This film was shown on television a while ago, and although I had heard the name of the film several times, I really had no idea what it was actually about. I was certainly expecting some sort of robot film, but from there my ideas of what the film was about turned out to be dreadfully wrong.

There was barely anything on television so after flicking through several channels I spotted this movie and thought 'ah, a movie,' then settled on it with a T.V. dinner (shameful, I know). I don't mind Sci-Fis too much, although to be honest they are not usually my type of film, so my expectations were not that high.

Future

The film is set in the future, at a time where our current fears of global warming melting ice at the poles and drowning the land have become a reality. This has not stopped the human race and the good old fashioned cuddly toy we know of now is not a thing of the past, but a thing transformed. In fact, this film does feature robots, in their numbers, but robots that behave much like human beings. That cuddly toy can now walk and talk, reply to questions and, to an extent, think. Technology companies have created robots, also ones that have very realistic human appearances and textures, that can be programmed to respond how we like.
From my rather basic knowledge of technology, I would be willing to accept that this much may be possible, but as always, a film like this needs to step right into the unknown.

Story

So one day a little boy robot called David is created to replace a boy who is not expected to wake from his coma. It can not only think for itself, but can feel. Consequently, the poor thing struggles to come to terms with its or his existence and is desperate to be loved. Then the comatose boy does awaken and competition sets in between the two, with robot David inevitably the one to lose. When David is cast out into the world, by the people he thought were his family, he finds himself in terrifying and life-threatening circumstances. He meets Gigolo Joe, who happily agrees to accompany him for the timebeing, while he goes on a search to find his way back home. Will he be reunited with his 'mother'?

I found both the concept of the story and watching through the duration of the film extremely depressing. Maybe it's just a personal fear of not having somewhere to belong that brings this on, but also the idea we live in such a shallow cold-hearted society. Because of this I simply did not enjoy this film, even if I was able to appreciate it. The message it sends out is certainly sobering and very well put across, because this story really hits home the importance of family. There is also a satirical side to the film, that looks at where we might be heading in the future, given the consumer society we now live in. We struggle to let go of things we love, yet when something disappoints us, we don't hesitate to throw it out. Some people (although most of us still regard this as cruel) will throw out their own pets when they realise that they need to be fed and kept clean etc. every day. In this film, David is a robot thrown out when he becomes high-maintainance, except here he actually turns out to be more human, so could we ever be this cruel to a real boy? I find it hard to believe things could ever get this bad when we are slowly showing more, not less compassion for others. It's only really the ignorant and extremists who lack that decency to treat others respectfully and they are in the minority, but films like this do serve as a good reminder of how self-aware we need to be these days.

Acting/Characters

David is played by Haley Joel Osment, best known for his part in The Sixth Sense. I think his acting is on a level with some much more experienced actors, and his face has become pretty well known in recent years. In this film, I couldn't help but think that he was playing personality of a child a fair bit younger than the "11-year-old boy" he is meant to be. However, that said, I think his character would have been more effective as a younger child and this made the story all the more moving, although this was also what made me personally like it less!

Frances O'Connor plays Monica Swinton, David's "mother". She struggles to look after David and eventually has to let him go, although she does show a great deal of despair, and this scene is probably one of the most tragic in the film. She portrays a mix of emotions well, and it does get a little confusing to understand her, but I think that is the point because from David's point of view he really wants to know that she loves him but can't be sure.

Jude Law is Gigolo Joe, who seems to be a bit of a simpleton, and that is not hard for Jude Law to portray (sorry to his fans). In all he adds a little excitement back into the film and makes it slightly less depressing, but the effect is not lasting. In fact I found the naivety shown quite saddening as the film progressed. Although he showed a bit of his rebellious side its a shame the story could not allow for more fun.

Film qualities

The futuristic appearance of the film was very artificial but also had that Spielberg look about it. The graphics were really impressive, and I suppose it is already obvious that most of what you are seeing is CGI and not real, so that accepted it was well done. Personally I'm not the biggest fan of this style of film-making, but perhaps I ought to be more open to different things! The film is very vibrant yet somehow this still didn't stop me finding it depressing.

I have to admit I have no recollection of the soundtrack whatsoever, and I think music was pretty sparse in this film.


Classification

The classification for this film is 12, and I find it very hard to comment on this. There was violence in the film, but it was mostly committed against the "Mecha" - or robot people, so somehow it was quite surreal. I still felt it was inappropriate for younger audiences but it is a difficult one. I don't think there were any sexual scenes or swearing. There was something I found disturbing about the whole story, so this would be a reason for kids to avoid it, because it has the appearance of a kid's film yet is clearly not, because it is more deep and serious, but also emotionally not suitable for children. I guess this is down to individual judgement, but I would not have wanted to see this film when I was 12!

Conclusion

I hated this film so not only am I in no hurry to see it again, but if I had known anything about it before I started watching perhaps I would have thought twice about watching it. I think, however, that this is really a very personal opinion and generally speaking I think this film has been well received. It certainly had some stunning graphics and the acting was high quality as you might expect. The ideas behind the story are very good and have a strong impact on the audience, so if you do watch it I hope you do take something valuable away from it. It's hard to say whether I would recommend it because I myself did not enjoy it and was not all that convinced, yet I can understand why others would appreciate this film. The film is also painfully long and by the end it just seemed too much. Because of the length and my feelings towards this film I cannot even recommend watching on telly, sorry