A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001) DVD Review – UK

An abandoned robotic boy longs to become real so he can regain the love of his human mother.

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An abandoned robotic boy longs to become real so he can regain the love of his human mother.

Runtime

2 Hours 23 Minutes

Region

Regions 3/4

Sound

Dolby Digital 5.1 EX

Aspect

1.85:1

Release year

2001

Details

In the not-too-distant future, the greenhouse effect has melted the polar ice caps. Rising oceans have swallowed coastal cities and wiped out hundreds of millions of people. With humanity now confined to inland territories, land is scarce and couples must obtain a licence before having a child.

Technology, however, has flourished. Advanced artificial intelligence robots are commonplace and capable of performing almost any task without food or rest. Robotics has become one of the few thriving industries left. One such company decides to fill a rather ambitious gap in the market - a child capable of love.

The prototype is tested on company employee Henry Swinton, whose biological son remains in cryostasis awaiting a cure for an incurable disease. Initially hesitant, Henry and his wife Monica gradually bond with the robotic child, David. Eventually Monica activates the imprinting programme, permanently binding David to her as his "real" mother. All goes well until the real son unexpectedly returns home.

After a series of incidents, David falls out of favour. Rather than returning him to the company for destruction, Monica abandons him in the woods. Having heard the story of Pinocchio, David embarks on a quest to find the Blue Fairy, believing she can turn him into a real boy and restore his mother's love.

Picture & Sound

The picture is rich and colourful, supported by a consistently high bit rate. This is especially evident in the neon-soaked night scenes of Rouge City, where the riot of reds and electric hues could easily overwhelm a lesser transfer. Thankfully, there are no signs of artefacting or edge enhancement. However, some interior scenes - particularly towards the finale - appear overly soft and slightly grainy. Whether this was intentional or simply a limitation of the source material remains unclear.

The CGI work from ILM is undeniably impressive. The partially submerged Manhattan skyline is especially striking, even if the geography might raise an eyebrow or two. If we're being pedantic, would the oceans really rise quite that much? Still, the visual effects clearly consumed a significant portion of the budget, as the film's final act feels comparatively less convincing in its creature design.

The soundtrack is solid, though not as dynamic as one might expect. As a largely dialogue-driven film, much of the activity remains centred in the middle channel. Dialogue is crisp and clear, with modest but effective surround use and a well-balanced score.

The real standout is John Williams' musical score. It is arguably among his finest work and lends the film a haunting, melancholic atmosphere. If you appreciate sweeping orchestral compositions, the soundtrack CD is well worth seeking out.

The Region 1 release includes a DTS soundtrack, whereas the Region 3 (and Region 2) editions offer only Dolby Digital. I've always favoured DTS and would have been curious to hear the difference. Perhaps this omission was a compromise to accommodate additional subtitle tracks across multiple territories.

Menu & Extras

The menu system is attractively animated and scored on both discs, though the animation and music disappear once you descend into the sub-menus. You can't have everything, I suppose, and what is present blends nicely with the film's tone.

The extras appear plentiful at first glance, but in reality they largely consist of one extended documentary segmented into multiple parts. The sections covering special effects and animatronics are genuinely interesting, but the remainder begins to feel repetitive. I was particularly irritated by the Spielberg interviews, where the constant framing of the film as a tribute to Kubrick feels somewhat overstated. Tribute or not, it ultimately feels far more like a Spielberg production than a lost Kubrick masterpiece.

The cast interviews are decent enough, and Haley Joel Osment once again impresses with both his performance and his remarkably articulate press appearances. One does wonder how Hollywood will treat him once he grows out of the child-prodigy phase. The disc is rounded off with trailers, production stills and an abundance of storyboards - possibly more than strictly necessary.

On the positive side, it's refreshing to see a Region 3 release carrying this level of supplementary material. Many Asian DVD releases are notoriously bare-bones, so Warner and DreamWorks deserve credit for attempting some degree of global consistency - DTS omission aside.

The only real disappointment is the flimsy paper packaging. It feels destined to disintegrate after a few uses, and on the Region 3 edition a large chunk of back-cover artwork has been sacrificed for the finger cut-out. Design vandalism at its finest.

Overall

After all the hype, I found myself slightly underwhelmed. Spielberg repeatedly emphasised the film's Kubrick origins, yet the finished product bears only faint traces of Kubrick's colder, more analytical style. Instead, it plays like a familiar Spielberg blend of sentimentality and wonder - part E.T., part Close Encounters, with a dash of Blade Runner thrown in for good measure.

The film undoubtedly tackles important themes about artificial intelligence and humanity's future, and it certainly gives you plenty to think about. Unfortunately, the more you think about it, the more muddled it becomes. Questions are raised but rarely answered, and the extended ending only compounds the confusion - particularly when accompanied by Spielberg's closing remarks.

One unintentionally amusing moment comes near the end (skip ahead if you wish to avoid spoilers), when the evolved beings praise humanity's brilliance. Yes, brilliance - the same species that flooded the planet and wiped itself out. Still, at least we managed to invent intelligent robots before we left.

If you're looking for a more focused exploration of artificial intelligence, you may prefer Bicentennial Man. For all its ambition, A.I. never quite reconciles its competing identities - Kubrick's cautionary tale and Spielberg's fairy tale - and ends up suspended somewhere in between.