The Greatest Family Movie Ever Made

Rating: 10/10 (15 October 2002)

As a young boy, I was raised around marines. They were tough as nails, typical man's man guys. But I vividly remember going to the base screening of this movie at four and entering the lobby after the movie was over and saw that every one of these marines were reduced to tears. It was in one of these moments that I saw the true power of what a truly fantastic movie can do.
E.T.-The Extra Terrestrial is an emotional roller-coaster. One minute we're laughing, the next, we're afraid, the next, we're charmed, then saddened, then joyous. And all within the period of two hours. Since the film's release, the format has been copied to death, but to watch the film again, the undeniable power of the original still remains.
Steven Spielberg, during his idealistic period, created this movie as a way of dealing with many emotions that family movies avoided to be more Pollyanna-ish. But this was one of the first real movies for kids that never glossed over death, coming-of-age, and divorce without being either too smiley faced or too adult. This was a movie that cared about the audience (how many movies today can say that?). Another first was this actually had kids saying lines like "Penis breath" and swearing. This was unheard of in 1982, now it's as common as saying Cheesy Poofs.
E.T. is a good mature film for families to watch if they're ever bored of the same old PC Disney garbage that's been churned out post-Lion King. E.T. doesn't talk down to it's audience, it never insults their intelligence, it's a movie that is there to entertain and show kids what it means to be a true friend.