A.I. is the first movie Steven Spielberg has written the screenplay to since Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Of course, there were at least six other writers who worked on the script of Close Encounters, but Spielberg made them agree not to tell the WGA about it. But that's another story...

A.I. is about a robotic boy (Hayley Joel Osment) who wants to please his Mommy. Along the way, he meets Gigolo Joe (Jude Law).

A.I. is based on an idea that Kubrick came up with and he was going to direct it, but he died shortly after editing Eyes Wide Shut. Spielberg was good friends with Kubrick and the two had talked about the project a lot, so he took over the reigns and did the movie. Parts of A.I. definitely feel more like a Kubrick film, but Spielberg's influence is apparent as well. Certain scenes seem like they should be more dark, but are kept as a G-rated version instead.

I thought the movie was great until the last 30 minutes or so. The flick takes a "what the hell" turn for the worse with copious narration in a long sequence that feels like it belongs in Close Encounters of the Third Kind instead of A.I.

Hayley Joel Osment does an excellent job as the robotic boy, but Jude Law oozes coolness as Gigolo Joe. What else can you say to describe a male robo-prostitute who can crick his neck and make love songs from the 1930's fill the room while seducing women?

I appreciate that A.I. is Spielberg's first fun movie since The Lost World (although whether you thought that was any fun is a different question) and it's more thought-provoking than the usual Spielberg fare. Several of the shots are beautiful and John Williams' piano music fits in well without intruding on the images.

I give A.I. *** out of ****.

I liked this movie, but I thought that it should have focused on some of the other storylines that were orinigally included. Other than that, I thought it was good. Except for the excess of sap the spielburg has a tendency of having.

*** out of ****