A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 17 wins & 71 nominations total
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaStanley Kubrick worked on the project for two decades before his death, but along the way, he asked Steven Spielberg to direct, saying it was "closer to his sensibilities." The two collaborated for several years, resulting in Kubrick giving Spielberg a complete story treatment and lots of conceptual art for the movie prior to his death, which Spielberg used to write his own scenario. Contrary to popular belief, Spielberg claims he introduced many of the darker elements into the story, while Kubrick's main contribution consisted mostly of its "sweeter" parts. In a 2002 interview with movie critic Joe Leydon, Spielberg indicated that the middle part of the movie, including the Flesh Fair, was his idea, whereas the first forty minutes, the Teddy bear, and the last twenty minutes were taken straight from Kubrick's story. Ian Watson, who wrote Kubrick's original treatment, confirmed that even the much-criticized ending, assumed by many to be a typical Spielberg addition, was "exactly what (he) wrote for Stanley, and exactly what he wanted, filmed faithfully by Spielberg."
- GoofsMuch of the film's early action takes place in Haddonfield, New Jersey. New York City is subsequently shown to be under water. Haddonfield's elevation (81 feet) is lower than that of New York City (87 feet), and it is near both the Atlantic coast and a river leading to the ocean, so Haddonfield should be under water too.
- Quotes
[last lines]
Narrator: [narrating, as David lays next to Monica in bed] That was the everlasting moment he had been waiting for. And the moment had passed, for Monica was sound asleep. More than merely asleep.
Narrator: [David holds Monica's hand, closing his eyes] Should he shake her she would never rouse. So David went to sleep too. And for the first time in his life, he went to that place... where dreams are born.
- Crazy creditsSentient 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.
- Alternate versionsFor 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."
- SoundtracksWhat About Us
Written by Al Jourgensen, Paul Barker, Max Brody and Ty Coon (as Deborah Coon)
Produced by Al Jourgensen and Paul Barker with Robert Ezrin (as Bob Ezrin)
Performed by Ministry
Featured review
Mecha World
AI is inspired by British science fiction writer, Brian Aldiss short story 'Supertoys Last All Summer Long.' It was a project initiated by Stanley Kubrick and then taken over by Steven Spielberg who directs as well as write the screenplay. It is a mixture of Spielberg's wide eyed childlike wonder from his ET era with Kubrick's cold gaze of adulthood. It is a modern version of Pinocchio.
The film is set in a future where the ice caps have melted and eradicated the coastline. Robots of increasing sophistication have become part of the fabric of society. Professor Hobby (William Hurt) has created an android with programme to love and be more human like.
Monica and Henry Swinton (Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards) have a terminally ill son and take in David (Haley Joel Osment) almost as a substitute son to love. David as he is programmed is fixated on his mother and projects his love.
When their son Martin (Jake Thomas) miraculously recovers and returns home, the new family of four becomes fractious. Martin is mean to David who cannot interact with other kids. It is not in his programming. An incident means that like a dangerous pet, he could be dangerous in the house. However Monica is not willing to send him back to the corporation where he would be presumably terminated.
Monica cares enough for David to abandon him in the woods with a Teddy Bear who is also an AI robot for companionship and wisdom (his Jiminy Cricket.) From there David befriends other robots such as Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a sex-bot on the run after being framed for murder. They evade resentful humans and journey to find the Blue Fairy whom David believes can turn him into a real boy so his mother can love him.
David is a boy who becomes accepted quickly by becoming part of a family only to find that he is not afforded their protection when he is gauded and provoked by Martin. Once in he wilds with Gigolo Joe he is living in fear in a society where robots have no rights.
Spielberg creates two sound stages for the middle of his film. Flesh Fair a gaudy, sleazy place where robots are destroyed in front of cheering humans but David pleads for his life and swings the crowd his way. Then there is Rouge City, A Vegas type place where the holographic Dr Know points them to the top of Rockefeller Center in the flood hit of Manhattan where he meets his creator, Professor Hobby.
The final act set in the submerged Coney Island which is then frozen over in an oncoming ice age until David is rescued by advanced beings.
I have to confess. I liked the ending. It bought an emotional crescendo to a flawed film. It moved me as it allows David to find he is the recipient of love and can finally grow and become human even if it is all a projection from the beings that rescued him. Without this ending, I would had found this to be a dull, uninvolving and grim experience. Humans treating robots like pets who are soon discarded once they are no longer fulfil a useful function.
I understand that this ending was part of the Kubrick draft and not added by Spielberg. Kubrick finally showed his sentimental side.
The film is set in a future where the ice caps have melted and eradicated the coastline. Robots of increasing sophistication have become part of the fabric of society. Professor Hobby (William Hurt) has created an android with programme to love and be more human like.
Monica and Henry Swinton (Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards) have a terminally ill son and take in David (Haley Joel Osment) almost as a substitute son to love. David as he is programmed is fixated on his mother and projects his love.
When their son Martin (Jake Thomas) miraculously recovers and returns home, the new family of four becomes fractious. Martin is mean to David who cannot interact with other kids. It is not in his programming. An incident means that like a dangerous pet, he could be dangerous in the house. However Monica is not willing to send him back to the corporation where he would be presumably terminated.
Monica cares enough for David to abandon him in the woods with a Teddy Bear who is also an AI robot for companionship and wisdom (his Jiminy Cricket.) From there David befriends other robots such as Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a sex-bot on the run after being framed for murder. They evade resentful humans and journey to find the Blue Fairy whom David believes can turn him into a real boy so his mother can love him.
David is a boy who becomes accepted quickly by becoming part of a family only to find that he is not afforded their protection when he is gauded and provoked by Martin. Once in he wilds with Gigolo Joe he is living in fear in a society where robots have no rights.
Spielberg creates two sound stages for the middle of his film. Flesh Fair a gaudy, sleazy place where robots are destroyed in front of cheering humans but David pleads for his life and swings the crowd his way. Then there is Rouge City, A Vegas type place where the holographic Dr Know points them to the top of Rockefeller Center in the flood hit of Manhattan where he meets his creator, Professor Hobby.
The final act set in the submerged Coney Island which is then frozen over in an oncoming ice age until David is rescued by advanced beings.
I have to confess. I liked the ending. It bought an emotional crescendo to a flawed film. It moved me as it allows David to find he is the recipient of love and can finally grow and become human even if it is all a projection from the beings that rescued him. Without this ending, I would had found this to be a dull, uninvolving and grim experience. Humans treating robots like pets who are soon discarded once they are no longer fulfil a useful function.
I understand that this ending was part of the Kubrick draft and not added by Spielberg. Kubrick finally showed his sentimental side.
helpful•172
- Prismark10
- Jul 6, 2016
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- A.I. - artificiell intelligens
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $78,616,689
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $29,352,630
- Jul 1, 2001
- Gross worldwide
- $235,926,552
- Runtime2 hours 26 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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