Line #46 YMMV/AIArtificialIntelligence


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2	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
3	** Martin as a JerkassWoobie. Think about it: the kid comes out of the cryogenic coma he was in, only to find out his parents have replaced him with a RobotKid. JerkAss tendencies may well be justified or at least understandable there.
4	** Also, most kids push technology, computers, video games, etc to their limits trying to find loopholes and ways to manipulate the programming, so as far as Martin's friends are concerned, when they torment David by the poolside, they're just testing advanced technology.
5	** Is Lord Johnson-Johnson just an impresario making a living by destroying advanced machinery (and preaching his [[{{Technophobia}} Luddite]] worldview), or is he a sadistic killer? It all depends on how "human", or at least how sentient, you think the mecha are.
6	** Likewise the crowd at the Flesh Fair revolt when Lord Johnson-Johnson wants to destroy David, a robot who looks like a realistic human boy, but they didn't once feel remorse for [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute the non-cute and far less human looking robots]]. Is Johnson correct when he says that David is another Robot and fair game for the fair regardless of how human he looks? Are the crowds awakened to the monstrosity of their appetites when they revolt to save David?
7	** An ''intentional'' example for David himself: is his childish innocence a genuine act of free will or is he innocent simply because he is ''programmed'' to be that way?
8	** It's not hard to see David during his tantrums and struggles, as less of [[NotAllowedToGrowUp a tragic victim of circumstance]], and more of a ''spoiled brat'' when his "love-centric programming" is thwarted. Take for example when he finds another robot of the same name and model as him, and he destroys it in anger, even though it has just as much potential to be “alive” as him. The ending cements [[ItsAllAboutMe his total selfishness]] [[spoiler: when he drags the long-dead woman (he's supposed to love), back to life, ''[[ResurrectionSickness for a mere 24 hours before she dies again]]''. Damned be the consequences]].
9	* AwardSnub: It received Oscar nominations for Music and Visual Effects. The somewhat mixed critical reception and its [[SciFiGhetto status as a science fiction film]] likely prevented nominations for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Actor for Creator/HaleyJoelOsment or Supporting Actor for Jude Law.
10	* BrokenBase: Among fans of the film, there is a disagreement whether the time-skip ending improves the film or weakens it. The film itself was this for the longest time in regards to Spielberg's work and a huge amount of {{Misblamed}} over how he "screwed" Kubrick's vision.
11	* CommonKnowledge: If you've heard the complaints about the movie's ending, you've likely heard them centered around the sheer stupidity of "aliens showing up to fix everything at the last minute". Actually, the creatures in the final scene are never said to be aliens, and WordOfGod has repeatedly stated that they're just the highly evolved descendants of the mecha.
12	* CompleteMonster: [[FantasticRacism Lord Johnson-Johnson]] is the host of the Flesh Fair, an event where [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman mechas are ripped apart and destroyed for the entertainment of human spectators]]. He is [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduced]] hunting down mechas for the Fair, capturing David in the process. When the people in the crowd refuse to hurt David due to him heavily resembling and emoting like a real boy, Lord Johnson-Johnson tries to encourage the crowd to do so under the pretext of "destroying artificiality".
13	* EndingFatigue: Some believe that the movie should have ended [[spoiler: with David continuously wishing to be a real boy to the carnival Blue Fairy underwater]] (and still others feel it should have ended [[spoiler: with David committing suicide]])... but it kept going... and going. In either case the ending fits the general picaresque narrative structure of the film (which Kubrick insisted on, describing the constant changes and movements from the original Pinocchio novel). Likewise it served as BookEnds to the opening TimeSkip (20 months between the board meeting and the Swintons adopting David, 2000 years AfterTheEnd).
14	* EnsembleDarkHorse: Gigolo Jane only appears for a few seconds, [[MsFanservice but has gained a lot of attention from certain audience members due to being played by Ashley Scott in sexy spandex.]]
15	* EsotericHappyEnding: What's David going to do when [[spoiler:his mother's one day alive is over]]?
16	* FandomEnragingMisconception:
17	** The machine entities at the end [[CommonKnowledge are not aliens.]] They're robots who have evolved through upgrading themselves continuously over the course of 2000 years until they're so advanced that they're practically living beings.
18	** Another is that, for the last time, '''Spielberg DID NOT add that infamous final part!''' As later on revealed, ''Kubrick'' was the one who wanted the film to have that particular ending and Spielberg keeping it the way it was to honor his deceased friend.
19	* HarsherInHindsight: Scenes of frozen, distant-future New York City include the twin towers of the World Trade Center poking out of the ice. Spielberg made a conscious decision to leave them in, knowing he would take flak for it either way. Cinemas though (including outside America - the UK was affected) did have signs put up making them aware that footage of the towers featured in case of accidental offense.
20	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Haley Joel Osment seamlessly transitions from an UncannyValley robot to a lost and unstable child desperate to find his mother.
21	* HilariousInHindsight:
22	** David finally finds the Blue Fairy [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance after eleven years]].
23	** Gigolo Joe's [[UncannyValleyMakeup deliberately over-the-top]] makeup job was designed to make him look [[UncannyValley unnaturally perfect]], like a Ken doll, so that his job as a prostitute would come across as [[FetishRetardant intentionally creepy]]. Fast forward 18 years, and he's a dead ringer for "male beauty" cosmetics icon James Charles, whose makeup is, if anything, [[NotSoCrazyAnymore even campier than Joe's.]]
24	** On a similar note, it's also been pointed out that Joe also looks ''uncannily'' similar to a young [[Series/LazyTown Robbie Rotten]], right down to the hairstyle.
25	* MisBlamed: Many believe that Kubrick intended the film to be a very dark and moody story, and that Spielberg rewrote it into a lighthearted "Pinnochio with robots" story after his death. In reality, the bulk of the story, including the infamous ending, was written by Kubrick, while the darker segments like the Flesh Fair were added by Spielberg. Indeed, the two were close friends, and it's theorized that both were attempting to emulate the other's SignatureStyle as a tribute.
26	* {{Narm}}: Teddy telling David "You will break!" when David's about to eat spinach. It's supposed to be a warning, but with his [[VoiceOfTheLegion deep robotic voice]], it sounds more like a cartoonishly evil threat.
27	* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Pinocchio'' with robots? The idea's been done as early as the 1950s, thanks to [[Creator/OsamuTezuka Osamu Tezuka's]] ''Manga/AstroBoy'', which Kubrick was a fan of.
28	* OneSceneWonder:
29	** Gigolo Jane, played by Creator/AshleyScott, only appears for barely a minute but makes quite the impression and was featured a lot on the film's promotional materials and ads, and then on the dvd/blu-ray packaging and menu images.
30	** Sheila, the mecha secretary who appears in the opening scene, played by Sabrina Grdevich, is remembered by many for having her face open up, [[RoboticReveal revealing that she's not actually human]].
31	** Dr. Know, played with the typical Creator/RobinWilliams enthusiasm.
32	** A case that returns for a second scene is Creator/WilliamHurt as the creator of the robots with feelings.
33	** While the ending remains divisive, Ben Kingsley as the leader of the Specialists that revive David and reunite him with Monica make quite an impression due to his performance infusing what could have simply been an alien beyond humanity with warmth and kindness.
34	* RetroactiveRecognition:
35	** Know why [[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004978/ that one kid]] in the car that picked up David and Joe looked so familiar? Because [[Series/{{Entourage}} Vince is doing the movie, yo!]]
36	** [[Creator/ClarkGregg Agent Coulson]] and [[Creator/KenLeung Miles Straume]] working for [[Creator/WilliamHurt Thaddeus "Thunder" Ross]].
37	* UglyCute: Or ugly, uh, perhaps more than ''cute''. Jude Law was slathered in UncannyValleyMakeup to make Gigolo Joe look like a creepy life-sized Ken doll, but watch the movie with a group of straight women, and count how many of them say something to the effect of "[[PerverseSexualLust I want one]]" or "I wish he was real."
38	* ViewerSpeciesConfusion: The Specialists have been mistaken for aliens by viewers, but are in fact ultra sophisticated mecha with long silicon limbs and bulbous, faceless heads.
39	* VindicatedByHistory:
40	** The film was viewed as good, but not as highly received as Kubrick's previous films, [[MisBlamed with some of the blame being given to Spielberg's "meddling"]]. However, that response has softened since and the film has been received along with Kubrick's others as a masterpiece, a pattern that been carried with almost all of his filmography.
41	** Notably, Creator/RogerEbert initially gave it a score of 3 stars out of 4, and criticized the ending, but since included it in his "Great Movies" list. Ebert admitted he struggled with the premise since as a Catholic he felt David and the other robots couldn’t have souls.
42	** Also, what might have helped was the revelation that Kubrick was largely responsible for the film's ending, and Spielberg did his best to incorporate it. Truth be told, it really was an ambitious project between two very different directors, as well as a heartwarming sendoff from one friend to another.
43	* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: As expected from a Spielberg sci-fi movie. The home video packaging emphasizes three cases, the secretary's RoboticReveal, [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0212720/mediaviewer/rm384905216/ the FemMecha Nanny]], and the 'Vegas on steroids' that is Rouge City.
44	* TheWoobie:
45	** David is a RobotKid who was made to imprint on and love his human mother unconditionally, and is then abandoned for reasons he doesn't understand. He tries so hard to find a way of becoming a "real boy" so that she'll love him. [[spoiler:He discovers that he was never special and unique, just a mass-produced model of child robot. He tries to kill himself when he learns this, but ends up frozen in ice for thousands of years, and the closest he gets to a happy ending is spending a single day with a recreation of his mother, after which (depending on one's interpretation of the ending) he either goes to sleep forever, or wakes up to a completely uncertain future.]]
46	** The broken-down and abandoned mechas at the Flesh Fair, who did absolutely nothing to deserve being tortured and ripped apart for the sadistic enjoyment of the fairgoers.

Context YMMV / AIArtificialIntelligence