VOTD: Revisit Steven Spielberg's 'A.I. Artificial Intelligence' In This Visual Study
While some movies are immediately beloved and acclaimed, destined to be one of the films we talk about every year for decades, others come and go without much pomp and circumstance. One of those movies seems to have been A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the former Stanley Kubrick project that was completed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2001.
The film certainly wasn't a dud, but it wasn't universally acclaimed either. At the time, Rotten Tomatoes wasn't used as a reference point for the quality of a movie, but retrospectively, it has a 73%, which is a decent score for such a dense, wandering sci-fi fairytale of sorts.
Over the years, as the film has gotten older, some critics and bloggers have revisited the film, finding it to even improve with age and reexamination. And that's just what a new video has done, examining the film in a 15-minute visual study. Watch the Artificial Intelligence video essay after the jump!
If for some reason, you're not familiar with A.I. Artificial Intelligence, here's the official synopsis:
It is the near future. The polar ice caps have melted as a result of global warming leaving many coastal cities underwater. Man has created machines that are aware of their own existence to help us with the increasing environmental damage that we are doing. One of these machines, a young boy, is the first robot programmed with emotion. Now his "love" is overpowering his robotic programming. He seeks answers as to whether he can ever be more than just a machine.
Artificial Intelligence seems to be one of those overlooked gems we come to appreciate as time goes on as opposed to gushing over it immediately, and that's just fine. Eric Vespe (Quint at Ain't It Cool News) recently partook in a thoughtful revisiting of the Spielberg film, writing extensively about how he felt about the film this time, finding so much more to appreciate 14 years later. And the above visual study from Audiovisualcy only adds more food for thought.
This is the great thing about experiencing art, whether it's movies, music, television, books or poetry. We perceive things in a whole new way at different points in our lives, depending on our own experiences, our place in the world, and how that world exists around us. Artificial Intelligence seems to have taken on a whole new light in retrospect for many who have decided to revisit the film.
I may have to spend some time with Haley Joel Osment in Artificial Intelligence this week and see what I find all over again. If you do the same thing, or have done so recently, be sure to let us know what you think in the comments.