Where can I start... It was like seventeen directors and screenwriters submitted rough cuts, and Spielberg (typically a great director) took two minutes of a random, slick looking parts in rotation and assembled - well - THIS.
For three minutes at a time - the movie works - then changes tone, back story, mood, internal sense, etc... I was at times wondering if they swapped reels from several different cuts.
The story would have made three great movies. One film about a family coming to grips with the inevitable AI that will seep into our lives in the future. Alas, Bicentennial Man or any of the Star Trek episodes featuring "Data" were more satisfying. One film about David's quest to become a real boy - the strand of which was sloppily interwoven with the rest of this movie - the Pinocchio motif was jammed down our throats at every turn. It could have done with a much lighter hand. The second act was also much too shallow, there must have been hours of potential backstory that were cut here - to its own detriment. A third would be the more epic conclusion to David's quest, elegant use of the Pinocchio imagery and all.
But this? A stilted first act (why can the mecha move smoothly when in a complex scene, but like an addled Furby when fetching his pajamas? For that matter - why do the people go from understandable characters to B-movie victims at the drop of a hat?) - best first-act performance - Martin, another botched opportunity for development. Second act - way underdeveloped. Best character - Joe - but wasted on a skimming treatment of everything else. Third act - the comparisons to 2001's ending are at best rationalizations. (Why do the AI first use subtitles and then speak explicitly? And with Eton accents? For that matter, if they're so advanced, why take the form of dime-novel aliens? Please, if the Roswell incident becomes our Rosetta stone for future intelligences...) Dave Bowman's transformation made sense in the original story.
Jarring problems - There seems to be a trend in quick advances - Castaway's "Four Years Later" becomes "2000 Years Later" - what's next?! Teddy might have provided a great foil - version 1 AI interacting with version X - but he was far too knowing for his meager use, and if he were that advanced... Lots of dropped opportunities - Dr. Hobby, the potential army of Davids, all hinted at and left hanging. Sorry to add these mild spoilers - but the internal consistency was so lacking - it was truly like watching a rough cut. I would have given all of Frances O'Connor's artful mugging for more scenes of honest interaction between her and David - maybe it's her single status - but several people have said that anyone who has been a mother would not have let some of those scenes thru.
In summary, this viewed like a rough cut, and I can't imagine that this was ultimately directed by Spielberg and not some assistants. Tone was all over the place - in contrast to most of his work - from Duel thru ET thru anything else... hardly his best work, but deserving of so much more.
For three minutes at a time - the movie works - then changes tone, back story, mood, internal sense, etc... I was at times wondering if they swapped reels from several different cuts.
The story would have made three great movies. One film about a family coming to grips with the inevitable AI that will seep into our lives in the future. Alas, Bicentennial Man or any of the Star Trek episodes featuring "Data" were more satisfying. One film about David's quest to become a real boy - the strand of which was sloppily interwoven with the rest of this movie - the Pinocchio motif was jammed down our throats at every turn. It could have done with a much lighter hand. The second act was also much too shallow, there must have been hours of potential backstory that were cut here - to its own detriment. A third would be the more epic conclusion to David's quest, elegant use of the Pinocchio imagery and all.
But this? A stilted first act (why can the mecha move smoothly when in a complex scene, but like an addled Furby when fetching his pajamas? For that matter - why do the people go from understandable characters to B-movie victims at the drop of a hat?) - best first-act performance - Martin, another botched opportunity for development. Second act - way underdeveloped. Best character - Joe - but wasted on a skimming treatment of everything else. Third act - the comparisons to 2001's ending are at best rationalizations. (Why do the AI first use subtitles and then speak explicitly? And with Eton accents? For that matter, if they're so advanced, why take the form of dime-novel aliens? Please, if the Roswell incident becomes our Rosetta stone for future intelligences...) Dave Bowman's transformation made sense in the original story.
Jarring problems - There seems to be a trend in quick advances - Castaway's "Four Years Later" becomes "2000 Years Later" - what's next?! Teddy might have provided a great foil - version 1 AI interacting with version X - but he was far too knowing for his meager use, and if he were that advanced... Lots of dropped opportunities - Dr. Hobby, the potential army of Davids, all hinted at and left hanging. Sorry to add these mild spoilers - but the internal consistency was so lacking - it was truly like watching a rough cut. I would have given all of Frances O'Connor's artful mugging for more scenes of honest interaction between her and David - maybe it's her single status - but several people have said that anyone who has been a mother would not have let some of those scenes thru.
In summary, this viewed like a rough cut, and I can't imagine that this was ultimately directed by Spielberg and not some assistants. Tone was all over the place - in contrast to most of his work - from Duel thru ET thru anything else... hardly his best work, but deserving of so much more.