I'm worried about Ready Player One too, but still cautiously optimistic.

A.I. was a movie that Stanley Kubrick had attempted to make for many years. His vision of it was very dark and serious. After Kubrick died, Spielberg finished what Kubrick had attempted to start many years earlier. Unfortunately, Spielberg turned it into a vapid retelling of Pinocchio.

This is a very common myth, and completely false. Firstly, let me just say that AI is a masterful film, easily Spielberg's best, and perhaps one of the finest of this century. Indeed, I'd rank it up there with Kubrick's best work. It's also totally misunderstood.

So, to set some records straight. You can search for interviews with Kubrick's chief collaborator, producer Jan Harlan, and Steven Spielberg.

• Kubrick's the one that developed the Pinocchio storyline. Indeed, he codenamed the project Pinocchio.
• He gave up on the project, and passed it on to Spielberg himself. He did so because he thought Spielberg would be the best director for the film.
• Spielberg convinced Kubrick to direct it himself, and he was meant to do so after Eyes Wide Shut.
• After he died, both Jan Harlan and Christiane Kubrick (his wife) requested Spielberg to put all his other projects and hold and do this for Stanley. He accepted.
• Jan Harlan was executive producer, and it was co-produced under the Stanley Kubrick Productions banner. He is on record calling it a "masterpiece" and thoroughly proud of it as he would a Stanley Kubrick film.
• Finally, all the dark elements of the film, the flesh trade etc were developed by Spielberg.

I personally love the ending - those are the best pieces of cinema I've ever witnessed. I don't understand how anyone could call that "sentimental" - if anything, the ending is classic Kubrick. It's some of the saddest moments in cinema. Indeed, we know that this was the only part of the film that was word to word from Kubrick's drafts.

Anyway, apologies for the off-topic rant. It's now over :) I do hope you revisit it.