Run time: 146 mins

Stephen Spielberg’s sci-fi tale, which he took over from the late Stanley Kubrick, still resonates today. A beautiful, haunting look at what it means to be human, and what it means to love, and to be loved.

What was slightly misunderstood upon release has now blossomed into a surprising Spielberg all-timer. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience; a bleak film about human nature disguised as a sentimental, Pinocchio-inspired fairytale.

Opening up with a familial drama, a forlorn couple Monica (Frances O’Connor) and Henry (Sam Robards) are selected to take on David (Haley Joel Osment), a “mecha” child capable of love. But once you encode the love circuits there’s no going back. Monica finds it hard to bond with this robot that is replacing their terminally ill son, and so reluctantly abandons him in a panic.

The film then drastically shifts gear as David journeys to the "real" world. Accompanied by a groovy talking teddy bear, he pals up with love-bot Joe (Jude Law), escapes from the nightmarish Flesh Fair, and ventures to the dizzying lights of Rouge City. It’s Spielberg at his most perplexing, but also his most profound. Unmissable