seem to possess such emotions–or any emotions, save those he is programmed to counterfeit. I assume he wants to be a real boy for abstract reasons of computer logic. To fulfill his mission to love and be loved by Mommy, he concludes he should be like Martin, who Mommy prefers. This involves no more emotion than Big Blue determining its next move in chess.
In the final act, events take David and Teddy in a submersible to the drowned Coney Island, where they find not only Geppetto’s workshop but a Blue Fairy. A collapsing Ferris wheel pins the submarine, and there they remain, trapped and immobile, for 2,000 years, as above them an ice age descends and humans become extinct. David is finally rescued by a group of impossibly slender beings that might be aliens, but are apparently very advanced androids. For them, David is an incalculable treasure: “He is the last who knew humans.” From his mind they download all of his memories, and they move him into an exact replica of his childhood home. This reminded me of the bedroom beyond Jupiter constructed for Dave by aliens in Kubrick’s “2001.” It has the same purpose, to provide a familiar environment in an incomprehensible world. It allows these beings, like the unseen beings in “2001,” to observe and learn from behavior.
Watching the film again, I asked myself why I wrote that the final scenes are “problematical,” go over the top, and raise questions they aren’t prepared to answer. This time they worked for me, and had a greater impact. I began with the assumption that the skeletal silver figures are indeed androids, of a much advanced generation from David’s. They too must be programmed to know, love, and serve Man. Let’s assume such instructions would be embedded in their programming DNA. They now find themselves in a position analogous to David in his search for his Mommy. They are missing an element crucial to their function.
After some pseudoscientific legerdemain involving a lock of Monica’s hair, they are able to bring her back after 2,000 years of death–but only for 24 hours, which is all the space-time continuum permits. Do they do this to make David happy? No, because would they care? And is a computer happier when it performs its program than when it does not? No. It is either functioning or not functioning. It doesn’t know how it feels.
Here is how I now read the film: These new generation mechas are advanced enough to perceive that they cannot function with humans in the absence of humans, and I didn’t properly reflect this in my original review of the film. David is their only link to the human past. Whatever can be known about them, he is an invaluable source. In watching his 24 hours with Mommy, they observe him functioning at the top of his ability.
Of course we must ask in what sense Monica is really there. The filmmaker Jamie Stuart informs me she is not there at all; that an illusion has merely been implanted in David’s mind, and that the concluding scenes take place entirely within David’s point of view. Having downloaded all of David’s memories and knowledge, the new mechas have no further use for him, but provide him a final day of satisfaction before terminating him. At the end, when we are told he is dreaming, that is only David’s impression. Earlier in the film, it was established that he could not sleep or therefore dream.
Why would one mecha care if another obtained satisfaction? What meaning is there in giving David 24 hours of bliss? If machines cannot feel, what does the closing sequence really mean? I believe it suggests the new mechas are trying to construct a mecha that they can love. They would play Mommy to their own Davids. And that mecha will love them. What does love mean in this context? No more, no less, than check, or mate, or π. That is the fate of Artificial Intelligence. No Mommy will ever, ever love them.
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
- Sam Robards as Henry Swinton
- Haley Joel Osment as David
- Jude Law as Gigolo Joe
- Frances O’Connor as Monica Swinton
- William Hurt as Prof. Hobby
- Brendan Gleeson as Lord Johnson-Johnson
Written and Directed by
- Steven Spielberg
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Parents' guide to, a.i.: artificial intelligence.
- Common Sense Says
- Parents Say 10 Reviews
- Kids Say 19 Reviews
Common Sense Media Review
By Nell Minow , based on child development research. How do we rate?
Provocative sci-fi film has some mature themes.
Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 science fiction movie directed by Steven Spielberg about a young android named David who is the first of his kind to express and feel human emotion. There is some mild profanity. This movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual references (Joe is a…
Why Age 13+?
One of the lead characters is a robot gigolo; he brags of his prowess with women
While technically a robot, young David seems all-too-human as he's bullied by hi
"Damned," "hell," "goddammit."
Any Positive Content?
Movie explores themes of the confluence of humanity and technology, especially a
The characters are essentially archetypal and don't emerge as positive role mode
Parents need to know that A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a 2001 science fiction movie directed by Steven Spielberg about a young android named David who is the first of his kind to express and feel human emotion. There is some mild profanity. This movie is rated PG-13 for some sexual references (Joe is a robot gigolo created to have sex with women), and some violence (robots are destroyed, and there's a critically ill child and characters in peril). Kids may find the theme and some of the situations disturbing, and they may also be unsettled by the open-ended nature of the story, as well as the raw emotion expressed. It will be most suitable for teens, who may enjoy debating some of the issues of love, vulnerability, the nature of humanity, the future of the human race, and even the meaning of life. There is some bullying when David's "brother" and his friends don't accept him into their clique; this, and David's seemingly suicidal fall from a skyscraper, could seem all too human for many viewers.
To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .
Sex, Romance & Nudity
One of the lead characters is a robot gigolo; he brags of his prowess with women and, in one instance, heightens the bragging by making orgasm noises.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.
Violence & Scariness
While technically a robot, young David seems all-too-human as he's bullied by his "brother" and his brother's friends. In another scene, David jumps off a building in a way that would be suicide for humans. David attacks and destroys an android who looks just like him. In a violent carnival-esque spectacle, humanoid robots are shown getting destroyed as humans cheer.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.
Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.
Positive Messages
Movie explores themes of the confluence of humanity and technology, especially as technology becomes more advanced, and the ramifications of robots capable of having human emotions and satisfying sexual and romantic needs. Explores the nature of love and of family. Provides a glimpse into what the world might be like in the aftermath of climate change, resulting in rising ocean levels.
Positive Role Models
The characters are essentially archetypal and don't emerge as positive role models.
Where to Watch
Videos and photos.
Parent and Kid Reviews
- Parents Say (10)
- Kids Say (19)
Based on 10 parent reviews
Great film from my favorite director Steven Speilberg
Is that the real love, what's the story.
In A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, David looks like a 12-year-old boy but is really a "mecha," a highly developed robot. He's the creation of Dr. Hobby ( William Hurt ), who decided to take robots a step further and develop the first robot that can feel love. One of his employees, Henry ( Sam Robards ), is chosen to be the beta tester. Henry and his wife, Monica ( Frances O'Connor ), have a son, Martin, who is critically ill. At first, Monica is horrified by the idea of "adopting" a mechanical boy, but her need for love is so overpowering that she initiates the sequence that will bind David irrevocably to her forever. He immediately changes from a pleasant if emotionless toy into a child whose mother is his whole world. He loves, which means that he is needy, jealous, and thinks like a 3-year-old, calling for his mommy and wanting her all to himself. When Martin gets better and returns home, he and David are jealous of one another. When Monica believes that David may be a threat to Martin, she sets him loose in the woods. David is determined to find the Blue Fairy, who can turn him into a real boy, as she did with Pinocchio, because he thinks that will make it possible for Monica to love him.
Is It Any Good?
Cross 2001 with E.T. and Blade Runner and throw in some Pinocchio , some Wizard of Oz , some Velveteen Rabbit , and a touch of Our Town , and you might have some sense of what to expect from this movie. It's an ambitious, complex, provocative movie that is likely to lead to more late-night college dorm debates than anything since the ones about 2001 's monolith and the ape throwing the bone.
Developed by Stanley Kubrick and completed by Steven Spielberg, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a two-part invention of a movie that owes both its strengths and its weaknesses to the collaboration between two men of such prodigious talents and such different, even opposing sensibilities. Kubrick is the master of the cool image, Spielberg the master of the warm feeling. The juxtaposition of their influence is particularly apt for this story of the struggle between heart and brain, not only on the part of the mecha but on the part of the orga (humans) as well.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether or not the android David in can feel love and Dr. Hobby's real reason for creating him. Is there any way to make a robot "real?" If the movie is about making a machine that can feel, why is the title A.I.: Artificial Intelligence ?
While set in the future, how does this movie address contemporary concerns such as bullying, climate change, and the evolving relationship of humanity with technology?
In science fiction films set in the future, societies tend to be either utopian, technocratic, and seemingly perfect or dystopian, barbaric, and seemingly on the verge of extinction. Where does this movie fit on this spectrum? What are some examples of science fiction movies that correspond with these conflicting visions of the future?
How do science fiction movies tend to mirror the cultural mood and spirit of the era in which they were made, and how does A.I.: Artificial Intelligence mirror the concerns of the turn of the century, when computers and the internet were beginning to become a dominant factor in our lives?
Movie Details
- In theaters : June 29, 2001
- On DVD or streaming : March 5, 2002
- Cast : Frances O'Connor , Haley Joel Osment , Jude Law
- Director : Steven Spielberg
- Studio : Universal Pictures
- Genre : Science Fiction
- Run time : 146 minutes
- MPAA rating : PG-13
- MPAA explanation : some sexual content and violent images
- Last updated : September 24, 2024
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
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Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
- Warner Bros.
Summary Started by Stanley Kubrick and finished by Steven Spielberg, this project was adapted from Brian Aldiss's 1966 short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long." The film explores the idea of programming a child robot so that he is able to love.
Directed By : Steven Spielberg
Written By : Brian Aldiss, Ian Watson, Steven Spielberg
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Where to watch.
Haley Joel Osment
Frances o'connor, monica swinton, sam robards, henry swinton, jake thomas, martin swinton, william hurt, prof. hobby, syatyoo-sama, clark gregg, kevin sussman, eugene osment, april grace, female colleague, matt winston, sabrina grdevich, theo greenly, jeremy james kissner, dillon mcewin, andy morrow, curt youngberg, ashley scott, gigolo jane, critic reviews.
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- Cast & crew
User reviews
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
If you don't like this movie, here's a suggestion....
- tightspotkilo
- Aug 14, 2009
Mecha World
- Jul 5, 2016
A great movie trying to get out
- Mar 23, 2002
A hard film to judge
- Nov 8, 2005
Can't re-watch it again
- rotaruhajime
- Jun 5, 2020
Frustrating
- Sep 17, 2002
I'm not saying it isn't kind of stupid but ultimately it punched me right in the feels.
- GiraffeDoor
- Mar 25, 2019
Deep, dark, haunting, emotional, thought provoking, complex and relevant to today
- collinskyria
- Sep 30, 2019
It isn't that bad, it's just that you know that it could have been so much better.
- philip_vanderveken
- Jan 10, 2005
When Kubrick is Not Kubrick
- LongTimeMovieLover
- Apr 6, 2019
Future classic...?
- Sep 25, 2001
Good Idea, Poor Execution
- May 6, 2003
Kubrick's two bedrooms and two Daves
- Feb 4, 2008
Why Spielberg, why?
- baz_trinity
- Nov 10, 2006
Stunning Visuals, Involving Story But Typical Spielberg/Kubrick Bias
- ccthemovieman-1
- Nov 19, 2006
Spielberg's Most Underrated and Under Appreciated
- LeonLouisRicci
- May 31, 2015
Not perfect, but still intelligent, haunting and moving
- bellino-angelo2014
- Oct 28, 2019
A.I.--A Film With Heart And Brains
- Jul 5, 2001
A bad day at the office for Spielberg
- FlickJunkie-2
- Apr 5, 2002
poor... very poor.
- Dec 19, 2002
When Steven met Stanley (or E.T. meets HAL9000?!)
- May 31, 2021
Worth A Second Look
- Jan 3, 2023
Extraordinary.
- Jul 2, 2001
Poor mixture.
- Mar 10, 2002
One of the year's best films -- thought-provoking and deeply moving. ***1/2 (out of four)
- Aug 1, 2001
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- DVD & Streaming
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
- Drama , Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Content Caution
In Theaters
- Haley Joel Osment as David Swinton; Frances O'Connor as Monica Swinton; Sam Robards as Henry Swinton; Jake Thomas as Martin Swinton; Jude Law as Gigolo Joe
Home Release Date
- Steven Spielberg
Distributor
Positive Elements | Spiritual Elements | Sexual & Romantic Content | Violent Content | Crude or Profane Language | Drug & Alcohol Content | Other Noteworthy Elements | Conclusion
Movie Review
The themes of A.I.: Artificial Intelligence are simple: the need to be real and the desire to be loved. It’s the execution of those themes that are exceedingly complex. Try for a moment to mentally merge the classic children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit with Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey . Can’t make it work? A.I. does.
The polar caps have melted. Greenhouse gases have done their worst. And much of the globe is under water. Technology makes up for human deficiency. Artificial intelligence is at its zenith. That’s when David is born. Or, more accurately, built . He is the first robot child to be constructed and the first to be given the ability to feel. Not just the sensation of pain or cold, but the ability to bond, trust, love and hate. But he finds that still is not enough. He wants to be a “real little boy.” He wants his mother to love him for who he is, not for the things he does for her. (Is it a big surprise that the fairytale of Pinocchio is used throughout the film to mirror futuristic happenings?) So David finds himself on an all-too-human quest. And it leads him to places you’d never dream of (or even have nightmares about). In ways you’d never think of.
positive elements: Everything about David’s quest for love radiates with valuable life lessons. Familial love. Unconditional love. Eternal love. One robot remarks that the “ones who made us are always looking for the one who made them.” And obviously, the journey to become “real” is really a journey to be accepted.
spiritual content: A scientist remarks that his ambition to create a robot that can feel is similar to God’s. “In the beginning, didn’t God create Adam to love him?” he asks. But not everything is so benevolent. Standing outside a Catholic church, Gigolo Joe smirks that he gets a lot of business from the women who go inside to find God, then come out to find him. Christian moviegoers will also notice a distinct absence of God during catastrophic circumstances that should warrant His inclusion.
sexual content: Gigolo Joe is programmed to flirt. He’s also programmed for sex. Thankfully, he’s never seen consummating any of his relationships. What does appear onscreen is the personality-shifting Joe telling his tricks how amazing their encounter is going to be. “Once you’ve had a lover robot,” he tells one woman, “you’ll never want a real man again.” Joe gets a car full of guys to give him a lift by teasing them with tales of robotic hookers. He uses a small projection device to show them a moving image of a scantily-clad woman dancing. In what amounts to a giant red-light district, the landscape is littered with garish, sexually suggestive signs, lights and statues.
violent content: One of Joe’s “women” is found lying dead in a hotel room. Her husband found out about her robot romances and killed her for it. Elsewhere, in a circus of sorts called a “Flesh Fair,” robots are destroyed in gruesome ways. Since many of them look and act human, the spectacle takes on a dark hue as acid dissolves their faces, whirling propeller blades make mincemeat of their bodies and fire chars their skin. One machine’s grisly head flies through the air, landing right in front of David (and moviegoers). In a fit of angst and frustration, David attacks another robot, decapitating the being and bludgeoning it with a blunt weapon.
crude or profane language: A half-dozen misuses of God’s name. Two instances are combined with the word “d–n.” No other profanity eats through the skin of this PG-13 film. Kudos to Spielberg for not using up his “rating allotment” just because he can.
drug and alcohol content: David’s mom and dad drink wine with dinner.
other negative elements: An innocent David barges in on his mother, Monica, while she’s using the toilet (no nudity is shown).
conclusion: Shimmering reflections, refractions, distortions and intricate close-up camera work mark the movie’s wispy, almost ethereal air. That calm is intentionally broken at times with fiery action, but the waves quickly simmer back into ripples and the ripples calm into gentleness again. Blade Runner this is not. But neither is it E.T.
A.I. isn’t at all designed for young children. A heart-wrenching scene of abandonment will prove unsettling to almost everyone who watches it; a young child, however, could be deeply affected. Additionally, dark, sexual images and the ruthless killing of human-looking machines mar the story’s landscape.
David is brilliantly played by the 13-year-old Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense) . Haley’s mother, Theresa Osment, spoke for many a mother when she told reporters she’s a bit queasy about the impact of the movie on children. “If [Haley] wasn’t in it, I’m not sure I’d let him see it. His little sister’s not seeing it. There are some parts I think the parents should see first before they expose it to their children. It’s very traumatic … and you need to be responsible.”
Positive Elements
Spiritual elements, sexual & romantic content, violent content, crude or profane language, drug & alcohol content, other noteworthy elements.
Steven Isaac
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