by Frank Calvillo
Box Office Alternatives
Box Office Alternatives is a weekly look into additional/optional choices to the big-budget spectacle opening up at your local movie theater every Friday. Oftentimes, titles will consist of little-known or underappreciated work from the same actor/writer/director/producer of said new release, while at other times, my selection for the week just happens to touch upon the same subject in a unique way. Above all, this is a place to revisit and/or discover forgotten cinematic gems of all kinds.
After an extremely long wait, the long-gestating third Jurassic Park sequel, Jurassic World, opened on Friday. The film could easily be called the most anticipated of the summer, even eclipsing The Avengers massive marketing push to become one of the most talked about blockbusters in recent memory.
For years there had been talk about another installment in the technically groundbreaking series following a first sequel that was decidedly hit and miss and a second which missed altogether.
Despite the quality of the Jurassic Park sequels, the films themselves have never ceased to bring back millions at the box office. Audiences have continuously been taken by the effects and scares that Steven Spielberg and his team can so seamlessly conjure, and with Jurassic World, it appears that both elements have been amped up to unprecedented levels of entertaining suspense.
Spielberg opted not to direct Jurassic World, but rather serve as the films executive producer, owing to other film commitments. It’s a similar case of what happened last time when Spielberg gave up directing duties on Jurassic Park III to helm one of his more personal projects; the innovative and touching A.I. Artificial Intelligence.
Taking place in the very distant future, A.I. Artificial Intelligence tells the story of a robot in the form of a young boy named David (Haley Joel Osment) who is given as a prototype to Henry and Monica (Sam Robards and Frances O’Connor); a married couple whose own son has been hospitalized with a life-threatening illness.
Following some initial adjustments, Monica and David form an unshakable mother and son bond, which is threatened with the return of Henry and Monica’s son. After a number of incidents between the two boys, Henry decides that David should be returned to the company that created him and be permanently shut down. Monica, unable to go through with it, instead releases David into the nearby woods; telling him to go as far away as possible. Figuring that he would be accepted if he were a real boy, David embarks on a quest to find a figure known as the blue fairy, whom he believes will turn him into a human child and return him to the only love he has ever known. Travelling with him is Teddy, a wise toy bear, and a robotic male escort named Gigolo Joe (Jude Law).
A.I. Artificial Intelligence started out as a short story that was optioned and developed by Stanley Kubrick as his follow-up to Eyes Wide Shut. Upon Kubrick’s death, Spielberg took over the project, crafting the story, writing the screenplay and directing the film himself as a personal tribute to Kubrick. The result was one of the most striking and emotional cinematic journeys that captures the sensibilities of two of the film world’s most renowned masters.
It’s impossible to discuss A.I. without acknowledging the incredible visuals that populate the film. Everything from the first act scenes in the dream-like, futuristic home of Monica and Henry to the Las Vegas meets Tokyo hyperreal feel of Rouge City where David, Teddy and Gigolo Joe track down information about the blue fairy. The film’s polished look and vibrant colors are exactly the kind of elements that help transport audiences into a world both alien and fascinating. The Oscar-nominated effects, which include animatronic creatures and a surrealy futuristic New York City become more and more heightened the further the story goes; enchanting viewers while making great strides in special effects history.
Such strong imagery on screen would normally minimize the actors’ presence and make their performances seem almost irrelevant. Yet Spielberg chose the right assortment of actors for this one-of-a-kind film. O’Connor is luminous as Monica, whose initial apprehension is overtaken by her natural maternal instincts in the film’s most emotionally-driven performance.
Law, meanwhile, gives a performance unlike any he’s given before or since as a sort of older David whose solitary existence has made him feel and experience nothing beyond the surface. Gigolo Joe is a ladies’ man and his entire self-worth is tied up in the fact that he can give women pleasure. It’s a role that goes from comic animation to surprising depths as Gigolo Joe is pulled into David’s journey.
Finally, as David, Osment gives his greatest turn on screen as a being who spends the entire film in a state of wonder and longing. The young actor perfectly gives off how much David craves the love of the woman he knows as his mother and will stop at nothing to be safe in her arms once more. It’s a role that requires so much from a young actor in terms of emotion and understanding, which Osment manages flawlessly.
It doesn’t take much to notice that A.I. is a futurist re-imagining of Pinocchio with the presence of a conscience (Teddy), the hunt for a blue fairy, the familial bond felt between a parent and a non-human child and the child’s wish to become a real boy. Pinocchio, like most fairy tales, is so closely identified with the Disney image which made it as popular a fable as ever, that it becomes easy to forget the story’s heart and soul. Thankfully, Spielberg hasn’t.
Throughout A.I. we see many of the core themes which made the original tale so memorable such as the quest for acceptance, the innocence of youth, and the fundamental idea that families come in different forms and need not adhere to any one specific image simply because love itself does not.
A.I. made enough money to be considered a moderate success, yet not enough to be considered a Spielberg hit. While the film was warmly received by critics, it greatly polarized audiences; some of whom felt at odds with the film’s harsher elements, while others found themselves taken by the story’s more emotional aspects.
Regardless, A.I. Artificial Intelligence is more than just Kubrick’s unfinished last work or Spielberg’s most underrated movie. It’s a classic example of the kind of cinema designed to bring audiences out of themselves and experience both a world and an empathy they never knew existed.
