Though set years in the future, "A.I." begins relatively conventionally by having a married couple (Frances O'Connor and Sam Robards) adopt a robot child to replace the son who languishes in a coma. The problems start when the son awakes from his slumber, forcing his parents to abandon their synthetic offspring in the forest. From here the film broadens its scope to include an android gigolo (Jude Law) who assists David (Haley Joel Osment) on his quest to become a real boy.
Freely lifting elements from "Pinocchio", "Frankenstein", and "The Wizard of Oz", the visual feast that follows whisks the audience from cyborg-trashing flesh fairs to a flooded Manhattan and beyond.