A.I. - Artificial Intelligence
                 Available on video or DVD

                      Reviewed by Sue

AI is set on a possible future Earth, Global warming has raised
the sea levels. Millions of people have died. Those who are left
are wealthy and technology has progressed to make their lives
easier. This is especially true in the area of cybernetics.
Robots, known as mechas, perform many day to day tasks and are
found in all areas of life. Some humans are suspicious of them,
however. The Flesh Fairs are gladiator type spectacles where
abandoned mechas are brutally destroyed to the delight of the
watching crowd.

There's one fact of life that isn't perfect for the people of
Earth.  They are only allowed to have one child. For one couple,
Monica and Henry Swinton this law turns into a nightmare when
their only child is taken ill and ends up in a coma. The wife in
particular is on the verge of a nervous breakdown as her emotions
spiral out of control.

Her husband works at a cybernetics corporation where research has
been done with one specific aim in mind - to create a mecha child
who can be programmed to show love to his or her parents. They are
chosen to be the 'parents' for the prototype child, called David.

At first Monica is against the idea. It's as though they're trying
to replace her son. But David is such an affectionate child to her
that she mellows. Within a short period of time, she takes the
step of imprinting David. This is a one-way process. She has to
read a series of words and when she's read the last one, David
will love her. Until this point, he could simply be returned to
the factory and sent to someone else. But once he's been
imprinted, he would have to be destroyed instead.

Everything goes really well until one day when their real son,
Martin comes out of his coma and comes home. Suddenly David is
made all too aware of the fact that he isn't real, nor is he their
own flesh and blood. Martin tricks David in several ways which
make his parents feel wary of him. The final straw comes when he
persuades David to sneak into their parents' room in the middle of
the night and cut a lock of Monica's hair. This, he's told, will
'make her love him'. In fact it does the opposite.  Henry decides
David must go back to the factory but instead of driving him
there, Monica leaves him in the forest with his cyber-teddy,
telling him to stay away from people. David decides that, like
Pinocchio, he must become real for his mother to love him and sets
out on a quest to find the Blue Fairy from the story who, he
believes, will be able to grant his wish.

It was around the point of him being left, screaming and
terrified, in the forest, that I almost gave up on this film. I
was finding it much too emotionally charged to be enjoyable. But I
persisted and I'm glad I did. There were more sad bits to come but
also a number of high points. I especially liked Gigolo Joe,
played by Jude Law, a robot designed to 'make women happy'. With a
flick of his head he can play atmospheric music and he can
recolour and restyle his hair to become the man of any woman's
dreams.

Some of the other special effects are exceptionally good,
especially those of the damaged robots David meets while on the
run. And then there's Teddy who is unbelievably cute! Every kid
(and adult) should have one. Hayley Joel Osment is excellent as
David. He's very believable in the way he portrays emotions.

The film was a joint production between Kubrick and Spielberg.
Kubrick died during its making so Spielberg took over. Some say
you can see a definite switch part way through. I don't know about
that, but the beginning is certainly a lot darker than the end
which is rather sentimental. I've never read the Brian Aldiss
short story, Supertoys Last All Summer Long, on which it was
based. So I'd be interested to know how close they stayed to the
original.

8/10 and keep the tissues handy

Postscript: I just found the story on the Internet at
www.bitterpill.org/stlasl.html - I can see how the film was
derived from the basic core of the story but really the link is
quite tenuous.
















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