A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.

Director:

Steven Spielberg

Writers:

Brian Aldiss (short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long"), Ian Watson (screen story)

Stars:

Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 16 wins & 64 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Haley Joel Osment	...	David
Frances O'Connor	...	Monica Swinton
Sam Robards	...	Henry Swinton
Jake Thomas	...	Martin Swinton
Jude Law	...	Gigolo Joe
William Hurt	...	Prof. Hobby
Ken Leung	...	Syatyoo-Sama
Clark Gregg	...	Supernerd
Kevin Sussman	...	Supernerd
Tom Gallop	...	Supernerd
Eugene Osment	...	Supernerd
April Grace	...	Female Colleague
Matt Winston	...	Executive
Sabrina Grdevich	...	Sheila
Theo Greenly	...	Todd

Storyline

In the not-so-far future the polar ice caps have melted and the resulting rise of the ocean waters has drowned all the coastal cities of the world. Withdrawn to the interior of the continents, the human race keeps advancing, reaching the point of creating realistic robots (called mechas) to serve them. One of the mecha-producing companies builds David, an artificial kid which is the first to have real feelings, especially a never-ending love for his "mother", Monica. Monica is the woman who adopted him as a substitute for her real son, who remains in cryo-stasis, stricken by an incurable disease. David is living happily with Monica and her husband, but when their real son returns home after a cure is discovered, his life changes dramatically.

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Plot Keywords:

boy | future | fairy | affection | robot | 

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Taglines:

This Is Not A Game

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Genres:

Adventure | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and violent images

Details

Official Sites:

Warner Bros. [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

A.I.

Filming Locations:

Guerneville, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$29,352,630 (USA) (29 June 2001)

Gross:

$78,616,689 (USA) (21 September 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., DreamWorks SKG, Amblin Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

146 min

Sound Mix:

DTS-ES Dolby Digital EX SDDS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

When David and Gigolo Joe first arrive at Rouge City, and they drive through an arch shaped like a giant mouth, the film uses a piece of music preselected by Stanley Kubrick when he was still considering directing the film. John Williams thought the music fit perfectly with the way the scene was shot by Steven Spielberg.

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Goofs

When the robots open the frozen door to the Amphib Craft, David's trousers are already wet on the left leg from the knee down. But when he gets out, they are dry and twice he slips on the ice and both times he lands on his left knee.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Narrator: [narrating, with ocean waves crashing together] Those were the years after the ice caps had melted... because of the greenhouse gases, and the oceans had risen drown so many cities... along all the shorelines of the world. Amsterdam, Venice, New York - Forever lost. Millions of people were displaced. Climates became chaotic. Hundreds of millions of people starved in poorer countries. Elsewhere a high degree of prosperity survived... when most governments in the developed world... ...

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Crazy Credits

Sentient Machine Therapist ... JEANINE SALLA Assistant to Mr. Chan ... LAIA SALLA Toe-Bell Ringer ... KATE NEI Cybertronics - Room 93056 ... CLAUDE GILBERT Sentient Machine Security ... DIANE FLETCHER Covert Information Retrieval ... RED KING These are characters from the AI alternate-reality game that was connected to the release of the film, and was played over the Internet. Several of the TV and cinema trailers for AI contained clues for game players, including the name Jeanine Salla listed in the credits at the end of the first trailer. This was the way into the game. The room number given in Claude Gilbert's credit is a further clue to game players.

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Connections

Featured in Spielberg on Spielberg (2007)

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Soundtracks

Cheek To Cheek
Written by Irving Berlin
Performed by Fred Astaire
The Appearance of Mr. Fred Astaire has been arranged through a special license with Robyn Smith (as Mrs. Fred Astaire),
Beverly Hills, California
All rights reserved

User Reviews

The Kubrick Dialectic, the Spielberg Inheritance, the AI Challenge

The "literalists" are clearly not happy with A.I. So now is a good time to recall that "2001: A Space Odyssey" was greeted upon release with derision, confusion, dismissive reviews, public consternation, and, oh yeah, some thought it was an absolute masterpiece. Beyond the monolithic influence of that film (think of Han Solo's jump to lightspeed, etc.), the symbols of "2001" -- TO THIS VERY DAY -- cannot be decoded using anything but the most personal, interpretive language. The obelisks, the message of the obelisks, the Star Child, Cosmonaut Dave's "room", HAL-9000's true motivation – all these things remain in our collective subconscious as indelible images that refuse to be concretely defined between or among viewers. WHAT CAUSES THIS CONFLICT OF PERCEPTION? IS IT INTENTIONAL? Again and again, Kubrick's films take us to a No-Man's Land of narrative and moral ambiguity, stranding us, forcing us to make decisions, demanding interpretation (or we can judge the surface, walk away, hate the film). To my perception, Kubrick is the only, true "Brechtian" film director. The device Brecht proposed is "Alienation Effect", or put simply, Leading the audience down two, divergent paths at once. My favorite example is "Barry Lyndon". Being the adventures of a young man, handsome, virtuous, well-meaning, ambitious, full of promise. Yet in every scene, the camera "pulls-back" revealing Barry (but never to himself) to be womanizing, self-absorbed, criminally inclined, socially inept, not very bright, morally bankrupt, and at last, a broken shell of a man. Or let's consider "Strangelove": Did Kubrick really create a headbanger, slapstick comedy about nuclear proliferation, mass destruction, and military/political incompetence? The real question is "Who else could have?" Well, that's my take on Kubrick's artistic sensibility, and, without daring to presume Spielberg's motivation, it's what drew them both to "A.I." Pinocchio, the Blue Fairy, cuddly Teddy Bears on one hand, but on the other hand – social institutions are faltering forever -- parenthood, childhood, science, industry, sexuality -- all distorted beyond repair. And Humans, the ultimate A.I. protagonist, seem blissed-out, in denial, more interested in creating "Davids", "Darlenes" and "Gigolo Joes" than in rising water levels and the imminent threat of extinction. Therefore, I believe A.I. is getting precisely the response all Kubrick films "INITIALLY" get. Spielberg's reputation and career can withstand anything that public perception might bring to his films, but I keep thinking that A.I. is the riskiest moment of his artistic life.