In a futuristic world where humanity barely survived major global catastrophes, a need arose for the creation of intelligent robotic creatures, meccas, who consumed no resources and helped humanity flourish again. Thus artificial intelligence was born, but when does artificial beings become real humans. This is the thin line that the Steven Spielberg film, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, walks.  The film follows a mecca boy named David who is the first mecca with the capability to love as he searches for the Blue Fairy from the Pinocchio fairy tale in his quest to become a real boy so that his mother will love him back.

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence was a project that was worked on by Stanley Kubrick dating back to the 1980s. Kubrick took the idea from a short story by Brian Aldiss, but could never get the film into production because the effects in Hollywood at the time were not up to speed. In 1993, when Kubrick saw Jurassic Park, directed by his good friend Steven Spielberg, he realized that the special effects were finally at a level that he could produce A.I. and do justice to the film. He recruited Spielberg to help out on the film and eventually Spielberg took over the film. Spielberg began filming a year after Kubrick’s unfortunate death, and it was released in 2001.

A video from Movies with Mikey tells about the production switch from Kubrick to Spielberg. This video has the opinion that A.I.: Artificial Intelligence should not be viewed as another Spielberg film, but it should really be viewed as the last Kubrick film ever made. The unconventional story arc and character stories does indeed play to this idea that the film reeks more of Kubrick than of Spielberg. The adaption of David, who is only a robot and should have no emotional connections, is truly a very Kubrick-like character. The audience really grows to connect for David and wish for his happiness throughout the film. The mecca gladiator scene is another example of part of the film that one would expect from Kubrick rather than Spielberg.

The DVD review by DVD Talk shows the differences between the two directors saying, “In many ways, they were polar opposites: Kubrick labored for years on a project, working it to perfection, distancing himself from business concerns and ticket sales; Spielberg worked fast and with great technical acumen.” The review also discusses how Spielberg was considered the “king of the box office,” while Kubrick always spent extra time to make his films the way he wanted it to be.

This film turned out to be a spectacular mixture of the two directors different styles, with a big box office anticipation, but also with very unconventional aspects that resulted in the film having very mixed reviews at opening. The film cost an estimated $100 million and only brought in $236 million. Although the film was profitable, it did not make as much money as Spielberg expected and was considered a flop by the standards of the industry. A lot of the audience didn’t understand the film as the warning of creating artificial intelligence that it was.

The trailer of the film showed a dark futuristic world where it seems as though the humans are waging a war with the mecca. This advertising was done to attract viewers who want to see a robotic war. The trailer has deeper aspects to it as well and does hint to the Pinocchio theme, but the trailer alludes to much more action than the film has. The poster of the film doesn’t allude to action, but features a futuristic theme with robotics at the forefront. The poster is more consistent and true to the film than the trailer.

As the years passed, the film has matured very well and reviewers, such as Robert Ebert, has changed their opinions of the film and given it more praise later on. In Ebert’s 2001 review he praises only the effects, but says that the man vs. machine storyline does not give us the feelings that David should be considered real. Ten years later in Ebert’s 2011 review, he changed his mind and praised the film’s ability to humanize the meccas and said that the film isn’t about humans at all, but “it is about the dilemma of artificial intelligence.”

A.I. Artificial Intelligence touches on a tough subject that is going to be very prevalent in the near future. Is there danger in making robotics with the same capabilities for emotions that humans have? If a robot is programmed to love, could a human ever love it back? What really makes us human? It can be argued that when David showed fear in the face of death at the Flesh Fair, he was already human. His search to become a real boy was an adventure that only needed to happen because people couldn’t see that he was already one of them.