Note: There ARE spoilers in this entry, but I've seperated them, so you can read my feelings on the movie seperate from any specifics.

Jenn and I went to see AI, the new Kubrik/Speilberg movie about a mechanical boy who can love. First, let me say, the movie has very high production value. The visuals are great, the effects are great, the actors are good to great, but it's the story that really hurts.

Now, the story isn't a bad story in the technical sense. As stories go, it's a fine story, but the problem with it is it's extremely depressing from beginning to end. It's not a date movie, and I certainly would NOT recommend taking your children to see it.

Spoilers begin:

The reason why the story is depressing is because it is the story of Pinnochio, except in a world without magic. Which means they can make the little wooden boy who moves and talks, except the boy can never be real, because that little bit of magic cannot be replaced with science. David, the little mecha-boy, is programmed to love and is imprinted to love a woman, his new mother. Due to circumstances that could have been avoided by Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics *smirk*, she has to get rid of David. Now, once David has been imprinted to her, they can't just reset him to love someone else, he has to be destroyed. However, she can't bring herself to take him to be destroyed, so she drops him off in the forest without much of an explanation.

To David, of course, this means his mommy doesn't love him because he's not a real boy like his mommy's other son. His mommy... the only person in the entire world that he loves... the only person that matters to him. So, he sets off on a quest to find the Blue Fairy (from Pinnochio) to make him a real boy. This is where it gets worse and worse. You KNOW it's not possible, but David's big eyes are full of hope that he will find the Blue Fairy and she will make him a real boy so his mommy will love him again. It's just 2+ hours of a little window into the tortured life of David. Every time you think it can't get any worse, they do something else to remind you that David's world is going to be crushed and there is nothing you can do about it. You have to just sit and watch him walk down the path that leads to ultimate disappointment. Of course, the whole way through, he is absolutely hopeful with his big eyes and bright smile, which just makes it worse.

I will never see that movie again.