A.I.

[Bon Voyage]

Of course I absolutely hated it.  Even though I didn't pay to watch it, I felt like suing the people that made the movie for my time back.

The Pinocchio parallels were fine but the aliens and the rest of the story just didn't mesh well.  It didn't seem to be a very well written story.

I definitely don't recommend even watching this for free.  In my opinion it is a waste of time.  It still wasn't as bad as Magnolia though.

[david johnson]

soapman makes sense.
i sort of liked it, but was disappointed.

dj

[Barb1957]

I didn't want to risk being accused of hijacking the "worst movies" thread, so starting a new one. Some folks have named A.I. on their lists of worst movies of all time.  I'm just wondering if there is anybody else besides me who liked the movie?

Not sure I'm good at "defending" why I like any movie. It all boils down to personal tastes and opinions I guess. I just know that I liked the movie. Haley Joel Osment's acting was one factor - I think he is an amazing actor. I liked the Pinocchio parallels. Maybe it goes back to my childhood love of Astro Boy.
I dunno! I liked it! Sue me! LOL

[Son of a Preacher Man]

I think the finished product reflected exactly what had happened.  Kubrick imagined the film and Spielberg made it while trying to remain true to Kubrick's intent.

My take on AI is that it's like taking an orange and asking it to become an apple. The orange is trying so hard to be the apple that he forgets that he's really an orange. But orange is what he does best--the story gets peeled away and when you're done it leaves a sweet taste in your mouth.  The orange can't be the apple.  The apple's good, too, but you don't always like the last bite, especially if you chomp into a piece of the core.  

Kubrick was night.  Spielberg is day.  They are two of the greatest filmmakers ever, but they don't make the same kind of films and the two don't seem to go well together.  To me it wasn't a case of bad story or bad acting or anything else.  Everything by itself was pretty good... some of it was even great, but it all just didn't fit together for me.  There's been some debate over how much was Kubrick and how much was Spielberg, but the film was dedicated to Kubrick and I think Spielberg did the whole thing as an homage to Kubrick.  Hence, it wasn't the type of thing we'd normally get from "our favorite story-teller" and consequently people were let down.

I you liked the movie you can find the short story it was based on here:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/5.01/ffsupertoys_pr.html

[Barb1957]

Thanks, SoaPMan. I read Brian Aldriss' short story, "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" during the pre-release hype about the movie -- maybe at that same link you gave. And I may have read, somewhere online, at least excerpts from Aldriss' other 2 short story sequels to that one (rights to which were also purchased by Spielberg) - "Supertoys When Winter Comes" and "Supertoys In Other Seasons".  I understand A.I. was loosely based on all three stories.