History Film / AIArtificialIntelligence

** As noted when Allen Hobby announces his plan for a robot that can love humans, a staff researcher points out that creating such a being would imply a reciprocal exchange of love from humanity back to their robots. The Swinton family cannot love David more than they love their actual human son, while David is compelled to eternally love and seek the love of his parents.

Released in 2001, this adaptation of the Creator/BrianAldiss short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" had started development under Kubrick in the early 1970s, under a long series of writers hired by Kubrick himself to try to bring his vision to life (even Aldiss himself), but had languished in DevelopmentHell for years due to the limitations of CGI, which Kubrick believed would be necessary to bring the childlike robot hero to life. Eventually, the film treatment was written by Ian Watson (of ''Literature/InquisitionWar'' fame), and in 1995 Kubrick handed over the project to Spielberg, but it continued to languish until Kubrick's death in 1999. Spielberg directed the film and also wrote the screenplay from Watson's treatment, one of only two Spielberg films he wrote as well as directed (the other being ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'').

What do you get when you cross a Creator/StevenSpielberg movie with a Creator/StanleyKubrick movie?

You get ''A.I.: Artificial Intelligence''.

In the 22nd century, global disasters have drastically reduced the human population. In an effort to maintain human society, humanlike androids called mechas are developed and programmed to simulate humanlike behavior and emotions. Among them is an advanced prototype named David (Creator/HaleyJoelOsment), a [[RobotKid child robot]] with the ability to virtually feel love, rather than simulate the appropriate behaviors. The Cybertronics company tests out David on two of its workers, Henry and Monica Swinton, whose son Martin has been placed under suspended animation until a cure can be found for his rare disease. Though Monica is initially afraid of this artificial child, she eventually warms to him after activating his imprinting protocol, which irreversibly causes him to feel love for his new "mother".

* FailsafeFailure: Shortly after Martin is cured, he's having a party with his friends, and the kids decide it would be a hilarious idea to test David's personal safety subroutines. [[WhatAnIdiot Right next to the pool]][[invoked]]. They do this by gently approaching his arm with a knife, at which point he takes a death grip on Martin and begs him to "Keep me safe", which freaks out Martin, overbalancing them both into the pool and nearly drowning Martin.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: It rates a 5. Even though almost all of the violence is directed at robots, it's still a bit on the brutal side, with all the destruction at the Flesh Fair and [[spoiler:David (Haley Joel Osment) bashing the face off of and decapitating his replica]].

** [[spoiler: Other!David, who protagonist David destroys on the spot insisting he is the real one. Professor Hobby doesn't even acknowledge this. Granted, it's obvious that David isn't coming back and probably wasn't even imprinted (he behaves as David did before his own imprinting), but you'd think Hobby would at least care that David just beat another copy of himself into spare parts in a jealous rage.]]

* NarratorAllAlong: [[spoiler: One of the future robots.]]

* AdultFear: David is saved from the flesh fair because the crowd isn't convinced he's not a real boy. Apparently a child had gone missing, so they turned on the organizer instead when he tried to prove David is a robot by throwing a bucket of acid onto him. In particular, several mothers in the crowd are very disturbed by David's frantic crying.

* FamousLastWords: "I am! I was!" [[spoiler:Gigolo Joe - at least from David's POV.]]

** Whether intentional or not the film has a few Disney related references, some blatant, others subtle. There's the entire [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio Pinocchio]] plot but then we have Monica (David's mother) playing "Once Upon a Dream" from ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'' to her '''cryogenically frozen son'''... She's then also humming the tune later before going to a party with her husband and as they're leaving her shoe slips in a ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'' moment. There is a possible reference to ''Film/{{Tron}}'', the bikers sent to collect robots for the flesh lights are on Tron-esque bikes and have TronLines.
** Gigolo Joe dancing down the street and on a puddle is a ShoutOut to ''Film/SinginInTheRain''. This may, by extension, be a Shout Out to ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' which very prominently featured the title song.
** When Johnson-Johnson is rounding up the stray robots, he repeatedly calls out "Any old iron!" This is an in-joke, as that was a phrase that junkmen used to call out in the streets in Great Britain's earlier days, and actually became the title of a famous turn-of the century [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4GdWK_WoNs music hall hit.]]

* GoOutWithASmile: The Nanny-bot smiles at David before being melted at the flesh fair.
%%** [[spoiler:David, at the end.]]

* FloodedFutureWorld: The backstory has ClimateChange destroying Earth's ecosystems and causing sea levels to rise by a hundred meters. Most of the Third World is effectively uninhabitable, while the rich nations managed to use their advanced technology to survive.

* InNameOnly: David in the short story looks three, not ten, and the Swintons have him as a test run for when they have a real son, rather than as a replacement for an already born son. David's nature is the TwistEnding of the story. Everything that happens afterward in the movie is more inspired by ''{{Literature/Pinocchio}}''. Also, human-looking robots are a new thing that is not commercially available yet (a butler-robot is about to hit the market in the story, though [[AnimalMecha robot pets]] are popular).

* InNameOnly: David in the short story looks three, not ten, and the Swintons have him as a test run for when they have a real son, rather than as a replacement for an already born son. David's nature is the TwistEnding of the story. Everything that happens afterward in the movie is more inspired by ''{{Literature/Pinocchio}}''. Also, human-looking robots are a new thing that is not commercially available yet (a butler-robot is about to hit the market in the story, though [[AnimalMecha robot pets]] are popular.

* InNameOnly: David in the short story looks three, not ten, and the Swintons have him as a test run for when they have a real son, rather than as a replacement for an already born son. David's nature is the TwistEnding of the story. Everything that happens afterward in the movie is more inspired by ''{{Literature/Pinocchio}}''. Other notable differences are that, in the short story, the world is ''over''populated rather than underpopulated[[note]]The Swintons live in an appartment that uses screens to look like a house in the suburbs, rather than in a house, and couples cannot have children until they win the government's lotto.[[/note]], and human-looking robots are a new thing that is not commercially available yet (a butler-robot is about to hit the market in the story, though [[AnimalMecha robot pets]] are popular).

* InNameOnly: David in the short story looks three, not ten, and the Swintons have him as a test run for when they have a real son, rather than as a replacement for an already born son. David's nature is the TwistEnding of the story. Everything that happens afterward in the movie is more inspired by ''{{Literature/Pinocchio}}''. Other notable differences are that, in the short story, the world is ''over''populated rather than underpopulated, and human-looking robots are a new thing that is not commercially available yet (a butler-robot is about to hit the market in the story, though [[AnimalMecha robot pets]] are popular).

* AdaptationExpansion: The only things in common with Brian Aldiss' short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" are the Swinton parents, Teddy, and David... who in the story looks three, not ten, and the Swintons have as a test run for when they have a real son, rather than as a replacement for an already born son. David's nature is the TwistEnding of the story. Everything that happens afterward in the movie is more inspired by ''{{Literature/Pinocchio}}''.

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: The short story misses the problems listed under IdiotPlot, by having the Swintons get David before they have a "real" child.

* TheCameo

** Creator/BenKingsley is the narrator [[spoiler:and the Advanced Mecha leader.]] He also appears makes an on-screen appearance as a technician in a scene where David is repaired after eating spinach.

%% ZCE * GoOutWithASmile:
%%** The Nanny-bot at the flesh fair.

* AdaptationExpansion: Brian Aldiss' original story largely comprises the film's first act, and only some elements are taken from it.

However, disaster strikes after Martin is cured, leaving David cast off and alone with his mechanical teddy bear companion Teddy, searching for his place in the world, ultimately embarking on a journey to find his own humanity alongside Gigolo Joe (Jude Law), a "love mecha" also on the run after one of his clients is killed.

Released in 2001, this adaptation of the Creator/BrianAldiss short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" had started development under Kubrick in the early 1970s, under a long series of writers hired by Kubrick himself to try to bring his vision to life (even Aldiss himself), but had languished in DevelopmentHell for years due to the limitations of CGI, which Kubrick believed would be necessary to bring the childlike robot hero to life. Eventually, the film treatment was written by Ian Watson (of ''Literature/InquisitonWar'' fame), and in 1995 Kubrick handed over the project to Spielberg, but it continued to languish until Kubrick's death in 1999. Spielberg directed the film and also wrote the screenplay from Watson's treatment, one of only two Spielberg films he wrote as well as directed (the other being ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'').

Released in 2001, this adaptation of the Creator/BrianAldiss short story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" had started development under Kubrick in the early 1970s, under a long series of writers hired by Kubrick himself to try to bring his vision to life (even Aldiss himself), but had languished in DevelopmentHell for years due to the limitations of CGI, which Kubrick believed would be necessary to bring the childlike robot hero to life. Finally, the film treatment was written by Creator/IanWatson and in 1995 Kubrick handed over the project to Spielberg, but it continued to languish until Kubrick's death in 1999. Spielberg directed the film and also wrote the screenplay from Watson's treatment, one of only two Spielberg films he wrote as well as directed (the other being ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'').