Parents' Guide to

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence

By Nell Minow, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Provocative sci-fi film has some mature themes.

Movie PG-13 2001 146 minutes
A.I.: Artificial Intelligence Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

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age 15+

Based on 8 parent reviews

Mister F.
Mister F. Parent of 18+-year-old
March 23, 2023
age 13+

Great film from my favorite director Steven Speilberg

I was left crying while watching this film.
aferreras
aferreras Adult
September 12, 2018
age 16+

Is that the real love?

I think almost people need to see this movie because, I can saw and felt, who the real love can make anything only for want to has a success. This movie make remember in the bible say, the love never fails . "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." ~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
See all 8 parent reviews

What's the Story?

In A.I.: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, David looks like a 12-year-old boy but is really a "mecha," a highly developed robot. He's the creation of Dr. Hobby (William Hurt), who decided to take robots a step further and develop the first robot that can feel love. One of his employees, Henry (Sam Robards), is chosen to be the beta tester. Henry and his wife, Monica (Frances O'Connor), have a son, Martin, who is critically ill. At first, Monica is horrified by the idea of "adopting" a mechanical boy, but her need for love is so overpowering that she initiates the sequence that will bind David irrevocably to her forever. He immediately changes from a pleasant if emotionless toy into a child whose mother is his whole world. He loves, which means that he is needy, jealous, and thinks like a 3-year-old, calling for his mommy and wanting her all to himself. When Martin gets better and returns home, he and David are jealous of one another. When Monica believes that David may be a threat to Martin, she sets him loose in the woods. David is determined to find the Blue Fairy, who can turn him into a real boy, as she did with Pinocchio, because he thinks that will make it possible for Monica to love him.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (17 ):

Cross 2001 with E.T. and Blade Runner and throw in some Pinocchio, some Wizard of Oz, some Velveteen Rabbit, and a touch of Our Town, and you might have some sense of what to expect from this movie. It's an ambitious, complex, provocative movie that is likely to lead to more late-night college dorm debates than anything since the ones about 2001's monolith and the ape throwing the bone.

Developed by Stanley Kubrick and completed by Steven Spielberg, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence is a two-part invention of a movie that owes both its strengths and its weaknesses to the collaboration between two men of such prodigious talents and such different, even opposing sensibilities. Kubrick is the master of the cool image, Spielberg the master of the warm feeling. The juxtaposition of their influence is particularly apt for this story of the struggle between heart and brain, not only on the part of the mecha but on the part of the orga (humans) as well.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about whether or not the android David in can feel love and Dr. Hobby's real reason for creating him. Is there any way to make a robot "real?" If the movie is about making a machine that can feel, why is the title A.I.: Artificial Intelligence?

  • While set in the future, how does this movie address contemporary concerns such as bullying, climate change, and the evolving relationship of humanity with technology?

  • In science fiction films set in the future, societies tend to be either utopian, technocratic, and seemingly perfect or dystopian, barbaric, and seemingly on the verge of extinction. Where does this movie fit on this spectrum? What are some examples of science fiction movies that correspond with these conflicting visions of the future?

  • How do science fiction movies tend to mirror the cultural mood and spirit of the era in which they were made, and how does A.I.: Artificial Intelligence mirror the concerns of the turn of the century, when computers and the internet were beginning to become a dominant factor in our lives?

Movie Details

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