A.I. Artificial Intelligence

By Sasha Manusama

Who would have thought A.I.: Artificial Intelligence would be under my 'must miss' list, since it's deeply entrenched within the science fiction genre.

I was partially right - specifically, the fact that it's a futuristic flick. But I was wrong about not liking it…

The story follows the quest of a robot, David (Haley Joel Osment), who yearns to turn into a real boy. This may be the one key plot point to draw you into A.I. - but there is much more to it than that. There is also heavy drama and angst and these two elements will last you an hour into the movie without having to reach for the tissues.

Haley Joel Osment is persuasively intelligent in potraying a robotic boy, David, programmed to love. On the other hand, a married couple who adopt him, Monica and Henry, are grieving over their dying son. The creation of David was purposely targeted at couples like them, to fill the absence of a loved one.

The first one hour of the movie is mainly focused on the home life of Monica and Henry, coping with a robot in the household. This soon becomes a challenge when Martin comes home from the hospital, completely cured from the disease he had long suffered.

Fighting for their parents' affection, Martin comes out as a winner and however painful it is for the mother, whose affection for the little robot is sincere, David is disowned. Left in a forest, David is confronted by a group of unwanted robots who come out at night in a quest to collect robotic parts to make them complete and, hopefully, wanted again.

This is the one flaw in the movie that audiences may notice - the transfer from the quiet, yet modern home life to an exaggerated, technologically advanced Earth.

From the destruction of robots to the futuristic metropolitan scenes, these are drastic changes and are completely unexpected - it almost seems that the home life potrayed at the beginning of the film hides the futuristic city scenes that may be too over the top for some.

Or maybe this can be dismissed simply as the movie's attempt to take us on to the faster, brighter life of the city in the late 21st century.

Anyway, we are treated to a wild, modern quest, fuelled only by David's ambition of becoming human. He had come to believe that he needed to be a real boy in order to be wanted by Monica and Henry. Accompanied by a fellow robot pimp, Joe (Jude Law), the two set off on a journey to put an end to David's curiosity.

The journey extends 3000 years into the future, but confronted by the harsh truth, David learns that a new wish could be the one thing that brings out the real boy in him. A true tear-jerker that shouldn't be missed.

3.5 out of 5

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence
Australian release: Now showing across Australia
Cast: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law.
Director: Steven Spielberg.
Website: Click here