Title: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Release Date: June 11, 1982
Director: Steven Spielberg
Production Company: Universal Studios | Amblin Entertainment
Summary/Review:
E.T. was a huge monster hit right at the time when I was the target demographic for this story of an alien botanist stranded on earth and his friendship with a young boy. And I didn’t really like it. Watching this movie again for the first time in decades, I found myself far more moved by it than I did when I was 8.
I do remember seeing this in the theater with my family and my sister and I were allowed to go up to the balcony on our own. Except that I found the movie too scary and forced my sister to go back downstairs to sit with our parents. Well, it turns out, the first 20 minutes or so of this movie are pretty creepy from John Williams’ music to the slasher film perspective of E.T. running through the woods. Later in the movie, when a bleached-out E.T. is discovered in a ravine and then the government agents invade the house are also creepy and scary moments.
Of course, the whole movie isn’t creepy. It’s actually very sweet and a remarkably well-written (by screen written Melissa Mathison) story that balances the humor, drama, and pathos of a realistic childhood friendship (in a Sci-Fi setting, of course). It helps that the movie stars some terrific child actors in Henry Thomas as Elliot and Drew Barrymore as his little sister Gertie. All in all, this movie is much better than I remembered although it does tend to get overly manipulative of the emotions towards the end. While I wouldn’t put it on my favorite movies of all time list, it is definitely worth watching.
Rating: ****
Panorama of the Mountains 