Borrowed Intelligence?

The character in “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” who says, “The world is more full of weeping than you can understand” is actually quoting a partial refrain from the poem “The Stolen Child” by W.B. Yeats (“Mechanically Inclined,” by Kenneth Turan, June 29).

The complete refrain is:

Come away, O human child!

To the waters and the wild

With a fairy, hand in hand,

For the world’s more full of weeping

Than you can understand.

ELIZABETH DAVIES

San Diego

Forget about nonexistent movie critics or executives’ assistants portraying enthusiastic moviegoers in TV commercials: “A.I.” could be the biggest “scam” ever put upon the general public by the entertainment industry.

This film is horrible! It is literally a rehashed “Pinocchio” that keeps telling us bluntly again and again that it’s “just like a rehashed Pinocchio.” And I love “Pinocchio”!

The packed house at the Vista Theatre could not hold back the laughter as one contrived dramatic moment unfolded after another in this embarrassing movie. Steven Spielberg should fire everyone involved with “A.I.” and hire a staff of third-year film students who still use their imaginations and aren’t there just for the paycheck.

MICHAEL ENDRIZZI

Silver Lake

We are some of the many who went to see “A.I.” this past weekend. We spent the remainder of the day trying to figure out what exactly Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick were thinking. Was this some kooky joke played on the moviegoing public?

Our best guess was it was a combination of “Bicentennial Man” meets “Pinocchio” meets “Lorenzo’s Oil” meets “The Good Son” meets “E.T.” meets “Close Encounters” meets “Waterworld” meets “The Care Bears” meets “The Wizard of Oz” meets “Toy Story”!

We did manage to come up with a few monikers Spielberg may wish to consider using for the film’s DVD cover or even its overseas release: “A.I.: All of You Are Idiots”; “A.I.: Apologize Instantly!” and “A.I.: Admission: I Want Mine Back!”

STACEY ROEHRICH

KELLY ESQUIVEL

Los Angeles

I’m at the 11:45 a.m. screening of “A.I.” at the Mann Village in Westwood. One hour and 45 minutes into the picture, the framing goes askew. Chants of “framing!” start.

Time passes. Nothing happens. More chanting. Still no change in the frame. In the lobby, there’s confusion. They tell us they’re “looking” for the projectionist. Five minutes later, I walk out of the theater, taking a refundable ticket on my way out.

How appropriate: At a movie decrying the loss of “human-ness” in a mechanized world, there’s no human in the projection box.

JOSEPH PUTERBAUGH

Santa Monica