Bizarre Ending Ruins 'A.I.'

This new take on an old tale works reasonably well, though forced, for most of the movie. But then it gradually runs out of steam toward the end.

Like any good Steven Spielberg film, a heavy emphasis is placed on special effects and, in some cases, an entire world created especially for the movie.

The setting is strangely like present-day Earth, except with interesting new gizmos here and there, along with improvements to existing contraptions.

But the eye candy aside, 'A.I.' follows the great tradition of dystopian films.

The future presented in 'A.I.' has one of the same problems plaguing the present day ' racism ' only now targeted toward robots. Because they survive longer than humans and serve as a slave class, these robots are met with animosity.

Amidst this backdrop, scientists looking for challenge develop David (Haley Joel Osment), a machine with the capacity to love.

Upon his creation, David is given to Monica (Frances O'Connor) and Henry (Sam Robards), a couple chosen to be his caretakers in a desperate effort to replace their own comatose child, Martin (Jake Thomas).

The subsequent events are both touching and awkward, as one might assume it?s hard to get used to a mushy 10-year-old hunk o? bolts as a close family member.

Both Osment and O'Connor pull off this portrayal skillfully, as the family tries to find the gray area between caring for the machine and being apprehensive about its inclusion.

Circumstances beyond the couple's control inevitably force David out of the family and on a quest for the Blue Fairy, the magical being who helps Pinocchio reach human status.

David meets 'Gigolo Joe' (Jude Law), who becomes his sidekick on the journey to be a 'real boy,' in true-to-legend Pinocchio fashion.

More than the fairy-tale foundation of the plot, the most amazing element of the movie is, of course, the robots' special effects.

One scene shows robots scrounging for parts in an effort to do necessary self-repairs.

Vital pieces of these 'mechas' ('mechanicals' for short) are missing while the machines astonishingly carry through with normal lifelike movements.

Despite the quality acting and Industrial Light & Magic's special-effects wizardry, the ending was so out of this world and strange that it did not come quick enough.

Perhaps this was the influence of the late Stanley Kubrick, co-creator or 'A.I.' and a notorious lover of the bizarre. Don't forget, He was the director who brought us the unsettling classic 'A Clockwork Orange.'

There are multiple parts during the last half-hour of the movie that make you ask yourself 'Wait ' there's more'?

And as the film continues, it becomes so odd that it takes on a completely different feel than the beginning.

This disjointedness eventually overwhelms the film?s better qualities as it draws nearer to the end.

The ending attempts poignancy, but the emotion is filtered through the complete otherworldliness of the established mood.

It?ll leave you dumbfounded and confused, but possibly with a small lump lodged in your throat as well.

Adrial Dale can be reached at adrial@email.unc.edu.