A.I. Artificial Intelligence

A.I. (2001) is counted as a Spielberg film, but the idea was Kubrick's, and that distinction is the most misunderstood thing about it. Stanley Kubrick developed the project for years from a Brian Aldiss story. He eventually decided the material suited Spielberg better and handed it over. Kubrick died in 1999 and the film came out in 2001. David is a robot child with feelings. He is placed with a family whose real son is ill, and is programmed to attach to his mother. Then the real son recovers and David is left in the woods. One idea remains to him: find the Blue Fairy from Pinocchio and become a real boy. The most common misinformation about the film concerns the ending. The tall beings at the close are not aliens; they are advanced machines still running long after humanity is gone. It is also assumed that the sentimental ending was Spielberg's addition, when Spielberg has said repeatedly that it was Kubrick's. That the audience conflates the two is the film's misfortune. Its most disturbing section is the Flesh Fair, a show in which robots are torn apart in front of a crowd. It is among the darkest material Spielberg has shot. Haley Joel Osment trained himself not to blink; David barely blinks in the entire film. It runs 146 minutes. Good for: science fiction, stories about artificial intelligence, and both Spielberg and Kubrick. Less good for: it is long, the tone shifts between sections, and the ending is still argued about.