Both fascinating and frustrating - "AI" is a Kubrick/Spielberg hybrid which has resulted in a failed masterpiece. Adapted from a sci-fi short story, the project was a life-long one of Stanley Kubrick who has been trying to develop it for over two decades before his death in 1999.
Spielberg decided to follow in Kubrick's wishes and took over the reigns of the film - or should I say films. Aftr a quite interesting moral dicussion by William Hurt and a class in the opening, AI becomes an anthology - three seperate stories with one link, the young boy David played with great skill by Osment.
The first story is a pure Hallmark movie of the week - a couple whose son is in cryofreeze due to illness are selected to be the parents of a very life-like robot capable of love and after initial misgivings they become attached to him. Taking place almost entirely within the family's very 20th century looking home, this is the most Spielberg-ian of the three stories and if it weren't for the fact we know its a robot this could just as easily be a forgettable drama about a mentally challenged boy.
Then the real kid recovers and comes home and things turn Macauley Culkin "The Good Son"-esque (where's Rebecca DeMorney when you need her). Frances O'Connor shines in these scenes as the mother and shows off her skill, but both she and the darn cute robot Teddy can't hide what is quite frankly a dull and muddled opening act. It wants you to desperately feel for and sympathise with David even though throught the first half of the film the kid is quite frankly scary (you'd worried he would rip your arms off).
The second and best of the stories gives us David meeting up with male gigolo Joe and shows us the harsh way the world treats Mecchas as David begins his quest to find the Blue Fairy. Sort of "Mad Max" meets "The Wizard of Oz" with a dash of "Baron Munchausen" thrown in. It's quite obvious that Kubrick's initial ideas for this chapter were a lot darker (no doubt Law's character would be much darker) but Spielberg brought this in on a PG-13 rating and even though it pushes the edge of that rating it still feels to be missing something.
There's some truly great stuff in this kicking off with a 'Moon' balloon and robot hunters on motorbikes decked out in "Running Man" style gear leading into the 'Flesh Fair' - a sort of scary futuristic version of public execution bloodsports (though this time of robots), and then moving on to 'Rouge City' in which Philadelphia has become a sex haven (I'll avoid making a joke) and where Robin Williams cameoing as a CG high school professor helps our intrepid heroes.
Law proves the film's saving grace as although he doesn't get many lines, he does get the one or two genuinely appealing moments o the movie such as the seduction routine he uses on an abused housewife when we first see him.
The FX are spectacular and extremely well-integrated with superb cinemtography (neon and leather everywhere yet in a way that doesn't look cheap) and a decent score. Indeed the change of mood between this segment and the first is so jarring its hard to see them in the same story.
Then in the finale things turn true Kubrickian vision as we head to a flooded NYC in a rather unsettling segment, before heading to an icy far future. The visuals here are more FX oriented and epic in style and it feels very 2001 at times (lets just say that in the year 4000, the super waif look is in) as the story tries to tie itself up and come to some sort of conclusion. The less said about this act the better as its best left not to be revealed, but while it may be grander it scope it does feel like a cop out of a finale and in fact had it ended before the 'very far future' scenes started it would've been a tougher and more touching tale.
If there's one thing "AI" has its a grand vision, though which way that vision is headed is unsure. This sci-fi 'Pinoccchio' brings up some interesting moral questions about a range of topics from slavery to paretal responsibilities and yet never really makes a point about any. Kubrick and Spielberg are filmmakers who couldn't be more different. Spielberg relies on familiarity, warmth and uncovering hidden truth - he seeks to help you down the garden path, entertain you along the way and ultimately leave you emotionally satisfied as you head outside.
Kubrick on the other hand is cold, calculating, deep - he'll dump you in the bushes and leave you to find your own way out - he doesn't make the journey easy which some take as a challenge whilst others find an annoyance but in the end proves a far richer experience to some. The fusing together of these two has resulted in a film that's technically amazing, grand in scope, and challenging at times - a film that's way more visionary that most major studio fare.
Unfortunately its inherited the worst qualities from both directors - the former's over reliance on sentimentality and forced emotion, the latters cold dark edge and snail's sense of pacing - resulting in a mix that's just too out there for mainstream audiences, and not provocative or deep enough for Kubrick-style film fans. Its a very tough film to review as I can't really recommend or discard it - there's definitely embers of a genius piece of provocative storytelling amongst the jumble, but this is one project whic should've stayed in development a little while longer.
