Mystifying treacle causes instant diabetes to susceptible sentimentalists.

Rating: 3/10 (25 May 2008)

OK, "E.T.: the Extraterrestrial", is not horrible, but that which is "off" about it is especially irritating. Steven Spielberg chose to ground ET too firmly in the more banal aspects of the early 1980s zeitgeist, which might creep out a latter day viewer from the get go -- at least it did me. Of course much of this was well done, but it seems only mass hypnosis or some kind of "groupthink" can explain what makes this flick so incredibly popular when it is so very average. Everything Mr. Spielberg ever made is far, far better than this treacly, saccharin-coated kid movie. I have to give it a 3 star to make up for so many undeserved tens. There is no doubt that this movie achieves it's tens because it pulls so well on the heart strings of a fair number of viewers. That's all very well to a point. Coming away from a two hour investment in edification should leave one feeling better, in one way or another. I would admit that my review is infected with an unfair bias but for the fact that I am usually biased in favor of including entertainment along with mere art, especially in comedies, of which ET is one, in a very broad definition (look it up!). "Forrest Gump" comes to mind as a comparable treacly-saccharin movie that I absolutely loved. At the end of the day, I can't put my finger on it; maudlin can be tolerable in the right package, but not in E.T.