March
7th, 1999 was a very sad day in the entertainment world. On this
day Stanley Kubrick, the legendary director of such gems like 2001:
A Space Odyssey, The Shining, and A Clockwork Orange, died of
natural causes. His very last film was 1999's Eyes Wide Shut,
but he created the idea for A.I. nearly two decades ago.
He wanted to wait until technology could produce such special
effects that the film would have required before he thought to start
to prep the project. His untimely death caused another
legendary director, Steven Spielberg (Minority
Report), to finish his vision.
A.I. is basically a future version of the classic
Pinocchio story. The film takes place in a time when the ice caps melted
because of global warming, and oceans have covered up major
cities like New York. Throughout
the film, I just stared in awe at the movie screen. This
is one of the few examples I can think of when special effects
are used to help the story itself, and not to distract you from
it.
The story centers about 11-year-old David (Osment),
the first robot programmed to actually love, and not just to be
used for labor or pleasure. He is adopted by Henry and Monica
Swinton (Sam Robards and O'Connor), whose real son (Jake
Thomas) is in cryogenic freezing because of a disease. But when
the son miraculously gets cured of his disease, trouble begins,
and this forces Monica to drop David off in the woods. David, with two friends, a robot Teddy bear and Gigolo Joe (Law), sets out on a journey to become a real boy so his
"mommy" will be able love him.
A.I. is a very captivating experience that will never let go of
you. Osment delivers a magnificent performance as David. We feel for him and we cheer him on as he
tries to find the "Blue Fairy" that could make him a
real boy. Law provides a little humor into the story and
he fits the part of Gigolo Joe perfectly.
A.I. is a visual marvel and its captivating experience needs to be seen to believed.
In addition, the film will also make you think
about the future as depicted. While A.I. doesn't quite
achieve overall greatness, because, for one, the ending is a little too
sentimental, it will still be remembered when this year is all over
for what it has accomplished.
