A.I: Artificial Intelligence (classic scifi movie retrospective).
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Steven Spielberg’s grand foray into the world of existential dread, moral ambiguity, and—let’s not forget—robotic teddy bears. What better way to spend 146 minutes of your life than by watching a movie where the most relatable character is a mechanical toy that looks like it wandered off the set of Toy Story?
Set in a dystopian future where humanity’s best idea for coping with global warming and overpopulation is to create robots that feel, we meet David, the world’s first android child programmed to love. And by “love,” I mean obsessively attach himself to his adoptive mother in a way that makes you wonder if the creators of this technology ever heard of healthy boundaries. David, played by Haley Joel Osment, is essentially Pinocchio, but with more processing power and fewer chances of turning into a real boy. Of course, no Spielberg film would be complete without some deep-seated emotional trauma. Enter Monica Swinton, who decides to imprint on David after her biological son, Martin, is put on ice due to a rare illness. When Martin is miraculously cured (because of course he is), poor David gets the boot faster than you can say “technological redundancy,” abandoned in the woods like yesterday’s iPhone model. Monica doesn’t even leave a manual behind for him. Classic.
From here, the movie goes from being a poignant family drama to a wild mishmash of sci-fi tropes and philosophical musings. David embarks on a quest to find the Blue Fairy—yes, really—in the hopes that she can turn him into a real boy and make his mum love him again. Along the way, he teams up with Gigolo Joe, played by Jude Law, who, as his name suggests, is a Mecha designed for… adult companionship. Because who wouldn’t want to introduce a childlike android to the world of cyber-brothels and robot sex workers?
Their journey takes them to the neon-lit hellscape of Rouge City, where Dr. Know, a holographic version of Google—voiced by none other than Robin Williams—spouts off cryptic answers in a voice that’s probably the last thing you want to hear when you’re having an existential crisis. From there, they head to the submerged ruins of Manhattan, where David finds his creator, Professor Hobby. It’s here that David has to confront the fact that he’s not special—he’s just one of many mass-produced androids designed to fill the emotional void in broken human lives. Talk about a revelation!
But wait, there’s more! David, in a fit of despair, throws himself into the ocean and ends up trapped under the glacial remains of Coney Island, praying to a statue of the Blue Fairy for 2,000 years. Yes, you read that correctly—2,000 years. And here’s where the film really leans into its Kubrickian weirdness: the human race is extinct, and evolved robots, who look suspiciously like the aliens from Close Encounters of the Third Kind, resurrect David from his watery tomb. They can’t make him human, but they do manage to bring Monica back for one perfect day, because nothing says happy ending like a fleeting illusion of love.
The film ends on a note that’s supposed to be touching, with David lying down next to Monica as she tells him she loves him, just before she dies again. But instead of leaving you warm and fuzzy, it mostly leaves you wondering whether you should feel sorry for a robot or be alarmed at how much you just rooted for one. If you enjoy your science fiction with a side of deep-seated melancholy, and you don’t mind feeling vaguely uncomfortable about the future of AI, A.I. Artificial Intelligence is the movie for you. Just don’t be surprised if you find yourself questioning your own humanity—or at the very least, reconsidering that next tech upgrade.
