Weekly Mini-Review: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

AI mirror shot

Story: In a society of limited birthrate, a couple whose son is in a coma adopts the first robot child ever designed to feel love. When the couple’s son reawakens, the robot boy (guided by a literal belief in fairytales) is thrust into a perilous journey in hopes of recapturing the past.

Review: Yes, it was directed and the screenplay written by Spielberg, but the fact that it’s based on a 1980s dystopic sci-fi treatment by Stanley Kubrick is hardly difficult to notice. The characters are all more than a little bit cracked and even the sweetest moments are also unmistakably creepy – although this owes greatly to the blocking and cinematography (viz., a little boy peering over a counter is made eerie by the mirror reflection of his eyes in the countertop just beneath them). My favorite element of this film was the character Teddy, a robot teddy bear. There’s a great novelty in how real he looks running around onscreen, but he’s also a multilayered character with many good lines. He is the most tragic character of the piece though, in my opinion because *spoiler alert: he follows the boy all through the story only to end up alone in the end*  Fair warning though, the story is kind of meant to rip your heart out.

Recommended for: Kubrick fans, dystopic futuristic movie fans, cool special effects fans, sad movie fans.

Content notes: (YUCK, 16+) – Some pretty gross special effects, very dark and demented character actions.


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