Worst film ever made/book ever written?

So far, all my blog entries have been upbeat and merely offering my 2 cents on the books and films I have been enjoying - and whether I think you might like them or not. But today, my mood is evidently a little darker than usual as all I can think of is the worst films I have ever seen.


Now there have been many films that I have patiently sat through waiting for the plot to improve and then reached the ending still waiting for an improvement. Others have been - well in the words of Simon Cowell "forgettable" (and of course not one springs to mind).
There is, however, one film that sticks in my head because it is the only film that has ever made me want to leave a cinema - sadly I chose to stay. That film is AI. 


What started as a dark look at technological advancement in the not so distant future turned into a search by a little robot boy for his mamma.  Sadly, the original director Stanley Kubrick, died while making this movie and his friend Steven Spielberg took on the role. 
What resulted was quite clearly 2 completely different takes on the same plot merged into one abysmal film - shocking as that may be as both directors are legendary and have done some of the best films in American cinema history! But here's why it flopped in my eyes...


Kubrick saw it as dark because in his vision, humans were replacing their children with robots. The couple in question have a dying child so decide to replace him (charming!) with a robot child. Then *oops* their real child starts getting better and doesn't take too kindly to his rival. So the robot boy goes a bit doolally trying to get the attention and affection he craves from his human parents.


Spielberg (genius that he is) saw it a little differently. He imagined that the real plot lay with the poor little robot boy, shunned by his human parents, desperate to be loved and accepted and on a quest to become a real boy (Pinocchio anyone?!) - so he takes the abandoned boy on a journey to find his creator.


There is a clear shift half way through and it is unsettling to watch it go from one to the other. To this day, it angers me that I will never get those 146 minutes back.


LE x