Originally posted by: Obi-wonton
There are many times AI is poignant and brilliant (Kubrick) and many times it is overblown nonsense (Spielberg) like OMG, the Alien Ending, rrrgh. Oh well.

I personally think A.I. is brilliant and perfect as is. And the ending actually is Kubrick's. Spielberg left the ending pretty much intact and had to work more on the Gigalo Joe stuff which Kubrick hadn't really worked on. Kubrick originally conceived it as a fairy tale. It's essentially a sci-fi remake of Pinocchio. While Kubrick and Brian Aldiss, who wrote the original short story "Supertoys Last All Summer Long," were working on the script together in the 80s, Aldiss didn't like where Kubrick was going with the Blue Fairy and the fairy tale feel and he was taken off the project. Aldiss later published two follow up short stories which tell where he wanted the film to go.

SPOILERS AHEAD

I think the ending's brilliant. I guess it may appear a bit syrupy and sweet but if you look harder, it's pretty disturbing. First of all, humanity has pretty much destroyed themselves. Then you get into the Monica and David relationship. The love they feel for one another isn't real. How can it be? The love David knows is artificial programming and Monica is just a vision created from his memories. They have a disturbingly perfect day and the last shot of the film is David sleeping next to a corpse where he essentially dies. People call this happy?! Also, they weren't aliens. They were advanced Mechas. The film is told as a fairy tale from their point of view. They think David holds the key to their existence because he's their last link to humans, who they see as their creators.