In a year of disappointments, "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence" may rule supreme.

Not that "A.I." is terrible - indeed, it has some of the most glorious images ever projected onto a movie screen - but because it cannot fulfill its impossible expectations. "A.I." is supposed to be the shared vision of two of the 20th century's greatest filmmakers, Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick.

Based on Brian Aldiss' 1969 short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," "A.I." is a project Kubrick mulled for decades, the tale of a robot boy searching for the meaning of his existence. The idea of a sentient robot echoes Kubrick's most famous character: Hal 9000, the computer from "2001: A Space Odyssey."

After years of developing a story and production designs, Kubrick announced "A.I." would be his next film after "Eyes Wide Shut." Following Kubrick's death in 1999, Spielberg decided to continue the project and honor his friend.

Though Spielberg certainly has the financial clout and technical skill to make a movie so expensive and so crammed with special effects, no film scholar would pick the populist Spielberg as the esoteric Kubrick's successor. It's as unlikely as Orson Welles collaborating with Walt Disney. The harder Spielberg tries to imitate Kubrick, the worse "A.I." gets.

"A.I." begins magnificently, with Haley Joel Osment as the robot boy in a world that is a dreamlike fusion of reality and special effects, but the story ultimately brings out the worst aspects of both filmmakers: Kubrick's sterility and Spielberg's juvenility.

"A.I." occurs in a distant future where the polar ice caps have melted following the depletion of the ozone layer (take that, Dick Cheney), minimizing the world's land mass and forcing strict population controls. Robotics have become so sophisticated that androids and humans cannot be distinguished. The only thing that separates man from machine is emotion.

An inventor played by William Hurt changes that, creating David (Osment), a robot boy programmed to love his surrogate parents. He places David with Henry and Monica Swinton (Sam Robards and Frances O'Connor), a couple whose real son lies cryogenically frozen until a cure for his disease is found.

Monica grows to love David and gives him an animatronic toy bear named Teddy. As voiced by Jack Angel, Teddy becomes not only David's companion, but the most memorable character. In the final scene I felt more for the bear than the boy.

"A.I." uses the same theme as 99 percent of all stories with a robot as main character: David's quest for humanity. These stories customarily make a Pinocchio reference, but Spielberg turns that reference into the main plot.

Once abandoned by his family, David goes in search of the Blue Fairy, the character who turned Pinocchio into a real boy. Teddy tags along as the Jiminy Cricket figure, though he acts less as David's conscience than his extended warranty.

One thing less original than a "Pinocchio" reference is a "Wizard of Oz" reference, but Spielberg can't resist those, either. Filling in for the Tin Man is another companion, Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a literal love machine. Joe tells David they must visit the Rouge City (think about it) to visit "Dr. Know." Programmed with songs from 1930s musicals, Joe is an intriguing character Spielberg fails to develop.

The superb first half of "A.I." should not be missed. Spielberg - along with cinematographer Janusz Kaminski and special effects wizards Stan Winston and Michael Lantieri - creates a cinematic future unlike any seen before. The computer-generated effects are employed so inconspicuously they are nearly undetectable. The most breathtaking setting, though it appears late in the film, is a flooded Manhattan where only the top floors of the highest skyscrapers remain above water.

Though the East Coast is gone, it appears the Fox Channel has survived. Humans who despise robots stage sadistic spectacles where "mechas" are destroyed spectacularly. They are shot from canons into turbine engines or given sulfuric acid baths.

This horrifying scene is where Spielberg makes his first crucial mistake. He gives one of the doomed robots Chris Rock's voice. We the audience have been absorbed into Kubrick/Spielberg's vision, but the sound of Chris Rock doing a Chris Rock routine snaps us out of our reverie and back into our theater seats. Spielberg compounds this error several scenes later when the computer-animated Dr. Know is voiced by Robin Williams.

After this, "A.I." never recovers. The story dawdles into a never-ending climax that juggles the endings of "2001" and "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." "A.I." is Spielberg's first solo script credit since "Close Encounters," and in 24 years he hasn't come up with another way to end a story.

"A.I." is worth seeing for the spectacle Spielberg conjures and the intellectual game of guessing what is Spielberg and what is Kubrick. My hunch is Kubrick would have stuck to the original theme of responsible parenting and not have leaned so heavily on "Pinocchio." One thing Kubrick did not do is retell someone else's movie.