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A.I. Artificial Intelligence
DVD Review by Yanman |
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“You are a real boy. At least as real as I've ever made one.” A.I. started as a Stanley Kubrick film, it was his baby, and he worked on the concept for many years. Even before his passing however, Kubrick had asked Steven Spielberg to direct the film. Spielberg went back and forth with Kubrick on ideas for the film, but still debated who should direct, that debated ended when Stanley Kubrick died in March of 1999. Steven Spielberg would now complete the writing of the script, direct, and produce their once collaborative effort. A.I. is a modern Pinocchio meets, the Wizard of OZ (heck he even meets a wizard, a tin man, has a fuzzy little sidekick, and needs to go to a city to find what he is looking for. But we are getting ahead of ourselves), staring the child prodigy, Haley Joel Osment. It is the story of a robot that wants nothing more then to be a real boy, and wants most of all to be loved. The real question is "why was this not a box-office success", grossing less then its production costs? Perhaps it was just bad timing (could anything compete with the green monster (Shrek) in the summer of 2001?), or maybe it wasn’t advertised correctly (is it an adventure story?, Sci-Fi?, A love story perhaps?). Whatever the reason, we feel that Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is much better then its box-office numbers indicate, and a real winner on this 2-disc DVD set. David (Osment) is an 11-year boy, at least on the outside, on the inside he is a manmade creature, a robot. While robots are the norm in this post-apocalyptic world David is different, he is the first robot ever created to love. The question that his creator asks is “can anyone ever love the machine in return”. To answer that question, David is “adopted” by the Swinton family. At first Monica Swinton (Frances O'Connor) wants nothing to do with the “machine boy” thinking that her husband (Sam Robards) is trying to replace their own sick real son, Martin. As David begins to grow on her though, she starts to treat him more and more like a son; that is until Martin comes out of his coma and returns home. At this point everything changes, because real boys don’t take care of there toys or like little brothers, and when you little brother is a robot things are bound to go wrong. When his “family” decides that he must leave, he embarks on a journey to try and become a real boy. Presented in anamorphic widescreen at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, the video here leaves a bit to be desired. Due to the rather dark nature of most of the film, this DVD displays a large amount of artifacting and grain. It is unfortunate that a film this new would still have these problems, but space and compression is still a major issue with the DVD format. The video quality is much better fortunately offering both a high quality, Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack and a superb DTS one. When you hear the words 2-Disc DVD set you automatically think that you are in for a extras-packed offering, and that is the case here with most of the extras you would expect from a multiple disc set. Extras include – Documentaries, interviews with the actors and the director, storyboards, and special effects deconstructions. The still missing extra? There is no director’s commentary here, keeping with the trend on all Spielberg films. While Steven is interviewed quite a bit here, we still are left wondering why he doesn’t provide us with a feature-length blow-by-blow. Is it that he is that much busier then every other director in Hollywood? Or is he afraid that someone will find out that he is just a normal human being like the rest of us? Isn’t he? A.I. takes us to a different time, but helps us realize that things will never change that much, for as long as there are humans, humans will need love. If we ever do invent a machine that can think and feel, the first feeling it will need is to love and be loved. What’s wrong with that? I’d like to know…. “I am… I was…”
This DVD was reviewed on Yanman.com's Reference Theater #1, using a Toshiba SD-5109 DVD player, Toshiba TW56X81, and M&K 750 THX Speakers. Panamax protects all systems at Yanman.com. |
A.I. "Much better then its box-office numbers indicate, and a real winner on this 2-disc DVD set." Staring: Haley Joel Osment Directed By: Steven Spielberg Running time: 145 Min Bonus Materials
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