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Artificial Intelligence: AI

In the not-so-far future the polar ice caps have melted and the resulting raise of the ocean waters has drowned all the coastal cities of the world. Withdrawn to the interior of the continents, the human race keeps advancing, reaching to the point of creating realistic robots (called mechas) to serve him. One of the mecha-producing companies builds David, an artificial kid which is the first to have real feelings, especially a never-ending love for his "mother", Monica. Monica is the woman who adopted him as a substitute for her real son, who remains in cryo-stasis, stricken by an incurable disease. David is living happily with Monica and her husband, but when their real son returns home after a cure is discovered, his life changes dramatically. A futuristic adaptation of the tale of Pinocchio, with David being the "fake" boy who desperately wants to become "real". Written by Chris Makrozahopoulos {makzax@hotmail.com} 

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Earl Duncan Laing

In my opinion, the movie AI is not one of Stephen Spielberg’s better films. AI: Artificial Intelligence tells the story of a young robot boy named David. David is a one of a kind and very special mecha. He is the first mecha that has been built in the form of a child, but more importantly he is the first mecha to be designed with the ability to love. David is taken in by Henry and Monica Swinton, a married couple whose son, Martin, is dying of a rare illness. Monica is at first very skeptical of the idea of taking David in, but in time falls begins to love the young robot as if he was her own son. However, when a sudden turn of events happens, and the Swinton’s son Martin makes a miraculous recovery, everything begins to change for David. Due to the dangers the Swinton’s feel David possesses toward there son, they decide to turn him loose in the wild and tell him to never return to their home. This is a huge emotional blow to David, and he and his small mecha Teddy, begin to journey to find the Blue Fairy, who David believes can turn him into a real boy. This journey takes David to many places and eventually many years into the future. The only thing that was appealing to the movie AI, were the special effects. As we have found with many of our robot movies, the special effects are phenomenal. The way in which the robots are designed and disguised as humans is especially cool in my opinion.  I also think that the relationships between humans and robots are very amusing.  There are robots used for everyday purposes, but there are also more detailed robots that are designed for specific purposes such as sexual satisfaction.  The plot of the movie kept me interested for only a short while.  I felt that if the movie was shorter and possibly a little bit more action packed it would have actually been pretty good.  However, the length and lack of action were the movies true downfall.  The plot wasn't very difficult to follow but the lack of substance made the movie feel almost incomplete and unfinished.  The reality of this movie is actually quite real.  I feel that in the future humans will be able to create robots much like the ones in AI.  While the robots were incredibly complex and truly facinating, it is not impossible for humans to create such a thing when the proper technology becomes available.  Overall, I felt that AI had its strong points but the lack of substance in the plot just made the movie an incredibly big yawn. 

Overall Rating:  5/10

Jeanne-Claire White

Artificial Intelligence: AI takes the meaning of robots to a whole new level. The main character is David, a child robot who has feelings and is programmed to love. Although a family adopted David, they discard him in the woods when their real son is no longer ill. However, since David understands emotions, he feels like he is not loved because he is not human. The rest of the movie is about his plight to become a “real boy”, an idea that he learns about from the fairy tale “Pinocchio.” In David’s adventure, he struggles to find the Blue Fairy, to avoid the cruelty of the humans at Flesh Fair, and to find his family again. The characters in this film are separated into the Mechas (robots) and orgas (humans). The Mechas look exactly like humans and are capable of performing all human tasks. In my opinion, there are not as much special effects in the movie since the robots are played by humans in real life. Artificial Intelligence is very interesting and thought provoking because it reveals the problem of robots taking over and out-numbering humans.

Mike Wittmer

Steven Spielberg spun a new twist on the old “robot movie.”  Robots aren’t taking over the world or used for mass death and destruction, but take on a new role: people.  Robots are simply designed to fill spots in society that are considered less than desirable. David is the first of his kind, a child who is made to love.  David goes on a journey to “become a real boy” in a futuristic retelling of the Pinocchio story. I think is one of the more realistic attempts at portraying robots than previous movies we have seen and at the same time has a few stretches especially relating to the ending.     

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