A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Spielberg's most human movie

Director: Stephen Spielberg

 

This is one of Spielberg’s most special movies, designed to tug at the heart strings of anyone. Based upon an idea by Stanley Kubrick that he developed in the mid 1970s, he contacted Spielberg and convinced him that he should make the film.

 

When it begins we see waves on the ocean and a voice-over outlines a scenario that reflects the outcome of global warming in 2104. The ice caps have melted. The sea level has risen a few hundred feet. Many cities like Amsterdam, Venice, or Miami are gone. Millions have died or are starving.

 

Couples no longer have children. A series of human-like robots known as mechas are now manufactured to supplant the need for people.  However, there are many humans who are anti-mecha. Obsolete models are destroyed before cheering throngs known as “Flesh Fairs.”

 

Dr. Hobby (William Hurt), head of Cybertronics, surrounded by a team of dynamic programmers decides to create a new type of mecha (modeled after his own dead son) that will be able to love unconditionally, and give childless couples the opportunity to have a child that will remain eternally young.

 

The prototype, David (Haley Joel Osment) is given to Monica (Frances O’ Connor) and Henry Swinton (Sam Robards), an employee of Cybertronics. They have a son who has passed on but is kept in a state of cryogenic suspended animation, awaiting a cure.  Monica is at first bothered by the idea of having a robot child, but his human-like characteristics ultimately endear him to the pair.  Monica then decides to activate the protocol that will cause David to imprint upon Henry and Monica, and address them henceforward as Mommy and Daddy. The only rule is that now if they want to return him to the company he must be destroyed.

 

A cure for the Swinton’s real son is found and he comes home, where a form of sibling rivalry results. Knowing this, Monica does not have the heart to condemn him to death by returning him to the company. She ultimately abandons him in the forest with his mechanical bear toy named Teddy. A variety of new adventures for David result.  He meets Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a mecha who is designed to be the perfect lover for a human woman.

They are picked up by a junk man who is looking for abandoned mechas where they will become fodder for a Flesh Fair�"a place where obsolete or unregistered mechas are destroyed before cheering throngs.  They are able to escape and travel to Rouge City.

 

There they consult Dr. Know (voice of Robin Williams) because David, having known of the story Pinocchio wants to become human. Therefore he needs to find the Blue Fairy. Through solving a riddle which Dr. Know recites, they understand where they have to go. Joe and David steal a submersible police amphibicopter.

 

He and Joe finally arrive at Cybertronics, where he was made. It is located in Manhattan which is mostly underwater. He sees Prof. Hobby, his creator, again. However, he realizes he is not unique and that he has been mass-produced. He tries to commit suicide by drowning himself. Underwater, he sees the Blue Fairy {actually a statue}, an attraction at Coney Island, but now it is buried underwater. He is rescued by Joe, but Joe is captured by the police. David takes the vehicle back underwater and begs her eternally.

 

2000 years later, he is brought out of the frozen deep by advanced mechas. They reconstruct his house and due to the fact that Teddy has a lock of Monica’s hair, her DNA can be used by the mechas to re-create her for 24 hours.

 

This film will touch the heart of anyone. It ranks as one of Spielberg’s best. Score by John Williams is excellent.