I'm a mean
metal love machine!
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Suffusing Science
Fiction with fairytales, Spielberg manages to pull off an amazing
thought-provoking film.
It's about one
boy's undying love for his mother - the thing is that although the
boy in question looks like flesh and blood, he is in fact a Mecha
(a robot), whilst his mother is human.
David (Haley
Joel Osment), the Mecha boy, has had his love for Monica (Frances
O'Connor) pre-programmed, but that makes it unconditional, and unflinching
in the face of all the trials put in David's way.
Do they do
junior oscars then |
The biggest
reward for love is love reciprocated. David just wants to feel the
love of his parents. But can his parents love something that looks
so real but is in fact so artificial?
When the inevitable
rejection happens David knows it's down to him being a mecha. He
starts a quest to become a real boy so he can be loved as fully
as he loves.
Life is not
always kind to our robot friends |
His quest becomes
like that of Pinnochio, or the tin man in 'The Wizard of Oz' travelling
down a yellow brick looking for salvation.
Although the
film might have it's origins in fairytale (it references them throughout
the film), these are not the 'happily ever after' sort, but the
dark and foreboding kind that haunt childish nightmares.
David's pre-programmed
naivety and love help make him and engaging central character. He
teams up with a robot prostitute - Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), who shows
the more artificial side of love. Yet as he helps David in his quest
he seems to become more human.
Haley Joel Osment
gives a mesmerising performance as David. Spielberg has supreme
confidence in his young star, leaving him alone on screen to carry
whole scenes on his own.
Spielberg has
told a wonderfully perplexing story that forces you to think about
weighty questions such as: What does it mean to be real? Is it love
that makes us real? At what price love? Big questions - a big film.
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Although
i agree with some elements of your review of A.I. (Haley Joel
Osment's assured performance, Spielberg's stunning visuals,
and the amazing effects), I have to disagree with giving the
film five out of five. Where the film falls down is on its
gargantuan running time and slowness of pace - at times the
film really drags and you find yourself checking your watch
to see how much of the film there is left to go. Also, the
film is cloyingly sentimental, and I for one couldn't help
but wonder how the film might have turned out if it had been
Kubrick at the helm rather than Spielberg... I'm not one for
sentimentality for sentimentality's sake and, as such, find
Spielberg's touch too heavy-handed and schmaltzy. My rating
would be 2 out of 5 - a failed attempt at making what could
have been an excellent film in the hands of Stanley Kubrick.
gilesm
nottingham
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