Movies - A.I.

Home > Listing Index > Movies > A.I. (film)

	Movies - A.I.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (actual on-screen title: Artificial Intelligence: A.I.) is a science fiction film that was released in 2001. It was the last project on which filmmaker Stanley Kubrick worked.

Kubrick had long planned to film A.I., but had been putting it off until he was confident that the effects could be handled convincingly, all the while working on the story in close cooperation with Steven Spielberg. After many years of exchanging ideas about the project Kubrick became convinced that this film needed Spielberg's "different kind of sensitivity" and urged him to direct the film. Spielberg finally accepted. Using Kubrick's storyboard, he wrote the script himself. The film has a certain "Kubrick feel" due to widespread use of metaphors and an ethereal score. Kubrick died before the film started shooting - however the film is dedicated to him.

Box office

The film had a reported budget of $100 million (according to ) with a domestic gross of $78,616,689 and an overseas gross of $157,309,863 (for a total worldwide gross of $235,926,552) and ranked (domestically) in 28th place for the year of 2001 (it ranked 16th worldwide).

Partial credits

Haley Joel Osment
as David, a young Mecha
Jude Law
as Gigolo Joe, David's companion and also a Mecha
Frances O'Connor
as Monica Swinton
Brendan Gleeson
as Lord Johnson-Johnson
Sam Robards
as Henry Swinton, David's adopted father
William Hurt
as Professor Allen Hobby, David's creator
Jake Thomas
as Martin Swinton

It was adapted by Kubrick, Ian Watson and Spielberg from the short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long" by Brian Aldiss.

It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Effects, Visual Effects and Best Music, Original Score.

Plot

The story begins in the year 2151, when an ecological disaster has resulted in a drastic reduction of the land area of the Earth and also of the human population.

These problems have been successfully addressed by technology. Androids with very high levels of artificial intelligence (called mechas, short for "mechanisms" as contrasted with orgas for "organisms," i.e. humans) have become commonplace but have been granted no civil rights and must submit to government registration or else be destroyed. While mechas have a level of intelligence comparable to that of humans, they seem to lack emotion. They are also able to simulate certain body functions, such as sexual intercourse, but not others, such as eating or sleeping.

Henry and Monica Swinton are a married couple whose son, Martin, is dying of a rare illness. Hoping for a cure, the Swinson's have their son cryogenically frozen (in which state he has remained for five years). In hopes of cheering up his wife, Henry agrees to his company's offer to let him bring home and test a prototype of an extremely advanced humanoid mecha that looks like a boy about the age of their hospitalized son, and which is supposed to be capable of feeling love. The mecha's name is David (named after the creator's late son) and although Monica is initially frightened of the android, she eventually warms to him after activating his experimental imprinting technology, which makes the mecha feel love for her as a child loves a parent.

The couple's son eventually recovers from his disease and returns from the hospital. This prompts a sibling rivalry between the mecha David and the Swintons' real son, who delights in taunting David, chiefly by telling him that Monica will never love him because he isn't "real". After David by accident nearly drowns the Swintons' son, Monica sets out to return him to the manufacturer. But fearing that David will be dismantled, she instead releases him in the forest of rural New Jersey to live as an unregistered robot, accompanied by his animatronic teddy bear friend, named Teddy. David is soon captured and nearly destroyed by a group of anti-robot activists at an event they organize called a Flesh Fair. He narrowly escapes with the help of Gigolo Joe, a male prostitute mecha, who is on the run after being framed for the murder of one of his clients.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for A.I. (film) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article A.I. (film); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Searches on eBay