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 17 wins & 68 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 Withdrawn to the interior of the continents, the human race keeps advancing, reaching the point of creating realistic robots (called mechas) to serve them.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:

artificial intelligence | mother son relationship | synthetic human | artificially created boy | cyberpunk | 

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Taglines:

This summer, discover the next step in evolution.

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Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content and violent images

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook

Country:

USA UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

29 June 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

Filming Locations:

Guerneville, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$29,352,630, 1 July 2001

Gross USA:

$78,616,689

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$235,926,552

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., DreamWorks, 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

Meryl Streep and Brendan Gleeson appeared in Suffragette (2015).

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Goofs

When Joe is being pulled away from David for the last time in MAN-Hatten you can see the white Ariel wire on the right side of his face when he talks to David.

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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

In theatrical previews, on one of the final credit frames, the Hebrew word "Chochmoh", meaning wisdom or knowledge, is written in small red letters.

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Alternate Versions

For the U.S. theatrical release, the Warner Bros. logo appeared before the Dreamworks logo at the beginning of the film, and the poster credits said, "Warner Bros. and Dreamworks Pictures present." Since the U.S. version's home video/DVD rights are owned by Dreamworks, the Dreamworks logo at the beginning of the movie appears before the Warner Bros. logo, and the back of the box's cover art says, "Dreamworks Pictures and Warner Bros. present."

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Connections

Referenced in Ernie & Tye's Excellent Adventure (2018)

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Soundtracks

For Always
Performed by Lara Fabian
Lyrics by Cynthia Weil
Music by John Williams

User Reviews

Sentmemental

At the time of this film's cinema release no less a critic than the much admired and feared HMS Germaine Greer discharged a broadside in its general direction to the effect that it had several perfectly good endings, all of which the director chose to ignore in favour of another. I find myself in agreement.

Though somewhat lacking in focus in a number of important respects, this film has a degree of intelligence and some powerful moments; the film successfully raises questions about the point at which a 'machine' becomes a living thing, since after all, isn't a human being a biological machine? And if machines might be considered 'alive', can we deceive ourselves into believing that a non-conformity to 'normal' human behaviour makes the faux-human androids any less alive than us? It's an interesting question.

Another interesting question is 'What On Earth Possessed Steven Spielberg???"

I gather that some very old dramatists in some foreign country or other had this thing called a Deus Ex Machina, probably familiar to keen viewers of Star Trek; when a storyline had reached an unsatisfactory and unresolvable point, the playwright would simply write in a divine intervention that would make everything alright again, in direct contravention of dramatic progression... logic... decency... all that stuff.

Well, Spielberg seems to have been taking notes from his ancestors, for when this film reaches a very sad but dramatically very sound ending, and you get that familiar pang of 'oh, please don't let it end here', Spielberg does the worst possible thing he could - and listens to that silent cry of the sentimental heart.

Indeed, Spielberg's Deus Ex Machina is startlingly literal when it appears, but I'll leave you to enjoy that discovery in your own time.

I find it extraordinary that a man of Spielberg's ability could go to such grim lengths to crowbar in the sweetly toxic ending he finally, unconvincingly does. It is this single decision which ruins the film, tainting this interesting if not especially distinguished effort with an artless, child-pleasing finale. This is made all the worse by the fact that it takes a good 20-30 minutes to import this unwelcome and out-of-place conclusion. I do not wildly exxaggerate when I say that I spent much of this time with my head in my hands, ridden with despair at the stupidity unfolding before me.

Nice film, shame about the Ending. It's right up there with Stephen King's 'IT' on the "WHAT ARE YOU DOING MAN???" factor.

You are warned.