I wanted to try to read all of the reviews before I made mine so that maybe I wouldn't repeat something that had already been eloquently put. But after about 100 messages, my eyes got tired and I got sick of reading comments I think are false. So if I repeat something that's already been said I apologize ahead of time. Also, I'll try to make this short and sweet to save your eyes, but sometimes if I get passionate about what I write about, I get carried away - so bear with me.
Also, you probly shouldn't read this if you haven't seen the movie and would like to.
For those of you who think that A.I. didn't have a message - I think you must have been in the theater next to me seeing Scary Movie II.
Yes, as human beings we have made wonderful advances in technology and science - BUT the stupid part of us is that we do these things without taking the time to consider the moral implications to our society. Take cloning for example - the technology is already here but now we're arguing over how it should be used and even whether or not it should be used. This movie takes artificial intelligence - something that is still in its infancy today - and allows us to take a glimpse into the future and see what could happen if we don't think about our actions before we take them. Our society today is so enamored with the "quick fix." We have so little patience.
In the movie, Professor Hobby wants to create a child mecha who can love its parents because, he believes there's a market for it. Once again the quick fix. He mentions the market of childless couples waiting for a lisence - so why not make them a robot, capable of love, that can fill the void in their lives. Only he doesn't consider the implications - so many people in this future world hate mechas and the child could be teased mercilously, as David is. And by making him a robot with emotions, these things hurt him. The professor considers the feelings of the parents who want a child to love but he doesn't consider the feelings of the child robot. Parents may in time decide that because the child robot is only that, a robot, they can discard it, forgetting that it too can feel. I'm reminded of the plethera of teen mothers today who have children because they don't feel loved and want the unconditional love of a baby. They don't consider the work that goes into taking care of that baby and the child suffers because the teen wanted a quick fix.
The movie deals with other quick fixes in much more subtle ways. Rouge City and creating robots to perform sexual tasks. Here we have the quick fix of sex but without the worries of the usual consequances such as STDs or pregnancy!
Back to the issue of having no patiance - many humans are afraid of what they don't understand and have little patience in trying to learn to understand it. So, the quick fix is to destroy what is not understood. We humans are famous for doing this all throughout history in our many instances of prejudice against people unlike ourselves. I see the "Flesh Fairs" in the movie as a paralell to Roman times when Christians were thrown in with the lions to be eaten. It is in this way that the movie makes us think about how history does repeat itself and that we need to educate people before moving onward so that this doesn't happen. I get the feeling that in this future time when robots were starting to be made, they were again created as quick fixes in the form of factory workers, butlers, maids and nannies as many of the robots to be destryed at the Flesh Fair illustrate. I imagine that these robots were created and immediately sold for a profit without taking the time to educate people about them.
Yes there are blatant, in-your-face issues brought out in this movie such as what is love? and how far should we take ai? BUT I think the movie has some other very subtle messages and questions that are quite important that many people miss. In some reviews I've read on here, people breifly mention that in this movie the ice caps have melted as a result of global warming and, as a result, NYC and others have been submerged under water. Whoa there! This is a HUGE issue - and one I see of equal importance if not more so, to the topic of AI. Seeing Manhatten under water had a very eery effect on me as I hope it did others. Just as we get a glimpse into the future of technology, we get a glimpse into the future of our planet if we continue to treat it as we do. Again, back to the topic of quick fixes and no patience - people want things that will improve their quality of life now and don't think about how we're screwing things up in the process. People won't recycle or car pool to work, under the guise of "how can one person make a difference" when they really are saying "i'm too lazy to do that." And, although its just speculation of course, look where it gets us! We end up with good portions of land underwater, which cause a greater population of people to be confined to a smaller earth, which in turn makes people have to wait to get a license before having a child!
Although it takes place in a future that was imagined and created by a film crew, this movie should make people re evaluate today and ask themselves if that's where they want to be someday. Maybe a far off someday, but I definately think everything in the movie, if not worse, is possible to happen. This takes us to the issue of the movie being depressing and dark and a movie not for children. Bingo! Life isn't always happiness and flowers - if the movie had ended with David being reunited with a very apologetic and loving family, it could be discarded as another Hollywood movie that allowed us to escape reality for awhile. Instead AI encourages you to say "hey, you know, I didn't like the outcome of that movie - maybe i should think about what i'm doing now, and what the human race is doing now, and consider the long term consequences." Even if the negative events in the movie don't happen in a not so far off or a far off future - we still are making drastic mistakes as a human race and we need to stop ourselves and think about what we're doing.
The acting in the movie was excellent - overall I really enjoyed it. As an aside - does anyone know which mecha Meryl Streep did the voice for? Its been bothering me since I saw her name in the credits. Thanks.
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