A.I. Artificial Intelligence. (2001) Cert 12. Director - Stephen Spielberg. Writer - Stanley Kubrick & Stephen Spielberg. Starring - Haley Joel Osment, William Hurt, Jude Law & Teddy.

Premise - In the year 2335, the worlds ice caps have melted an cover half of the world. A couple with a child in a coma agree to be the test parents for the first ever robot boy who can love...... I have been looking forward to A.I. for God knows how long and I had fairly high hopes after seeing the various trailers and reports on the Internet and in the media. After seeing it however my feelings are mixed. For the most part during the film I couldn't help thinking, "Yeah this feels like a Kubrick movie". However every now and again Spielberg would pop up and say hello. Don't get me wrong I like Spielberg movies, he is responsible for some of my most enduring movie memories. I just feel that his style and Kubricks were at such different ends of the pole that to mix them is like trying to mix water and oil. There are may reasons to recommend AI, not least the fact that it represents the last movie project that the master Kubrick had any input into. I also thought Osment was out of this world as the robot that wanted nothing more than to be loved by his mother. I liked the Teddy character and wished that there could have been more of him in the film. Jude Law also pleasantly surprised me, I normally find him a bit of a repellent, but he was good here. There are some good cameos by Robin Williams, Chris Rock and Meryl Streep. On the most part I liked this movie, but a couple of things stop me from rating it great. First up the music. It felt wrong especially early on in the film. It seemed to get better as the film progressed, but early on it was irritating the hell out of me. A small point, but one I felt I had to bring up. The other stumbling point is the ending. However if you do not want the ending spoiled please do not read any further. SPOILER WARNING! Much has been said about the ending by other people and I agree. The film should have ended when the ferris wheel landed on the amphibicopter. No crappy super evolved Mechas, no voiceover, just fade to black. I have a feeling if Kubrick had made the movie this is the ending he would have chosen, deliberately ambiguous, makes you think. He would have treated the audience with some respect and wouldn't have felt the need to have everything spelled out in a voice over. So a good film that could so easily have been great.

8/10 for A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Poster Quote - A potential classic, but not intelligent enough.