urposeful brush strokes of mastery: that's one way to describe A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, the visually lush Steven Spielberg film that sees the late Stanley Kubrick's final vision through to completion.
The tale is a mournful one, a post-modern Pinocchio in which a robot—dubbed in vernacular as a mecha—is designed in the image of a young boy. With David (Haley Joel Osment), his creator tried something unique: a prototype for a child mecha who's capable of love and emotion. The test comes when David is sent to the home of Henry (Sam Robards) and Monica Swinton (Frances O'Connor), a couple whose biological son is cryogenically frozen until science can heal his illness. At first Monica is uneasy around David, but soon she opens her heart and allows him to "imprint" on her, thus activating his undying love and devotion.
When Monica's son is healed and friction ensues between David and orgas—short for organics, or humans—Monica has to make a heart-rending choice to leave David to fend for himself in the evil world that pits mechas against orgas. As David starts his quest to become human and redeem his mother's love, his only comforts are a rogue mecha (Law) and Teddy, an animatronic bear who's an eerie cross between 2001: A Space Odyssey's HAL and the old Teddy Ruxpin child's toy.
Since Spielberg picked up the project after Kubrick's death, the film is an amalgamation of the best—and worst—of both filmmakers. Self-aware shots, lengthy, slow-moving sequences and a sentimental ending characterize the film—and yet the cinematography mesmerizes, and the story of David's journey is gripping almost to the end.
While Law and O'Connor are apt supporting players, the standout here is Osment: without his spot-on portrayal of the tortured machine-who-wants-to-be-a-boy, the film wouldn't have held together.
A special edition worthy of the name
The two-disc set is jam-packed with special content, so much so that it almost makes up for the fact that Spielberg doesn't complement the film with a running director's commentary. While other DVDs have provided quantity, few have truly delivered on the promise of quantity and quality—until A.I.
Disc One contains the feature; multiple soundtrack options; and a 13-minute documentary, "Creating A.I.," in which Spielberg discusses Kubrick's influence on the film, among other things.
Disc Two is where all of the extras are concentrated. And on this disc, the featurettes appear almost never-ending: select one option, and you'll find several more branched choices underneath. The up-close interviews include Osment and Law discussing their characters, and various production team members, such as Michael Lantieri (effects) and Janusz Kaminski (director of photography) on the particulars of their respective niches. Especially fascinating are the included storyboards, production design portfolio, and ILM portfolio; another great feature involves the making of the robots of A.I. and how they made Teddy scamper as he did onscreen.
If you haven't yet seen A.I., this special edition DVD offers a great chance to view this film, which is a metaphor for the role of technology in the future. If you have seen A.I., then head straight for disc two to delve deeper behind the scenes.
