I don't doubt Kubrick intended that ending. My issues regarding "tacked on" are matters of theme and tone.

My take on AI is that it tackles themes of disrespect, obsolescence, and abandonment. The part near the end where David (the child AI) is tossed in the ocean and sinking to the bottom would have been the perfect denouement. This is Hollywood, so we cannot have endings like that, especially on movies which are likely to have children watching (cue Haley Joel Osment), which Kubrick darn well knows. Kubrick's ending was both bizarre and relatively upbeat, which is a jarring departure from the tone of the movie preceding it.

Great news - I can avoid the import now.

What? No way. The BEST you can say about the ending is that it's bittersweet. But it's quite sad to me.

Amazon pre-order added to OP. The list price is only $24.99.

Below is a link to the Amazon Japan page for the A.I. Blu ray. I wonder if we will get the same cover art. I did some more searching on their site and noticed that Demolition Man will be on Blu Ray in Japan in January. I'm hoping we get it soon after, along with a deluxe edition of The Fifth Element. I can only dream.

http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B00439G1H...29&camp=211189

You've gotta give Kubrick more credit than to accuse him of tossing artistic integrity aside to conform to Hollywood. Even if his choice confounds, he more than earned the benefit of the doubt in that department.

The jarring of tone was also a specialty of his. It's his way of essentially showing a couple of puzzle pieces to the audience, rather than smoothly putting them together, and letting the audience put the pieces together in their own minds. It's a strong belief of mine (and it's not original with me) that the most satisfying story is one that the audience is able to tell to itself. From Full Metal Jacket, which had a two-act, rather than three-act structure, to Path's of Glory which jumped from a long introduction of shaky hand-held battle scenes and rough, blunt characters to elegant camera-work and polite double-speak, to the completely bizarre ending of 2001.

Honestly, I think the themes you identify WOULD be the point of the movie had it ended at the bottom of the ocean, but Kubrick was reaching for something more, involving evolution, what it means to be a living being, and the nature of love and emotions. And it may be that Spielberg just didn't communicate it in the same way Kubrick would have, or as effectively, but I really don't think the ending was upbeat. And it takes some reflection and multiple viewings, as with any Kubrick film to even start to realize what he was going for.

I'm tempted to go on, and ask what's wrong with upbeat endings (not that A.I. has one, in my opinion) or even endings that shift from the tone of the rest of the film, but this probably all belongs in the Movie section.. but I respect your take on it. Sounds like you at least gave the movie a fair hearing unlike many people who trash the whole thing because they don't like or get the ending.

If Spielberg hadn't the ending would have been a lot less confusing and better well-received, I'm sure. Just a bad design decision.

Artwork added to OP.

This is one of my all time favorite Spielberg films. I absolutely cannot wait to add this to my Blu-ray collection. I'm loving the cover art, too. Obviously it is leaps and bounds better than the artwork for Minority Report.

Oh god that cover is horrible.

Still going to grab this sub $15.

yeah, looks like the cover for Angel Eyes.


Mr. Joel Osment is a family friend. My father was his godfather, and his is mine, so I feel obligated to buy all of his turd movies, and his is not one of them. Best film he made.

yes, call me out on my name dropping.

dude, that's a great HJO (David) impersonation .... not one blink

pretty much....I wonder how they're going to fuck up the Jaws cover. Cuz so far all the most recent Spielberg films to hit BD have had shit covers...

hasnt this already been released on Blu in a diff region?

Don't worry, the Jaws cover has been fucked up for years.

That's long been my opinion too. Perhaps something closer to

Eh. It's fucked up, but not as bad as Minority Report.

All of the cover-fucking-up has been Paramount/DreamWorks, so expect Jaws' art to look the same as it has on other home video releases.

Not real thrilled with the cover but it could've been worse. Still gonna buy the damn thing

The cover art for this isn't perfect; though I still kind of like it. I'm just glad it's not 'Minority Report' bad. I think we should (hopefully) all agree on that.

I never do custom covers, but for Minority Report I have often wondered if I should...

Terrible cover art, but love the movie. I'll be picking this up

I wonder if the slipcover will be lenticular.

I can't wait to pick this up and finally upgrade to HD.

Paramount has surpassed Fox as the worst studio releasing movies.

Universal would like a word with you.

Is that a joke?

Such Blu-ray discs of mine like (the following below) would like to have a word with you:

Anchorman
Iron Man
Iron Man 2
Minority Report
Saving Private Ryan (post-audio fuck up)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
Star Trek
War of the Worlds

Here's the thing. You're arguing about the subtext, nuance, and ambiguity in a movie by Steven Spielberg, whose filmmaking simply does not trade in such things. Spielberg is a straight-up literalist in every respect. What you see in a Spielberg movie is what you get. He hates ambiguity and often goes to extreme lengths to purge it from his movies. If there's any subtext in his film, he will have a character step out in front of the camera to explain it to you in explicit detail so that you can't possibly miss it.

This ties right into the ending of A.I. Although the basic concept of shifting the narrative centuries forward and introducing an advanced race of machines may have been Kubrick's, I guarantee you that Kubrick would never have had a friendly "Explainer" character pop in to deliver a bunch of pseudoscience gobbledygook about the "space-time continuum," and walk the main character (and hence the audience) through everything that has happened. That's pure Spielberg pap.

I picture Kubrick's ending as more like the final scene in 2001, surreal and open to interpretation. Unfortunately, Spielberg absolutely could not allow his movie to end that way. By god, he needs people to know exactly what's happening at every moment.