A.I.: Artificial Intelligence / YMMV

Alternative Character Interpretation:
- Martin as a Jerkass Woobie. 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 Robot Kid. Jerkass tendencies may well be justified or at least understandable there.
- 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.
- Is Lord Johnson-Johnson just an impresario making a living by destroying advanced machinery (and preaching his Luddite worldview), or is he a sadistic killer? It all depends on how "human", or at least how sentient, you think the mecha are.
- 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 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?
- 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?
  - This can make the whole movie frustrating, as its premise appears to be that David is "more human" than other robots, but in many ways he seems less able to understand and adapt to circumstances than Gigolo Joe and Teddy are. Which could be a thematic point, the less-human-internally character being treated as more human simply because he can replicate certain cues that inspire sympathy, but that doesn't seem to be the angle the movie is taking, given the ending which goes to ridiculous lengths to reward David.
- It's not hard to see David during his tantrums and struggles, as less of 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 his total selfishness when he drags the long-dead woman (he's supposed to love), back to life, for a mere 24 hours before she dies again. Damned be the consequences.
Award Snub: It received Oscar nominations for Music and Visual Effects. The somewhat mixed critical reception and its status as a science fiction film likely prevented nominations for Best Picture, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Actor for Haley Joel Osment or Supporting Actor for Jude Law.
Broken Base: 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.
Common Knowledge: 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 Word of God has repeatedly stated that they're just the highly evolved descendants of the mecha.
Complete Monster: Lord Johnson-Johnson is the host of the Flesh Fair, an event where mechas are ripped apart and destroyed for the entertainment of human spectators. He is 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".
Ending Fatigue: Some believe that the movie should have ended with David continuously wishing to be a real boy to the carnival Blue Fairy underwater (and still others feel it should have ended 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 Book Ends to the opening Time Skip (20 months between the board meeting and the Swintons adopting David, 2000 years After the End).
Ensemble Dark Horse: Gigolo Jane only appears for a few seconds, but has gained a lot of attention from certain audience members due to being played by Ashley Scott in sexy spandex.
Esoteric Happy Ending: What's David going to do when his mother's one day alive is over?
- The implication appears to be that he dies once the fantasy ends, thus the lights going out as a cut to black.
Fandom-Enraging Misconception:
- The machine entities at the end 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.
- 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.
Harsher in Hindsight: 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.
He Really Can Act: Haley Joel Osment seamlessly transitions from an Uncanny Valley robot to a lost and unstable child desperate to find his mother.
Hilarious in Hindsight: David finally finds the Blue Fairy after eleven years.
- Gigolo Joe's deliberately over-the-top makeup job was designed to make him look unnaturally perfect, like a Ken doll, so that his job as a prostitute would come across as intentionally creepy. Fast forward 18 years, and he's a dead ringer for "male beauty" cosmetics icon James Charles, whose makeup is, if anything, even campier than Joe's.
- On a similar note, it's also been pointed out that Joe also looks uncannily similar to a young Robbie Rotten, right down to the hairstyle.
Mis-blamed: 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 Signature Style as a tribute.
Narm: Teddy telling David "You will break!" when David's about to eat spinach. It's supposed to be a warning, but with his deep robotic voice, it sounds more like a cartoonishly evil threat.
Older Than They Think: Pinocchio with robots? The idea's been done as early as the 1950s, thanks to Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy, which Kubrick was a fan of.
One-Scene Wonder:
- Gigolo Jane, played by Ashley Scott, 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.
- Sheila, the mecha secretary who appears in the opening scene, played by Sabrina Grdevich, is remembered by many for having her face open up, revealing that she's not actually human.
- Dr. Know, played with the typical Robin Williams enthusiasm.
- A case that returns for a second scene is William Hurt as the creator of the robots with feelings.
- 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.
Retroactive Recognition: Know why that one kid in the car that picked up David and Joe looked so familiar? Because Vince is doing the movie, yo!
- Agent Coulson and Miles Straume working for Thaddeus "Thunder" Ross.
Ugly Cute: Or ugly, uh, perhaps more than cute. Jude Law was slathered in Uncanny Valley Makeup 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 "I want one" or "I wish he was real."
Viewer Species Confusion: The Specialists have been mistaken for aliens by viewers, but are in fact ultra sophisticated mecha with long silicon limbs and bulbous, faceless heads.
Vindicated by History:
- The film was viewed as good, but not as highly received as Kubrick's previous films, 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.
- Notably, Roger Ebert 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.
- 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.
Visual Effects of Awesome: As expected from a Spielberg sci-fi movie. The home video packaging emphasizes three cases, the secretary's Robotic Reveal, the FemMecha Nanny, and the 'Vegas on steroids' that is Rouge City.
The Woobie:
- David is a Robot Kid 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. 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.
- 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.

YMMV / A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

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