Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Henry Thomas,Drew Barrymore
I had always liked E.T. as a kid, but it wasn’t until high school that I realized what a masterpiece this movie is. I saw E.T. in my 9th grade Spanish class, dubbed en espanol. Seeing it in such a unique state, two things occurred to me: one, E.T.: The Spanish Version would be awesome to see stoned (“Dude, he said telefono casa. ”); and two, only an insensitive, callous brute could ever dislike this movie.
On paper, E.T. sounds like a joke: Short, leathery alien gets left behind by fellow alien explorers on earth. Said alien stumbles into suburban household, befriends lonely boy. Alien shows certain superpowers, like the ability to levitate model planets, and make his finger glow. Alien gets chased down by evil government agents. Alien, with help of boy and friends, escapes, just in time to catch alien ship that came back for him. Before leaving, alien tells the kid, “Be good.” Music swells, ship takes off. Audiences the world over roll their eyes at the cheesiness of it all.
But no, audiences the world over did not roll their eyes--far from it. E.T. went on to become the highest-grossing movie in the world. (The top spot has since been claimed by Titanic, which did make me roll my eyes.) Spielberg had a pretty obvious secret formula when he made E.T. : he realized that we were all children once. And that’s what he’s so good at getting at: E.T. is filled with scenes that evoke a sense of childlike wonder. One thing you’ll realize about the movie is that a chunk of the laughter in this movie comes not from jokes or gags, but from awe. It’s the kind of movie where, if I were a hick from some Midwestern town (and apologies if you’re from the Midwest, but not if you’re a hick), I’d say, slapping my knee, “Well I’ll be darned how they do that!”
It doesn’t hurt matters that the special effects in this movie are spectacular. Seeing this movie again, I was amazed how a movie made in 1982 could have such sophisticated looking effects. I’ve seen effects-laden movies from that time, like Superman, and believe me, they look fairly primitive now. And to think it fooled me once. But then again, I was a pretty stupid kid.
E.T. was also that rare movie that was a box-office monster and a critical smash as well. In fact, in a critics poll at the end of the ‘80s, E.T. was voted as the second-best American film of the decade. I’m not sure I’d go that far, but it’s pretty close. So what we got here is an American classic, one of the biggest moneymakers of all time, and one of the most critically acclaimed American films ever. Everybody loves this movie. Am I saying if you don’t like this movie there’s something wrong with you? No, not really. But if the shoe fits…
