Artificial Intelligence: AI 2001

Critics score:
73 / 100

Reviews provided by RottenTomatoes

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: The boldest go-for-broke film released by a Hollywood studio since Apocalypse Now. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: A provocative, personal and intensely engaging picture made with big-studio resources and technical magic. Read more

Ebert & Roeper: Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: However you take it, the film works from an immensely challenging and rewarding text. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: During this summer of replicants, it shines as an original work of art. Read more

Bruce Newman, San Jose Mercury News: A movie in which the intelligence is supposed to be artificial, but it's the emotions that feel that way. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: The best fairy tale -- the most disturbing, complex and intellectually challenging boy's adventure story -- Mr. Spielberg has made. Read more

John Zebrowski, Seattle Times: For every moment it frustrates, there are a dozen that amaze and provoke us, asking us questions about the meanings of life and love. Read more

David Edelstein, Slate: If only Spielberg's faith in movie magic weren't linked -- biochemically, it now seems -- to a lack of faith in the potential of humankind. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The real joy of the movie for me, and why I recommend it despite everything, was watching Spielberg salute Kubrick, his friend and mentor, while at the same time defy him. Read more

Steve Murray, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: A film to see with friends. You'll want to talk about it afterward. Read more

Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle: It ends up a glorious failure, an impressive mess. Read more

Paul Clinton (CNN.com), CNN.com: At best it's brilliant, but lukewarm -- lacking Spielberg's emotional heat and Kubrick's icy intellect. Read more

Paul Tatara, CNN.com: You're encouraged to ponder complex questions while enjoying an amazing ride. Read more

Steven Rosen, Denver Post: It could bear the initials 'E.D.' -- emotionally deficient. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: A.I. is a clash of the titans, a jumble, an oedipal drama, a carny act. I want to see it again. Read more

William Goss, Film.com: A confined domestic drama, a considerable morality tale, a fleeting futuristic noir, a persecution parable, an on-the-nose fairy tale adventure... and then it keeps going. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Happily, the beauty shows up before the frustrations set in. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: The most philosophical film in Kubrick's canon, the most intelligent in Spielberg's, and quite possibly the film with the most contemporary relevance that either one has made since Kubrick released Dr. Strangelove in 1964. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: It's astounding because, like so much of Kubrick's work, it resurrects the sense of cinema as an ongoing emergency. Read more

Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture: Temperamentally, Spielberg and Kubrick are such polar opposites that A.I. has the moment-to-moment effect of being completely at odds with itself. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: For all of its underdeveloped potential and truncated subplots, there's still enough of value in A.I. to make it a captivating experience. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: A movie both wonderful and maddening. Read more

Charles Taylor, Salon.com: It's the kind of screwup you get only from a master filmmaker. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: The structureless, meandering, slow-motion endlessness of Kubrick combined with the fuzzy, cuddly mindlessness of Spielberg. Read more

Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine: Spielberg laid the burden of the film on Osment like a backpack, and the young trouper carries it. Read more

Time Out: At heart it's a terribly anguished expression of rejection, loneliness and love. If only it knew when to stop. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: At heart it's a terribly anguished expression of rejection, loneliness and love. If only it knew when to stop. Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: A movie to be knocked, chewed and gummed, but not dismissed. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Variety: Deeply thoughtful and thoroughly fascinating. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: A seething psychological bonanza. Read more

Desson Thomson, Washington Post: Its heart is in the right place. But the intelligence behind the rest of the movie is, well, a little too artificial. Read more

Stephen Hunter, Washington Post: Fascinating, if uneven and ultimately rather silly. Read more