It seems Spielberg has channeled Stanely Kubrik because I'd swear that Kubrik mnade this film. It has his style and pace, his manner of story telling yet with Spielberg's technical flare. truly this is a tribute to the master, a far better last film for him then Eyes Wide Slut.

As far as the film itself, it's truly in the spirit of science fiction but ddom't expect laser fights and vast action sequences. Yes there is some tension and action, but the plot revolves more around a Pinnocio-styled robot boy searching to just become loved. Love, human prejudice, a future styled more like what we might see in Blade Runner, it has all these and a bit more then we might expect. It comes to one part where a lesser storyteller would have called an end to it, leaving the boy buried forever before the goal of his quest and us wondering "is that it?". But AI went beyond the 2 hour mark and picked up with it many years later to tell us the rest of what happens, giving us a far more fulfilling ending which I applaud.

If you've ever read some of the classic SF stories and know that the best tales are more then just a bunch of people shooting at a bunch of aliens (though those are good too), then in this movie you will find a welcome relief from the normal crop of SF that Hollywood tends to feed us. See it and you'll know that those Liberal Arts majors don't have a monopoly on art, that in art there can be entertainment as well, science fiction with meaning.

Just a couple of other notes here. First, see if you can recognize Robin Williams' voice before you see it in the end credits. Then second, while the melting icecaps bit is integral to what happens at the end, I'm getting just a little tired of films using as a premise that which many scientists are still arguing over the exisstence of (note: preaching Media types are NOT scientists).

THis film is good, Spielberg is good, and Haley Joel Osment has his future carrier assured.