FC: AI movie review: More artificial than intelligent

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,44928,00.html
   
   A.I.: Lacks a Human Touch
   By Declan McCullagh (declan () wired com)
   4:40 p.m. June 29, 2001 PDT
   
   A.I. is a disturbingly eerie and occasionally captivating modern fairy
   tale that lives up to at least part of its name: It's more artificial
   than intelligent.
   
   The product of an unusual collaboration between Steven Spielberg and
   the late Stanley Kubrick, this film retells the children's story of
   Pinocchio through the eyes of a robot boy yearning to be human and
   wishing to be loved.
   
   But E.T. or Indiana Jones this isn't. Kubrick's darkling vision of the
   future weighs heavily on the first hour or so of A.I.: Artificial
   Intelligence, resulting in brutish, horrific scenes reminiscent of A
   Clockwork Orange or The Shining -- definitely not suitable for
   children.
   
   At least Spielberg provides a far more enjoyable ending that -- while
   still eldritch -- is so unexpected and endearing that it ameliorates
   the earlier, unnerving sterility.
   
   Much of the movie follows the David-bot (Haley Joel Osment); first,
   after he's adopted by a couple mourning their lost son and then when
   he's set loose to wander around late-21st century America. He quickly
   learns that being a "mecha" in a world where androids are used for
   pleasure or sport isn't easy: The piggish humans want to torture him
   for the sin of being metal.
   
   Driving David throughout his wanderings is his wish to be human so his
   mother will love him again. That urge is hard-wired into David, and it
   could be compelling if it weren't so darn creepy. (Meanwhile, her
   "orga," or human, son has awakened from his coma-freeze and is back to
   start some sibling rivalry).
   
   Think Asimov's Laws of Robotics with the first law replaced to read:
   "Must find mother to love me." You get the feeling that the
   David-bot's running some descendant of the C programming language
   that's stuck in an infinite loop reading "repeat (find mom) {until mom
   == located}."

   [...]



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