Well-written, superbly acted, and technically brilliant, A. I. Artificial Intelligence is nonetheless in many ways difficult to watch, because of what it is saying.

A Steven Spielberg movie with a title that harks back to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, viewers might come to this film expecting Spielbergian boundless optimism and that famous Childlike Sense-o-Wondah.  But be advised.  This is Spielberg in a deeply pessimistic frame of mind. 

So am I saying not to watch this movie?  Not at all, it's an excellent movie with an absorbing and indeed thought-provoking story line.  Just be aware that it's not necessarily a feel-good experience.  And oh, my friends, think long and hard before you show this movie to young children, because some of it is the stuff of nightmares!

Yes, but what's it about?  It's about a little boy named David and his quest for love.  But here's the thing.  David (Haley Joel Osment) isn't human.  He's a machine, known as a 'mecha' in this future timeline.

Global warming has melted the polar ice caps, flooding what were once the coasts.  A much smaller population has implemented strict birthrate policies, and much of the work in this new world is done by very human-like robots.

Mecha designer Professor Hobby (William Hurt) takes on a new project - a robot that can genuinely love.   The prototype is David.  David is sent to the home of Henry and Monica Swinton (Sam Robards and Frances O'Conner).  The Swintons have a son, but he is in deep freeze, suffering from an unspecified but currently incurable illness.  Monica obviously needs someone to love, but she is at first extremely resistant to David.  

David comes with an 'imprinting' program.  Once the owner is sure they're going to keep him, they activate this program and David imprints on them and loves them.  Henry cautions Monica not to use the program unless she's absolutely certain she wants to keep David, because the imprinting is permanent.  If they later change their mind and want to return David, he would be taken back to the factory and destroyed.

Eventually though, David wins Monica over and she pulls out the imprinting program and activates it.  She is now Mommy and David is her loving little boy.  Family idyll ensues.

But wait!  Remember the child in the deep freeze?  Whatever was wrong with him, they found a cure for it, and Martin (Jake Thomas) is home, and deeply resentful of David. 

Now David is getting into trouble all the time, goaded or tricked into it by Martin.  Some of the predicaments he winds up in are dangerous, both to himself and to others. 

Eventually, Henry and Monica come to the conclusion that David has to be taken back.  So off Monica goes with David, apparently on a picnic.  (David has along Teddy, the 'smart toy' teddy bear that walks and talks and reasons.  A cast-off from Martin, endearing Teddy is one of the best things about this movie.)

Monica starts to drive back to the mecha plant, but changes her mind and drives into the woods.  And there she abandons David like an unwanted kitten.   This is a heart-wrenching scene and one of the reasons I'm cautioning against this movie as fare for the very young.  But there are others.

As she leaves, Monica tells David that she wished they'd taught him about the world.  We soon learn what that means.  David is captured and hauled off to something called a Flesh Fair.  Billed as a 'celebration of life', this is a rowdy low-class extravaganza where 'life' is 'celebrated' by the public destruction of mechas in numerous gruesome ways.  David is confined in a pen watching these grisly goings-on and awaiting his turn, and here he meets Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a mecha whose specialty is pleasing the ladies.

The fair's operators have instruments that tell them that David is a mecha, but he looks and acts more human than any mecha anyone has ever seen, so when he and Joe are hauled to the center ring, the crowd is certain that's a real little boy that is about to be destroyed.   They object noisily and physically, and in the ensuing melee, David and Joe make good their escape.  (With Teddy - whew, I was worried about Teddy.)

And so David and Joe set out on their quest, though the neon wonders of Rouge City to quiz Doctor Know, and on to the submerged grottoes of Manhattan, as David searches for the Blue Fairy. 

The Blue what?  The Blue Fairy.  You see, Monica had read to David the story of Pinnochio, so David believes that all he needs to do is find the Blue Fairy, so she can turn him into a real boy and his mommy will love him again.
(sneeef!)

I also watched the additional bits on the DVD, and oddly enough, Spielberg doesn't seem to realize that he's created a tragedy.

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