Typically Spielberg

Rating: Null/10 (7 July 1999)

I watched ET when I was a kid, about 11 years old. I loved it. I think, this is a movie every child should have seen at least once. It's a wonderful story about friendship and about overcoming difficulties. A young boy befriends an alien and must then fight for the freedom, and eventually the life, of his friend against people who don't understand. The movie also features Drew Barrymore and Erika Eleniak. Drew was too young for me then, but I did have a childhood crush on Erika. In retrospect, ET is everything I hate about Steven Spielberg. It's blatantly emotionally manipulative. Every scene practically had a big neon sign on top saying "SMILE", "LAUGH" or "CRY". The movie tries to be multi layered and only succeeds in being pretentious. I'm too annoyed by this to really enjoy the movie, which, I can't deny, is still really good. But when I was a kid, I loved it and I think every kid will love it.