Film: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

When I was a kid this movie scared me. I can still vividly remember a nightmare I had after watching it where an E.T.-like creature ran around my house trying to crawl through the windows before taking off in a space ship trailing a rainbow. The scene in the cornfield where Elliot first runs into E.T. was also really frightening to me and has contributed to a phobia of windows that I have. The character design was frightening.

When I re-watched the movie last night I found the film extremely touching (I cried). E.T. is easily the most loveable non-Jim Henson puppet ever made, and maybe of all time, who knows! I find the contrast between my experience of this movie as a kid and my experience of it as a somewhat emotionally damaged adult to be really interesting. E.T. doesn't strike me as a kids movie. When Michael finds E.T.'s ashy, crippled little body in that river it struck an emotional chord with me because he's so vulnerable and tragic; when I saw that same scene as a kid I had a negative reaction because the creature was so ugly and shrivelled. It's possible I was just a stupid kid, but I think this is really an adult's film despite being kid-accessible; it's designed to take us back to a simpler time in the trajectory of our own lives and does so by reflecting a lot of Steven Spielberg's own personal childhood experiences.

In my opinion, the movie is flawless. Not only is the story touching and funny but every scene is technically gorgeous, particularly the lighting. I mean, how can you see Elliot and E.T. fly past the moon in silhouette and not get goosebumps? And it's so simple. A story about a boy and his alien. Timeless.

The child actors all nailed their parts with an almost unbelievable level of naturalness in their performances; tellingly, most of them failed to go on and have successful careers in acting. The 20th Anniversary Edition replaces some shots of E.T. with a CGI version which is sickening. But otherwise not much was altered except for a scene at the end where federal agents have their guns replaced with walkie talkies. It's lame but not the end of the world.

It's simply an excellent movie and I'm glad it shattered box office records (at the time). The atmosphere and nostalgia this movie evokes are almost indescribably beautiful. And you really can't say that about a lot that happened in the 80s.

This movie is not played in my household because my wife won't let me.

i saw ET in a drive-in
it was also the first bootleg movie i saw and the first i saw on cable

and my brother had this prosthetic ET finger that would light up whenever you pressed it against something

Damien said:

This movie is not played in my household because my wife won't let me.

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whyyyyy?

Creeps her out too much. Gives her nightmares.

drew barrymore does that to some people. :D

E.T. looked like a burnt chitterling. I couldn't wait for the thing to die.

I'm one of the three Americans who never liked E.T., not even as a kid. Yes, some of it freaked me out, but something about the flick never clicked with me. I didn't like Elliot or his brother or his sister or the alien, though I can see why so many people love it.

Even so, it would be criminal to give this classic with its impeccable pedigree less than three stars.

i agree, the first introduction to et when he is running at elliot and making the creepy noise is frightening.
but it is such a touching, wonderful, compassionate movie that easily displays to a child (or adult) what empathy really can be.
and i totally agree with the new dvds that now have all the guns replaced with flashlights. while et may still strike fear in children at least the man with keys will not give them nightmares of men with guns in the woods in back of their houses.

I hated this movie when it came out (I was rather little then) and I still hate it. I have made a vow never to watch it again. I thought ET was a crap name, and the little kid in the movie a tosser, and the ending too happy.

That was 18 years ago now??

why did ET get sick?

Wasn't it because he had lost connection with his family? I thought they gave each other some kind of mutual energy of some sort.

oooooooohhhh.. i recently watched this again (first time in decades) and it was my wife's first viewing and we both came out wondering why he got sick. she thought it was just a tear jerking plot device.

it could be.... or perhaps it was that evil beer her drank