A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Artificial Intelligence (AI) held my attention and riveted my imagination so thoroughly from start to finish that I had to own it. AI is undeniably a sci-fi epic, full of moving and memorable scenes touching on human creation, purpose, and mortality. Our story begins as preeminent roboticist Prof. Hobby (William Hurt) gives a long-grieving couple the chance to have a second son. They meet David -- Joel Haley Osment is stellar in the role -- "a perfect child caught in a freezeframe. Always loving, never ill, never changing." David's home life is at first sardonic and nearly idyllic, however, parents and children must be warned that AI contains a heartwrenching scene of outright child abandonment. As David attempts to make his own way, he is captured with his mecha bear Teddy (Jack Angel) as well as Gigolo Joe (a glib Jude Law) by riff-raff who viciously destroy mechas in a carnival atmosphere. David manages to escape and pursue his obsession to meet "the Blue Fairy" and become a "real boy" so his mother (Frances O'Connor) will love him. He encounters his epilog eons in the future. Being drawn from Kubrick's storyboards, AI is a complex sci-fi art film. As such, it has drawn soaring praise and scathing contempt in equal measure. I can only surmise from the large body of negative comments I've read that complaints fall into three camps: too long, too boring, or too confusing. While some detractors admit they can't grasp this grand ouevre from two of cinema's maestros, for the most part their intelligence cannot be suspect (though how a film can be called both cheesy and impenetrable is beyond me). To be perfectly honest, AI is long, convoluted, and at times obtuse -- yet it is also soaring and sublime. It is not intended as mainstream entertainment for the unwashed masses with a linear story, tidy resolution, and happy ending. It is science fiction -- a speculative exploration of future ideas and implications -- and a dystopian one at that and full of Kubrickian trademarks. AI is ultimately a moral warning about what we might become tomorrow if we are not more wise today. AI says three things: every journey has its own rewards though payment is a two-sided coin, since every tragedy contains a kernel of joy and every kernel of joy contains tragedy. 5 stars.