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Steven Spielberg's
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The Film: How do you make a film about robots? Given
how many such films there are, the real question is how to make yours not
look like merely "the latest sci-fi robot movie." It doesn't
make things any easier when the most recent robot film, prior to A.I.,
was the artificial turkey of a film, Bicentennial
Man. Spielberg attempts to overcome these hurdles, by tacking Stanley Kubrick's name to
a project Spielberg both wrote and directed. Spielberg isn't making yet-another-robot-movie
for himself, you see; he's making one because Kubrick always wanted
to make one. Such reasoning sounds pretty...artificial. Unfortunately, so
does this film. The story involves a robot manufacturing company of the future, which
makes servant android machines called "mechas." Here, Professor
Hobby (William Hurt) wants to make the next bold step in robotics; a young
robot boy, programmed to love. The result is David (Haley Joel Osment),
who is "adopted" by a couple whose real son was cryogenically
frozen until a cure can be found for his disease. The "father"
Henry (Sam Robards) soon brings David into the household, much to
the apprehension of the "mother" Monica (Frances O'Connor). As
we soon learn, the question isn't whether David can be a real son; the
question is if Henry and Monica can be real parents.
I feel I should take this time to commend Steven
Spielberg, at least, for making the artificially-emotional character
a young boy, and not an oversexed juvenile like so many robot
films before it. In films like Bicentennial
Man, a robot who suddenly had emotion, would want a sexual relationship
immediately. You'd think that artificial intelligence did not include
artificial dragging knuckles, and Spielberg knows this. With the robot as a young boy,
a potentially insipid, hormonal subplot
is avoided, and the story can center on the more platonic (yet twice as
complex) repercussions of an "artificial child."
Problems arise in this story --both
literally and figuratively-- when their real son can be cured, leaving them with
their beloved, formerly frozen human boy, and his artificial
"brother." While an only child might think that having R2D2 as
their brother would be pretty cool, David is treated with disrespect
instead. He was needed merely for when their "real" son was
gone, and now that he's back, they wonder what to do with David. After a
mishap in the pool --that, quite frankly, is no worse than any other
potential poolside accident-- Monica feels the time has come to get rid of
David. After all, isn't he only a product? Unfortunately,
neither Kubrick nor Spielberg could repair the script's myopia in a true
mother's love. Maternal instincts would prevent Monica from leaving a son --even an
artificial son-- deserted in the woods, like an old shoe. Sure, the
subplot is how humans can be artificial in their love while artificial
love can be more like what we often only wish love to be blah blah blah, and yet,
this is an overdone slap in the face of human spirit. In
the real world, "mothers" like this are put on trial and thrown
in jail; in this film, they are merely a plot device to get David to roam
the real world, so he can meet other mechas, and make the rest of the film
more interesting. Couldn't he just have run away from home? If that was the
case, I can't say that I blame him.
Of course, the whole story would not succeed if
the actor portraying David, Haley Joel Osment, didn't perform the
part so brilliantly. It is a real shame that the race to win a Best Actor
Oscar was so close in 2001, or else Haley would be making a return trip to the
Oscars. He played this role with the perfect blend of
robotic and human characterization. His performance will even spark several
debates, about how even a human (perhaps, cloned) child would react
to his own emotions, if suddenly thrown into the world as a young boy, and
not an infant. Regardless of these thought-provoking messages, however,
the script was truly flawed in its moment of a mother's illogical
desertion of her "son," and if that is the true reason why
Osment was not nominated for an Oscar --simply because of the flawed script-- that would be a travesty.
If there's anything other than the poor
finale that drags this film down, it's the hype. You've probably heard the
story over and over again, that A.I. was originally a 15 year labor of love by the late Stanley
Kubrick, who
based it on a short story he admired ("Supertoys Last All Summer Long,"
by Brian Aldiss). He then gave this allegedly original, inspired story to
Steven Spielberg to complete. The truth of the matter is, however, A.I.
is hardly a unique
story, nor an original concept. From the silent film Metropolis to
modern films like the Matrix, as well as classic flops like
Demon Seed, and even comedies like Heartbeeps;
robots seeking humanity is old hat. However, the epic grandeur of
A.I. is still quite striking, and I suppose
that in itself is something. For so many critics to forget so many robot
films that came before this one, is saying an awful lot. However, when a
seasoned critic like Roger Ebert, gives this film the same rating that he
gave the latest teen romance flick, Crazy/Beautiful, that's
saying an awful lot as well.
The DVD:
As for the special edition of this film on DVD, it's closed captioned (if desired), Widescreen,
Dolby/DTS surround sound. The obligatory trailers are also included, along
with the typical photo gallery and storyboard sequences. As for
what's not so typical...
The claim is that over 100 minutes of
behind-the-scenes footage is included. I see no need to count the minutes,
so let's just take them at their word. This footage includes interviews and featurettes, and
if you are even slightly interested in this movie, this is some nice
footage. Best of all is Spielberg himself discussing how the
"vision" of the film was finally realized. Lucasfilm's ILM
special FX team is also on hand, to discuss their role in the film. Of
course, as a robotics fan I liked Stan Winston's featurette of
how the robots in the film were made to look so alive. Topping off these
featurettes is one discussing the musical score.
So, what could they have added...? Lots.
Deleted scenes for one. Come one now; I know Kubrick fanboys refuse to
believe that Spielberg would do something as "sacrilegious" as
leaving footage of Kubrick's "last film" on the cutting room
floor. It happens all the time, kids, and I'd like to see some of those
clips, please. Likewise for alternate takes, or even the occasional
outtake. You can't tell me that "working" with a talking teddy
bear in some scenes didn't make for an unintentional chuckle here and
there. Nor can you tell me, with all the FX played to the hilt, that every
scene was filmed perfectly on the first take. Such outtakes would be far
more amusing than a bunch of celebs musing stuff like, "Hey, I'm in a
film inspired by Kubrick...cool, dude!"
However, that's belittling the fact that
this is a two-disc set, with a whole disc of extras. That's more respect
than The Matrix ever gave its
fans, who had to buy that second disc as a second purchase, called
"The Matrix Revisited."
Sure, A.I. has that Achilles' heel of an ending, that is halfway cheesy,
with the other half overdone sentimentality. It's still worth a video
rental any day of the week.
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