A.I.
Starring:
Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor and William Hurt
Writer/Director: Steven Spielberg
Running Time: 145 mins
Available to buy on DVD 18th March
The World has changed. Due to man's over reliance on fossil fuels most of the polar ice caps have melted. The coastal cities have all gone. Great cites like New York, Venice and many others have disappeared beneath the advancing seas. With the destruction came starvation and death in many third world countries, and those that survive had to make sacrifices. The governments of the world prohibited breeding without a licence, so an even greater strain would not be forced upon the world's already limited resources. As the number of people fell, the need for labour was still there, so the world turned to science for the answer. They responded with the creation of artificial life.
At the forefront of this endeavour was Cybertronics. Led by Professor Hobby (Hurt), they created robots for every eventuality, be it cleaning or teaching, friendship or sex. Now they had set themselves a new task. For all the couples that craved to be parents, they would create the perfect robot child (Osment). This child would be the embodiment of love, a child frozen in time, forever young and forever needing. The closest you could ever get to reality.
Steven Spielberg lovingly brings the late Stanley Kubrick's dream project to the screen. Combining elements of Pinocchio with a bleak apocalyptic future, Spielberg brings to life a visually amazing world, full of wonder and doubt about mankind's reliance on technology. The movie is long, strange and not the most accessible, but it is it's strong underlying message that carries the film above the mundane.
Haley Joel Osment proves again that he is the consummate child actor. He holds your attention for the entire movie, with a power that many of his peers could never adhere to. Good support from Frances O'Connor and Jude Law add warmth and humour to the proceedings, but it is Spielberg that is the star of the show. He injects elements of Kubrick into his already established mix and concocts something very wonderful, thought provoking and strange, leaving your heart warmed and your mind ever so slightly confused.
One more thing, everyone will want a Teddy.
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
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