DON'T READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE
If it had ended with David trapped under the water starring at the blue fairy statue (after leaping off the building) it would have been much more profound, even if depressing. But the biggest problem wasn't so much the actual ending, as the 3 different premises of the movie: can humans love robots? Will robots (as a "species") ultimately outlast the human race? Can a robot become as "human" as humans (in a sense)? Has the films tuck with any one of these or actually found a way to bring them all together (which it tried to do and failed), the movie could have been quite good.
I say "could" have been good because it did have other rather significant problems....
William Hurt's character was very underused, Gigolo Joe's entrance into the story was very flimsy, the flesh fair sequence was poorly done (too obvious), the Mr Know sequenece was just plain stupid (especially when we later find out that William Hurt's character had a hand in providing the riddle-like answer that got David heading to Manhattan?!) and the film just didn't flow well at all. A.I. had all the potential in the world to be something great, but it just kept chewing on itself and chewing on itself until it became pointless.
Slashdot Mirror
DON'T READ ANY FURTHER UNLESS YOU'VE SEEN THE MOVIE
If it had ended with David trapped under the water starring at the blue fairy statue (after leaping off the building) it would have been much more profound, even if depressing. But the biggest problem wasn't so much the actual ending, as the 3 different premises of the movie: can humans love robots? Will robots (as a "species") ultimately outlast the human race? Can a robot become as "human" as humans (in a sense)? Has the films tuck with any one of these or actually found a way to bring them all together (which it tried to do and failed), the movie could have been quite good.
I say "could" have been good because it did have other rather significant problems....
William Hurt's character was very underused, Gigolo Joe's entrance into the story was very flimsy, the flesh fair sequence was poorly done (too obvious), the Mr Know sequenece was just plain stupid (especially when we later find out that William Hurt's character had a hand in providing the riddle-like answer that got David heading to Manhattan?!) and the film just didn't flow well at all. A.I. had all the potential in the world to be something great, but it just kept chewing on itself and chewing on itself until it became pointless.