AI at 20: Spielberg's misunderstood epic remains his darkest movie yet

"I thought this would be hard for you to understand. You were created to be so young." This heartbreaking line arrives toward the end of AI: Artificial Intelligence, many centuries after David, an uncommonly sophisticated mechanical child (or "Mecha"), has embarked on a quest to become "a real boy", like Pinocchio, and reunite with the human mother he's been programmed to love. The years have not aged him, of course. He is eternally young, incapable of acquiring the wisdom and perspective that come with age.