AI ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
More than a contemporary translation
of Pinocchio
REVIEW BY MIKE FURCHES
mike@furches.org
Web site www.furches.org

Over the years Steven Spielberg has given us films that have had as much spiritual impact as any producer or director in Hollywood. Among those films include the classics Saving Private Ryan, Schindlers' List, Amistad and others. It has been obvious over the years of film making that Spielberg has been able to incorporate spiritual truths into many of his films. AI is uniquely different. There are numerous spiritual components addressed in the movie as well as the social commentary that is so typical within Stanley Kubrick films. AI is also a film that fortunately, Kubrick recognized needed the touch of someone like Spielberg who had shown the ability to work with children and tell stories in a non threatening, yet thought-provoking way.

Simply put, AI Artificial Intelligence is a contemporary translation of Pinocchio, but it is also much more and is done in such a way that will cause the audience to reflect and think about its meaning. That is of course if the audience can be prepared to address a serious subject prior to attending the film as opposed to expecting a light-hearted children's tale. I would even discourage taking young children due to some of the subject matter and the fact that very young children will have a difficult time understanding many of the components covered in the film. I do believe that children 10 and older will be able to understand and relate to the characters portrayed in AI, especially the lead character David Sinton played to perfection by Haley Joel Osment.

There are a few other components of AI that should also be mentioned from a critique perspective. My daughter who is a Mass Communications Major with a focus on Film and Movies saw the film with me and felt certain that AI would be on the required viewing list next year. I agree that, as far as film making goes, this film is extraordinary and certainly is among numerous films that show the genius of Steven Spielberg. It is remarkable that he wrote the screenplay, directed, and produced this film. While there are some weaknesses in the last 15 minutes of the film, the story is well told and has a thought-provoking ending. Despite some difficulties AI will have the viewer thinking about the intent of the film as well as what actually happens during the ending. Stanley Kubrick would have been pleased with the final product and AI offers the social commentary that I believe is consistent with most of Kubrick's films.

Other components of this film are also astonishing. Haley Joel Osment shows that despite his age, he is one of the best actors in Hollywood right now. One particular scene has his mother Monica, played by Frances O'Conner implanting or activating David the robot as a part of the family. Up to this point in the film, David, is a first of a kind robot that has been created with a unique ability to love. He will not be able to love until he is activated or implanted with a special code. Up until the time his mother decides to activate him, David is an obvious robot with little ability to recognize feelings or have concerns about himself or those around him. During the activation scene Spielberg uses a shot that has continual focus on David's facial expressions. Once his mother reads the activation sequence you see David's facial expressions change instantaneously. One of the unique differences between good actors and great actors is their ability to communicate to the audience without words. Haley Joel Osment, from this capacity, gives one of the most powerful performances in years. The opportunity to watch this young man work, in and of itself, is worth the full price of a movie ticket. AI is also wonderfully cast from the voices of Chris Rock and Robert Williams to the role of William Hurt as the boys creator.

What makes this movie even more wonderful is not just the technical components but also the issues addressed. There will be much debate about the film but I believe the film addresses numerous spiritual issues that are essential to all human beings. In the early stages of the film, when scientists are discussing the new creation of the robotic boy with feelings, they are told of the boy's ability to love. One of the scientists observes that it is not a question of whether the boy can love but whether others can love the boy. During this sequence there is also comment regarding God's creation of humanity and if people are capable of loving God. It is this initial component and discussion in the film that the rest of the story evolves.

In AI, we the audience are confronted with the need of David to love and feel loved. While he has love for others that is not enough, he has the need to be loved in a perfect and pure way. I believe the character of David, a robot, is not just an allegory for children, but I believe an allegory for all humankind. David represents each of us and our quest to not only be able to love but to also be loved. He is on an endless journey where he maintains his faith and hope to find that love. He does this in a society that is so focused on itself that it has gone as far as to create robots to satisfy all physical needs including the sexual needs of individuals: A society that is self-serving and has lost the focus of love and compassion. The human society quickly creates a means to meet its desires while at the same time seeking to destroy those same objects. At one of the entertainment events, The Flesh Fair, humans learn to understand and love a small boy, David. In the same way, individuals today fall in love with the small Christ Child, Jesus, at Christmas but often forget about His desire for us to love Him and His willingness to love us in return in a universal and everlasting way if we only accept it.

I believe AI also addresses our inability, or lack thereof, to love others. We are shown the consequences of not following through with our commitments in regards to love. We see this especially when the David's human father, played by Sam Robards, goes against his own advice when he tells his wife to take David back to his creators. He does this knowing that the boy robot David has developed real feelings of love towards him and the rest of his family. It is a result of his own inability to love that David goes on a life long quest to become a "real" boy and thus be able to be loved by his family. We are shown that our inability to love or to love others with limitations has consequences that we may not be aware of. While David's mother struggles with letting him go, she still does just that, she leaves him in the woods, alone with his Teddy to find his own way in life. Despite the imperfection of her love for David he still chooses to be loved by his mother.

Of course it is only the ultimate love of Christ that can bring joy into our lives. There is ample material that can help in starting spiritual discussions with others. Those discussions can be about how we are all looking for love and that Jesus Christ is the answer and solution to finding that love. We can all find the love that David was searching for, because we are like David, not only wanting to love others but to feel that love from others for all eternity.

While AI is not a perfect film it is non the less very good. On a scale of 1-10 a great 8.

"BBC" has produced a piece on how Warner Brothers has used the Internet to promote AI Click here for RealPlayer-Video clip.

Jude Law discusses the making of the film on E ONLINE Click here for RealPlayer-Video clip.

GOOD REVIEW
AI: A Mesmerizing Fairy Tale From Spielberg
By A. O. SCOTT The New York Times
"Steven Spielberg's film is the best fairy tale the most disturbing, complex and intellectually challenging boy's adventure story the director has made..."

BULLETIN BOARD (rules)
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GREAT MOVIE
Subject: AI Artifical Intelligence
Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2002
From: "Mat Carpenter"

Truly wonderful, if a little strange. Okay, very strange! Also, note how, at the end, the aliens mention that their human clones only live for one day. Could it be because the clone has no soul?

BRILLIANCE
Subject: AI
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001
From: sonya.a

I must say, it must take a lot for me to be completely moved, although months have passed yet his face still remains in the thoughts beyond explanation. I am completely mesmerized..... AND I THANK YOU FOR A.I. FOR MAKING ME UNDERSTAND AND FEEL WHAT A "GROOPY OR A FAN" MEANS, after 23 years in this life time. Thank you for making me feel what I feel, and thank you for making me think!
sonya.a

ABOUT YOUR SITE
Subject: AI and Unbreakable
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2001
From: Joshua

Hi!
I had discovered your site when I was searching for reviews about the movie "Pokémon - The First Movie", and curious about how could be a Christian review of the movie, I accessed your site. And I was pleasently surprised :-)

Instead of a lot of articles stating that such and such movie are evil, I found a site that *really* analyse the movie's plot and points and, although I don't agreed with some intrepretations, they always are interesting of read and very thought-provoking. I wish congratuled your review for A.I. and Unbreakable in special because are the one that more understand the basis that the movies are founded on (A.I. = fairy tale, Unbreakable = Superhero Comic Books) :-)

But I had a question: there is no analysis for Professor Hobby, David's creator?

there is a thing that I want sugest: an anime and TV series analysis section. (Actually, I had two sugestion for it: Early Edition and Quantum Leap reviews)
I want for your answer,
Joshua

Response: Thank you for your kind words. Professor Hobby would be interesting. He represents the reason why we should have a cautionious concern toward technology. -David

GREAT MOVIE WITH A MORAL MESSAGE
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2001
From: Grim Reaper

AI is a movie that I feel makes you think about what messages the director is trying to tell the audience(typical Spielberg movie). Spielberg movies always have some kind of moral lesson in it(e.g Jurassic Park, Schindler List)its kinda like his trademark

In short, I think Spielberg is trying to say "becareful what u wish for, for u juz might get it...and loads of trouble as well"

A KUBRICK ENDING VS A SPIELBERG ENDING
Subject: AI Artificial Intelligence
Date: Sat, 4 Aug 2001
From: Mark Lambert, Dallas, Texas bonnie_lambert@sil.org

Dear David,
This is most certainly Spielberg's movie, but, as the critic for the Dallas Morning News noted in his review, Spielberg stayed remarkably faithful to Kubrick's vision until the point where time leaps forward 2000 years. Then, Spielberg essentially undoes what Kubrick was trying to say with his bittersweet ending.

Kubrick was an atheist and a cynic. He surely saw the plot line of a robot trying to be human as one of ultimate futility, and, as I see it, he would have left poor David in his futuristic helicopter (with or without Teddy) saying prayers to a plaster statue for all eternity. Upon giving this possible ending a great deal of thought, it occurred to me that this was a Kubrickian parable of man's quest for God. David is totally alone (forget about Teddy - a Spielbergian addition) saying prayers (as the narrator states) to a carnival statue whom he is convinced will transform him to a being worthy of love. Pure, absolute futility. The joke's on David - he never will be what he desperately wants to be.

By leaping forward in time and bringing in former cast members from Close Encounters, Spielberg gets David as close to his realization as he can without remaking Pinocchio. I must admit it got me when the camera panned away from the bed containing the dying Monica and the dreaming David and Teddy hopped up on the end, but I still feel that the plot was violated.

What I got from this is that I should be careful not to treat Jesus like a plaster blue fairy who will make me something I can never be (or something that I already am, completely loved by my Creator). He DOES hear my prayers, and he DOES care about what happens to me. Kubrick got it wrong, and he now knows this.
Mark Lambert, Dallas, Texas bonnie_lambert@sil.org

NEGATES FAITH
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Fri, 03 Aug 2001
From: Tom Snyder

Ultimately, I think this movie negates faith because the Blue Fairy turns out to be a sham, unreal. Also, since David is programmed to love, the love he feels is not really real. And, the mother at the end was just another mecha, realistically speaking, so the ending also was somewhat of a sham. Finally, the movie violated the Three Laws of Robotics, which would have ensured that David did not endanger himself or his brother. Of course, then, they would have had to change the rest of the story. Therefore, I found the movie to be poor science fiction. On another note, the mother did not carelessly abandon David; she wanted to protect him from the other people, who would have taken David and destroyed him, because he almost killed his brother.
Tom Snyder

Response: Or, you could think of the Blue Fairy as an icon in the same class as the Virgin Mary. -David

THE PART I LIKED
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001
From: "x"

The part I liked the best was David's persistence in finding the one he loved so much. He would stop at nothing. In a way this mirrors our search for the one who loves us most - God. But in the movie the "real" humans spend so little time in this quest. There is a scene in front of a church, where it is explained that humans go there sometimes, but afterwards go immediately back to seeking after temporary love instead of God's greater love. How true. I want to be like David, ignoring all the counterfeit loves that entice me everyday, and instead not resting until I get to spend even one day with the one who loves me most - Jesus.

WE ARE SO WIRED TO GOD
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2001
From: "Randall J. Hekman"

Just as we are made in the image of God, so robots are made in the image of man. Just as the robot boy David was "wired" to love his mother (and he pursued this relationship despite many impediments), so we are wired to love God and should pursue Him despite the many allurements of life. As Augustine said, "Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee."
Randall J. Hekman
Executive Director CBH Ministries

SLAM ON CHRISTIANS -BIG PLOT HOLES -DAVE'S BROTHER
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Sun, 22 Jul 2001
From: Darren Darrenlives@aol.com

(My responses in blue -David)

Once again, I wander on into Hollywood Jesus, and I was curious on what you had to say on AI. I had seen the film, I gave my own review of it (on another site) but I was intrested in what HJ had to say about AI's anti-christian messages and its contradicting itself as the movie went on. (There are no anti-Christian messages in this film. It is a fairy tale. Don't take it too literal)

I am dumbfounded.

But that's not all what bothered me. Filmwise, the movie contradicts itself. David was "programmed" for unconditional love and to feel other emotions. At the FleshFair, it seems other Mechas can do the same to some extent. Since David was "the first" to feel such emotion, and was "special", I felt Spielberg was trying foolheartedly to manipulate the audience. If that were not enough, Joe and David escape all too easily. How? The crowd, after having such glee in destroying mechas, now have 100% a change of heart. I did read this as that Joe and David looked more 'human' than the torn up mechas in the cages. (and did 'real' people ever get mistaken for mechas?) (This is a fairy tale, a story, view it from that perspective. This is a modern retelling of Pinochio. Shall we also wonder about the the possibility of a wooden puppet becoming a real boy? Or, should we put on other glasses?)

As for is visual cities, one was very much like "Blade Runner" and/ or one of the "Batman" films. We did not get to see the city all that much, nor did we see much of the submerged Manhattan. This was a disappointment.

But what about that submerged Manhattan? Later on, when the aliens show up (These are not aliens -they are advanced mechas), they only found David and Teddy frozen in ice. They say he (and perhaps Teddy) are the only testimony that the human race was alive. I found this odd. There was at least a good thirty Davids and possible robot girls; furthermore, since this building was the home of a scientist, (now changed from a respected thinker and inventor to a self obsessed mad scientist within a handful of years. Is his 'wife' the robot he showed at the beginning of the film?) you would think Manhattan- what was left of it- would be a "home" for Mechas. Also, there were cyrogenics depicted early in the film. It would not be a stretch to say that some humans survived via cryo freezing. (Your approach is too literal, this is a fairy tale)

Also, God said he would never flood the entire Earth again. (see "WaterWorld" for more submerged cities) (Your approach is too literal, this is a fairy tale)

Keep in mind that the Blue Fairy (underwater) is indeed symbolic of not just the Geopetto tale, but is, in a context, as you pointed out, a symbol for an angel.

Now, his faith wasn't shaken. When the Blue Angel stature busts, the look of shock is correct. But, wait a moment. Aliens (These are not aliens -they are advanced mechas) come and rescued him. Aliens projected a holographic Blue Fairy to gain his trust (These are not aliens -they are advanced mechas). Aliens tried to clone or genetically engineer humans to bring them back to life (These are not aliens -they are advanced mechas).

Aliens from outer space are depicted as "god", gods or god-like. And you don't have a problem with this? (oh, good grief -you are so very off track. These are not aliens -they are advanced mechas. Why do Christians misrepresent Hollywood to portray themselves as poor victims as you are doing? I mean like, what, Spielberg has some sort of agenda against us?).

I liked the Teddy Bear though. Funny stuff. But you forgot to mention one specific plot detail- David had gained a brother, who, after testing him in an act of rebellion and deciet, (this serves as a crucial payoff at the end of the film though) he suddenly buddies up with David. He defends David from the bullies (and David pleads foe his protection) and nearly gives his life in doing so.

Now, OK, some of you probaly think, "Oh, this guy, he Hated this movie! He is so wrong!" Wrong. I didn't hate the film. I just didn't love it. (feel free to use my name and email) Darrenlives@aol.com

RESPONSE TO MY RESPONSE
Subject: AI_Artificial_Intelligence
Date: Mon, 6 Aug 2001
From: Darren

Gee, did I ruffle some feathers.. Time to clear some things up.

First of all, I know it's only a movie, only a fairy tale. I merely interpeted it a certian way. I also said what I liked about the film and the building bond between David and his 'brother'. Odd- I get dragged through the mud in your responses, but you don't agree/ disagree much less comment on what I liked. Hmmmm.... (Yeah, I was a little unfair. Sorry)

Second, I don't think Speilberg was INTENTIONALLY doing any slamming on one particular group. This is just the way it came across to me. (Sure, of course. You are honestly reflecting your impression. Nothing wrong with that) Let's say, for the sake of arguement, I was all wrong. Ok. Forget it. Let's look at this: David is "special" he is only mecha "programmed" to love/have feelings. Yet here lies a contradiction: we meet other mechas who also are programmed for the same. That's a contradiction to what was said eariler in the film, there is no other way around it. Also, the scene itself is too long, and something seems a bit contrived when the AI Teddy gets picked up by the girl whose Dad runs the sound/visual boards.

Third, Aliens/ alien mechas. At no point in the film did the "beings" say they were mechas. But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say 'ok. The aliens (?) were not aliens, they were mechas.' So what? What difference does it make? They come and rescue him. OK. They project a holographic Blue Fairy to gain his trust. This can be read as deciet. (Or, an honest attempt at communication on his level)

They are trying to bring back humankind. They are still depicted as 'God' like. (Our impressions differ) When I mentioned 'alien' more than once in the previous message, it really got you steamed! Sorry about that. (I over did it to make the point)

Ok, maybe I am overreacting. But so were you. (Ahh, you are giving me something to chew on. Thanks. I always appreciate those who take the time to post thier thoughts)

But overall, this isn't a bad thing. I truly belive this is a film that, like it or leave it, will still spark debate, discussion, and...who knows? It might get a following yet.

And could you please comment on the postive things that I did like? (Yes, I should be more balanced)
Thank you, (and thank you)
Peace Darren J Seeley

Continue

Page 1- Review
Page 1a -Reviews continued. Bulletin Board
Page 1b -Bulletin board continued
Page 2- Spielberg's Homage to Kubrick
Page 3- The 30 Year Journey to the Screen
Page 4- Production of an Intelligent Adult Fairy Tale