A.I. is a good film. It's long but it's not boring. Haley Joel Osment is simply incredible, doing the best android performance of all time. I wish he will get this time the Oscar he missed with The Sixth Sense.
But some parts in A.I. are a bit too long for my taste. I'm a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and I can say with no doubt that this film has very little from Stanley and very much from Spielberg. Kubrick wanted Spielberg to direct this film for him. Well, I'm sure that it would have been a wonderful masterpiece if Kubrick would have been in the team (and with us, too). He likes total control over his films, as he used to state, so I can't imagine him letting Spielberg to be in charge. What I really think is that he possibly would have let Spielberg be a sort of assistant director although they would have appeared as producer and director, respectively, in the credits. In my opinion, they would have discussed a lot (due to their strong personalities), and I even imagine the film having serious problems during filming. At the end, it would have been a blood-forged film, something as wild as Casablanca is. But it's not. The fact is that Spielberg is in charge, and what we have is another E.T.-like film, something to make you drop your tears, but without the originality, sharpness and power of Kubrick. Kubrick's power goes beyond the limits of the screen and reaches our minds forever. His images, color and use of music are unique, and that's something we probably we won't see again in our lives. Spielberg is a genius director, but he's not the master. Kubrick is the master of cinema. It's a shame he's not with us any more.
But some parts in A.I. are a bit too long for my taste. I'm a big fan of Stanley Kubrick and I can say with no doubt that this film has very little from Stanley and very much from Spielberg. Kubrick wanted Spielberg to direct this film for him. Well, I'm sure that it would have been a wonderful masterpiece if Kubrick would have been in the team (and with us, too). He likes total control over his films, as he used to state, so I can't imagine him letting Spielberg to be in charge. What I really think is that he possibly would have let Spielberg be a sort of assistant director although they would have appeared as producer and director, respectively, in the credits. In my opinion, they would have discussed a lot (due to their strong personalities), and I even imagine the film having serious problems during filming. At the end, it would have been a blood-forged film, something as wild as Casablanca is. But it's not. The fact is that Spielberg is in charge, and what we have is another E.T.-like film, something to make you drop your tears, but without the originality, sharpness and power of Kubrick. Kubrick's power goes beyond the limits of the screen and reaches our minds forever. His images, color and use of music are unique, and that's something we probably we won't see again in our lives. Spielberg is a genius director, but he's not the master. Kubrick is the master of cinema. It's a shame he's not with us any more.