History will place an asterisk next to A.I. as the film Stanley Kubrick might have directed. But let the record also show that Kubrick--after developing this project for some 15 years--wanted Steven Spielberg to helm this astonishing sci-fi rendition of Pinocchio, claiming (with good reason) that it veered closer to Spielberg's kinder, gentler sensibilities. Spielberg inherited the project (based on the Brain Aldiss short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long") after Kubrick's death in 1999, and the result is an astounding directorial hybrid. A flawed masterpiece of... sorts, in which Spielberg's gift for wondrous enchantment often clashes (and sometimes melds) with Kubrick's harsher vision of humanity, the film spans near and distant futures with the fairy-tale adventures of an artificial boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), a marvel of cybernetic progress who wants only to be a real boy, loved by his mother in that happy place called home. Echoes of Spielberg's Empire of the Sun are evident as young David, shunned by his trial parents and tossed into an unfriendly world, is joined by fellow "mecha" Gigolo Joe (played with a dancer's agility by Jude Law) in his quest for a mother-and-child reunion. Parallels to Pinocchio intensify as David reaches "the end of the world" (a Manhattan flooded by melted polar ice caps), and a far-future epilogue propels A.I. into even deeper realms of wonder, just as it pulls Spielberg back to his comfort zone of sweetness and soothing sentiment. Some may lament the diffusion of Kubrick's original vision, but this is Spielberg's A.I., a film of astonishing technical wizardry that spans the spectrum of human emotions and offers just enough Kubrick to suggest that humanity's future is anything but guaranteed. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com On the DVD: A perfect movie for the digital age, A.I. finds a natural home on DVD. The purity of the picture, its carefully composed colour schemes and the multifarious sound effects are accorded the pin-point sharpness they deserve with the anamorphic 1.85:1 picture and Dolby 5.1 sound, as is John Williams's thoughtful music score. On the first disc there's a short yet revealing documentary, "Creating A.I.", but the meat of the extras appears on disc two. Here there are good, well-made featurettes on acting, set design, costumes, lighting, sound design, music and various aspects of the special effects: Stan Winston's remarkable robots (including Teddy, of course) and ILM's flawless CGI work. In addition there are storyboards, photographs and trailers. Finally, Steven Spielberg provides some rather sententious closing remarks ("I think that we have to be very careful about how we as a species use our genius"), but no director's commentary. --Mark Walker [show more]
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. 'Artificial Intelligence' is the story of David (Haley Joel Osment), the first mecha (a futuristic term for a mechanized human being) designed with the ability to love. A couple whose son is in a coma "adopts" David to help them recover from their loss. Naturally, things do not go as planned, and David is forced to leave the mother (Frances O'Connor) he's been "imprinted" to love, and make his way in the world. Traveling with Teddy, a hi-tech stuffed bear, David escapes the Flesh Fair, where angry humans destroy mechas to "purge artificiality," and unexpectedly befriends Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a robot designed to pleasure women. Joe agrees to help David in his quest to become human. Director Stanley Kubrick originally developed A.I., at one point asking Spielberg to direct it. When Kubrick passed away, Spielberg took the reins. Using a treatment and thousands of drawings commissioned by Kubrick, Spielberg wrote his own screenplay (his first since 1979's 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind'). Documentary on How A.I. Artificial Intelligence Was Brought to the Screen Featurette on Production Design from Original Conceptual Drawings to Building of Sets Interviews with Steven Spielberg, Haley Joel Osment, and Jude Law Behind-the-Scenes Featurettes on the Design, Lighting and Costumes Development and Creation of Robots of A.I. Including Visit to Stan Winston Studios Creation of SFX on Set with Effects Supervisor Michael Lantieri Interviews with Dennis Muren and Scott Farrar of Industrial Light And Magic A Visit to Skywalker Sound Conversation with John Williams about Scoring A.I. Storyboard Sequences Production Drawings Photo Gallery Theatrical Trailer Actors Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Jake Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt, Sam Robards, Adam Scott, Kathryn Morris, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Clara Bellar, Keith Campbell & Miguel Perez Director Steven Spielberg Certificate 12 years and over Year 2001 Screen Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic Languages English - Dolby Digital (6.1) EX Additional Languages French ; Italian Subtitles Arabic ; Bulgarian ; Dutch ; English ; English for the hearing impaired ; French ; German ; Italian ; Italian ; Portuguese ; Romanian ; Spanish Duration 2 hours and 20 minutes (approx)
Directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on an unrealised project developed by the late Stanley Kubrick, 'A.I.' tells the story of David (Haley Joel Osment), the first lab-built artificial child capable of feeling real emotions. David is adopted by Monica and Henry Swinton (Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards), a couple whose own biological child has been placed in cryogenic suspension awaiting a cure for a currently fatal medical condition. The Swintons seems to adapt well to the new child in their lives, but when their own son is cured and sent home, it jeopardises David's position in the family and he soon finds himself all alone on a dangerous adventure in the outside world.
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