Good Movie, even though it's a Children's Movie

Rating: 9/10 (25 January 2004)

My brother seems to hate ET. He claims that some of the scenes were "childish." When Harry Potter came out he refused to read it and assumed it was bad simply because it's a children's book. A lot of teenage boys nowadays seem to believe that watching children's movies is somehow shameful. They feel as if they have to pretend they hate children's movies to prove their manliness, not only to others but also to themselves.
While struggling to find a reason why ET wasn't good, my brother cited Spielberg's portrayal of adults and scientists as evil. He said it was "simplistic." But this is a legitimate theme. Many believe that children start off innocent and as they grow older society corrupts them. Others believe children start off silly and as they grow older they mature and become better people. This concept has been pondered over for centuries by ethicists and lawyers. Why do you think children under 10 cannot be charged for murder? The legal system claims they are not capable of forming a guilty mind. This concept is far from "simplistic." And anyway, to all young boys scientists and adults are scary, and this movie was told from the perspective of the little boys. So of course the adults are portrayed as evil!
There is virtually no flaw with this movie apart from the slight overacting by Elliot, but all in all he is one of the best child actors I've seen on screen, much better than the kid off Last Action Hero. ET has good plot, good characterization, good soundtrack, and good visual effects. It's a movie you cannot hate unless you try hard to hate it.
Unfortunately for most people watching movies is about carving out an identity. People try to define their character by the sorts of movies they watch. So if you like to think of yourself as some tough guy, you'd force yourself to watch violent action movies and then go around telling everyone how much you loved these movies so others can acknowledge your identity. These are the sorts of people who scream out "chick flick" at any romance movie to conform to the stereotype that men can't tolerate romance.
It's sad that the objectivity of movie reviewing is now corrupted by vanity.
10/10