AI, The Movie

WARNER BROTHERS, 2001

My son, who worked on the production, took us to see AI the day it opened.

I detested all of the human characters, can't think of a reason in the world that the robot kid should love the cold, neurotic parents...and I think the action was largely nonsensical and arbitrary. Why did David pull the bratty human brother into the water? Why did he smash his own likeness? What was all that rubbish from William Hurt about this being the only way to get David back? Was Hurt's lab really there in the flooded skyscrapers?

Despite the elaborate sets, I had claustrophobia through the picture; nothing opened up enough to give me a sense of where we were. What were those moronic wolf motorcycles doing in whatever century that was? That's Roger Corman quality stuff without Roger's valid explanation that he's working with no money.

The robot-smashing carnival was more or less unaccountable. I can see the anti-technology movement getting violent that way, but the affair was contrived and unsatisfactory, a sort of more expensive Mad Max arena.

They raised issues about emotions in robots, then never really addressed them. What did the revived, then dying mother do to deserve the kid's love? Did the strange aliens at the end program her to reward the kid for his devotion?

Mind you, I do expect robots to have feelings, show emotion, and respond to persuasion rather than outright commands, as you well know. (I can't see, either, why God is forbidden to put souls in robots if he feels like it; serving the same purpose as putting souls in human animals, if that is indeed what happens. Why not?)

The movie was grim, cruel, and tiresome in many ways, without revealing any helpful insights. It's a muddle of not very imaginative ideas awkwardly rendered.

The Osment boy was great. Jude Law was excellent. The Blue Fairy was more likable than any of the people. It will probably make a heap of money, and be stimulating to zillions of people who have never thought about any of this.

I did like the teddy bear, which seems more like the sort of robot I look forward to. I still can't imagine why anybody expects robots to be close copies of human beings. As I have said to the point of being boring, we are extremely good at judging the condition, mood, and intentions of other people. Anything "wrong" scares us. The robots are bound to be not quite right much of the time, thus constantly scary... but who has expectations of a teddy bear?

It's a terrible movie, interesting to look at, but a bag of cheap tricks, shallow characters, shallow ideas, and inconsistencies. Trash. Very expensive, handsome trash, but trash. Aaargh.

Nelson Winkless

July 2001

[Nelson Winkless is the author of two of the earliest books on personal robots;  Robots on Your Doorstep and If I Had a Robot.  I asked Nelson recently if he had seen the new movie, AI.  His response appears here with only the slightest editing, by himself, from his original response to me.  Nelson and I are steadfast in our shared belief that robots created or produced in the image of man are a next-to-meaningless and limited pursuit in comparison to the wondrous forms and capabilities we will see in the diversity of robots that mankind will eventually create as both companions and helpmates.   -- Joe Bosworth]