I'll say this with a sigh and I don't want to say this, but I was really disappointed with this movie. But let me explain how this film got a high and an above average 7 out of ten.
This is what I felt for the first say, 1hour 45 minutes. I felt this movie was one of the most thrilling, exciting, sad, brilliant movies of the decade. And I don't throw compliments like that around often. Hayley Joel Osmont played a stunning, captivating role that is Oscar worthy and Jude Law did a mighty fine job also. In fact, the acting all round was quite impressive. Visually, well, it was flawless. The directing, the lighting, the special effects, the robots, all perfect, the music was moving and atmospheric and intertwined with the movies disturbing and oddball theme and it never failed to offer heart-wrenching moments and tense, unnerving scenes. The movie went along at a fast enough pace, jumping quickly from one section to another perfectly and hit all the right emotions that made you actually feel for the robots. Very symbolic in places, especially the FLESH FAIR which was a direct hint towards the holocaust. The future was predicted well, quite possible in fact and it wasn't too ridiculous to be imaginable. The settings, scenery and ambiance was just advanced enough to have a futuristic tone, but restricted enough to be possible. In a nutshell, this film is pretty hard to criticize. Well, this is what I thought, until after the scene that changed everything.
*spoiler warning* I remember the start of the movie had an introductory narrative, explaining the worlds conditions and such and how the story would begin. Much, much later in the movie the voice returned, whilst David is submerged under water and pleading with blue fairy statue to make him a real boy. The voice returned in a fashion that the movie would end. The voice explains how David kept pleading and how did so for over 2000 years. At this point I thought this movie was amazing and one of my favorites, the perfect ending to the movie and a really moving and exceptionally thought provoking ending to AI. But no, Spielberg had to give us more. And a really awful ending entails.
In short, it shows David breaking out of the ice 2000 years later and meeting up with a group of badly designed, unimaginative aliens that would let him see his mother for one more day. At this point, all the humans have become extinct and therefore, of course, his mother has died. But somehow these aliens manage to use bits of people to recreate the humans perfectly for one more day. An over-sentimental, over-emotional and a particularly "Disney" scene follows, that is dragged out, embarrassing, out of context with the rest of the movie, sickeningly happy and downright awful. This movie was always disturbing and off-the-wall and this ending is just a complete contrast that just does not fit. It literally ruined a movie that had the full potential to be a classic, yet the last 15 minutes, Spielberg did a "fairy-tale ending on it" and ruined it. I can't explain how utterly crap it is and I actually felt angry and depressed that something as simple as a conclusion can ruin a spectacular experience. A dark ending to a dark movie was the way to go, was the way to create a masterpiece, but Stephen Spielberg obviously had his way and destroyed.
I strongly urge people to watch this movie, but I also strongly suggest you stop it after the second narrative kicks in. Until then, I would've given it a perfect 10 out of ten, but nothing denies that Spielberg made a fatal mistake.
What a pity.
This is what I felt for the first say, 1hour 45 minutes. I felt this movie was one of the most thrilling, exciting, sad, brilliant movies of the decade. And I don't throw compliments like that around often. Hayley Joel Osmont played a stunning, captivating role that is Oscar worthy and Jude Law did a mighty fine job also. In fact, the acting all round was quite impressive. Visually, well, it was flawless. The directing, the lighting, the special effects, the robots, all perfect, the music was moving and atmospheric and intertwined with the movies disturbing and oddball theme and it never failed to offer heart-wrenching moments and tense, unnerving scenes. The movie went along at a fast enough pace, jumping quickly from one section to another perfectly and hit all the right emotions that made you actually feel for the robots. Very symbolic in places, especially the FLESH FAIR which was a direct hint towards the holocaust. The future was predicted well, quite possible in fact and it wasn't too ridiculous to be imaginable. The settings, scenery and ambiance was just advanced enough to have a futuristic tone, but restricted enough to be possible. In a nutshell, this film is pretty hard to criticize. Well, this is what I thought, until after the scene that changed everything.
*spoiler warning* I remember the start of the movie had an introductory narrative, explaining the worlds conditions and such and how the story would begin. Much, much later in the movie the voice returned, whilst David is submerged under water and pleading with blue fairy statue to make him a real boy. The voice returned in a fashion that the movie would end. The voice explains how David kept pleading and how did so for over 2000 years. At this point I thought this movie was amazing and one of my favorites, the perfect ending to the movie and a really moving and exceptionally thought provoking ending to AI. But no, Spielberg had to give us more. And a really awful ending entails.
In short, it shows David breaking out of the ice 2000 years later and meeting up with a group of badly designed, unimaginative aliens that would let him see his mother for one more day. At this point, all the humans have become extinct and therefore, of course, his mother has died. But somehow these aliens manage to use bits of people to recreate the humans perfectly for one more day. An over-sentimental, over-emotional and a particularly "Disney" scene follows, that is dragged out, embarrassing, out of context with the rest of the movie, sickeningly happy and downright awful. This movie was always disturbing and off-the-wall and this ending is just a complete contrast that just does not fit. It literally ruined a movie that had the full potential to be a classic, yet the last 15 minutes, Spielberg did a "fairy-tale ending on it" and ruined it. I can't explain how utterly crap it is and I actually felt angry and depressed that something as simple as a conclusion can ruin a spectacular experience. A dark ending to a dark movie was the way to go, was the way to create a masterpiece, but Stephen Spielberg obviously had his way and destroyed.
I strongly urge people to watch this movie, but I also strongly suggest you stop it after the second narrative kicks in. Until then, I would've given it a perfect 10 out of ten, but nothing denies that Spielberg made a fatal mistake.
What a pity.