A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) 3 stars out of 4. Starring Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Brendan Gleeson, William Hurt, Sam Robards and Frances O'Connor. Music by John Williams. Based on a short story by Brian Aldiss. Based on a screenplay by Ian Watson. Screenplay by Steven Spielberg. Directed by Spielberg. Rated PG-13

It is easy to see why the late Stanley Kubrick believed Steven Spielberg would be the perfect director for his A.I. Artificial Intelligence, just as it is understandable why Spielberg was attracted to the material.

For here we have another lost boy trying to find his way home, an outcast seeking family, themes very familiar from most of Spielberg's body of work from Sugarland Express to Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T. to Empire of the Sun to Hook to Saving Private Ryan, naming just a few examples.

A.I. is set in an undefined near future in which giant technological advances have led to the creation of robots who serve every purpose from housekeeping to fulfilling sexual fantasies. It is an era when robots are treated merely as sophisticated appliances.

The last great leap in robotic evolution is the addition of emotions, and with the number of births limited by the government, many couples are yearning for children.

And Professor Hobby (William Hurt) has the solution. A robotic boy named David (Haley Joel Osment), who is programmed to love. As a test, David is placed with Henry Swinton (Sam Robards) and his wife, Monica (Frances O'Connor). Their natural-born son has been cryogenically frozen until a cure can be found for his illness.

The first third of A.I. deals with David's life with the Swintons and how that is changed by the recovery and return of their son, Martin.

Circumstances force David to be cut off from the Swintons. He is abandoned and alone. David, highly influenced by the fairy tale, Pinocchio, feels that if he becomes a real boy he can rekindle Monica's love for him.

The film's second act follows David's search for The Blue Fairy, whom he believes will be able to fulfill his wish. During these adventures he meets and is helped by Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a robot who specializes in sex.

Spielberg is at his top form in this sequence, offering a brutal "Flesh Fair" where robots are destroyed via sadistic methods for the amusement of paying customers.

Here, is where Kubrick's influence is strongly felt, as the movie explores the fear and distrust humans have for robots. The savagery conjures up images from the late director's A Clockwork Orange.

At about two hours and 30 minutes, the film begins to falter during the last 20 minutes, a sequence that seems most Spielbergian with images that appear to be borrowed from Close Encounters.

It is all very anti-climatic and jarring. These scenes seem almost superfluous, as if from a different film.

A.I. is a dark fairy tale that deserves its PG-13 rating. It is a story combining hope and intolerance, sacrifice and bigotry, and while it does not coalesce perfectly, the movie does offer some disturbing images.

But A.I. is really a showcase for the acting talents of the amazing young Osment. If ever an actor deserved an Academy Award nomination, it is this lad, who brings a sense of joy and wonder to the role of David, a being created for the express purpose of loving.

He shines when with Monica, beaming with love, as eager as a puppy to please. After being left in the woods, he is confused, lost, hurt, focusing on one objective: To become a real boy and find his way home so he can redeem himself in his mother's eyes.

Law is pleasant as the care-free robot who really doesn't understand David's quest, but is nonetheless happy to help him on his journey.

Probably the toughest role is O'Connor's Monica. Playing an emotional fragile woman who sees David as a substitute for her lost Martin, she grows conflicted after her boy returns and she begins to perceive David not as a second chance, but as a threat to her family.

She gives her character enough emotional chaos that you cannot fault her for her course of action.

Many of A.I.'s futuristic sets are breathtaking, especially a mostly submerged New York, lost to the world by the melting of the polar ice caps.

A.I. is a flawed film, and you cannot get through the entire feature without pondering - even subconsciously - how it would have turned out with Kubrick instead of Spielberg behind the camera. Would it have been darker? More cynical? We will never know.

We can only judge what is before us on the screen, a collaboration of two cinematic giants. A.I. is a most interesting and thought-provoking examination of a future that is quickly gaining on us.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on golafayette.
Bloom's reviews also can be found on the Web at the Internet Movie Database: http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom