I
went into this movie with high expectations.
Spielberg, plus some kind of input from Kubrick before he died, had
the makings of some great sci-fi in the tradition of these two masters.
And the movie started off promising enough: Haley Joel Osment is a
robot sent to a couple whose child is in a coma. He looks and acts
like a normal boy, if a little too perfectly. It's a perfect setup
for some ominous takeover by the robots, a la The Stepford Wives.
But then the movie
shifts to part 2. The mother has to get rid of the robot boy, and
he hooks up in the woods with other outlaw robots. He wants to go
home. There are some Wizard of Oz themes here, and the story
gets really stretched out and heads into part 3, which is hard to
explain but I was ready to walk out by this time. When I left the
theater, I shared a laugh with some other people who were equally
amazed at how bad this movie is. We all felt like suckers, having
been lured by the Spielberg/ Kubrick publicity. In fact, this movie
is without a doubt the Worst Movie of the
Year, and perhaps the worst movie I have seen in the last
ten years. AVOID AT ALL COSTS ! ! !
—
marty
