Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 146m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards, Jude Law, William Hurt, Brendan Gleeson
Synopsis:
Some time in the future, when procreation has been severely circumscribed, a scientist invents a robot capable of love to fill the gap in the frustrated lives of would-be parents. This, however, produces added insecurities which lead to the prototype being abandoned and left to search vainly for its 'Mommy'.
Review:
Kubrick's last project had been intended as a Spielberg film, and the thematic links with the latter's earlier work are self-evident. The Pinocchio story becomes as much a touchstone as Peter Pan had been before, and there are undeniably touching moments between mother and surrogate child. However, because the three acts of the story (Eden, Expulsion, Quest, one might call them) do not fit into the comforting 're-establishment of order' trajectory of most Hollywood stories, or even most fairytales, the film performed underwhelmingly at the box office. What's more, the pace is slow and the carnage of the Flesh Fair jarringly overplayed. The sketchy final act, which grants the robot child at least a memory of love, is also pregnant with Œdipal overtones. All of which adds up to Spielberg's most interesting failure since 1941.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor 146m
Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Haley Joel Osment, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards, Jude Law, William Hurt, Brendan Gleeson
Synopsis:
Some time in the future, when procreation has been severely circumscribed, a scientist invents a robot capable of love to fill the gap in the frustrated lives of would-be parents. This, however, produces added insecurities which lead to the prototype being abandoned and left to search vainly for its 'Mommy'.
Review:
Kubrick's last project had been intended as a Spielberg film, and the thematic links with the latter's earlier work are self-evident. The Pinocchio story becomes as much a touchstone as Peter Pan had been before, and there are undeniably touching moments between mother and surrogate child. However, because the three acts of the story (Eden, Expulsion, Quest, one might call them) do not fit into the comforting 're-establishment of order' trajectory of most Hollywood stories, or even most fairytales, the film performed underwhelmingly at the box office. What's more, the pace is slow and the carnage of the Flesh Fair jarringly overplayed. The sketchy final act, which grants the robot child at least a memory of love, is also pregnant with Œdipal overtones. All of which adds up to Spielberg's most interesting failure since 1941.
