Intelligence? Not so much. This movie is stupid most of the time. That starts at the initial premise; the creation of a robot child, a Mecha, designed to “love”. It’s a loaded term that is never clearly defined, but, judging by the behavior of the boy, it apparently has to do with romantic obsession. The fact that it’s his adoptive Mommy he feels that way toward gives the story an incestuous underlining. The ending, in which the two spend the day together and gaze into each other’s eyes to dreamy orchestral music, gets downright pedophilic. I was waiting for them to start fucking.

Still their relationship and the things that happen around it during the first third of the movie is the best part. It leads to a genuinely despondent abandonment scene; one of the few times Steven Spielberg’s heartstringing actually works. From there the tone changes from psychological drama to action adventure; the boy, his toy bear and an expendable Mecha man must find their way to The Blue Fairy before being killed by the evil humans; back to a different kind of psychological drama. It’s that last third, an extended epilogue, that comes across as meandering and pretentious.

If AI is supposed to represent some big important metaphor or make its audience ponder deep philosophical questions, the effort is lost on me. My questions have more to do with the logic of the plot, like how can the boy survive for years under water if he breaks when he tries to eat a few spoonfuls of spinach? Why do the “parents” bother sitting him at the family dinner table with a plate of food if he can’t eat? Why was the child programmed to love only the mother and not the father? They’re petty arguments, but asking them is more engaging than anything this new-age Pinocchio has to offer.

my rating : 2 of 5

2001