E.T. Review

No director has made a cultural impact as significant as Steven Spielberg. Although his films aren’t necessarily best picture material, he shaped the idea of the blockbuster, and honestly, a lot of people’s childhoods in the 80s. E.T. is a perfect example of Spielberg at his best. The story is a unique movie that has the signature Spielberg charm. The overall premise, somewhat parodying the classic boy and dog stories, is based on Spielberg’s life in some ways. Now, obviously, young Steven Spielberg never met an alien trying to get back home. However, the relationships in the family were real to him. Family struggles are a fairly prominent theme throughout all of Spielberg’s movies, and that’s good. It’s a well known fact that when you write from what’s real to you, it will become real to the audience. Even though the relationships are great, I did find that some of the acting was a bit over the top at times. However, it’s important to note that E.T. is very much a children’s movie. The E.T. puppet itself was pulled off quite well, which is important. There’s always something special about using practical effects. Although sometimes (i.e. when E.T.’s spaceship lands at the end) the special effects did become bothersome, the magic of E.T. and some of the other effects greatly outweighed that. A lot of E.T.’s charm is also due to John Williams. It’s no secret that John Williams is the greatest composer of our generation, when he works with Spielberg, there’s always something that clicks, unless it’s 1941, nobody could have saved that movie. Although I forgot the bulk of the movie, there were quite a few scenes that stick in your head forever. That’s all thanks to Spielberg’s eye for the perfect shot, and this is pulled off more than once, notably, the bikes. Overall, while I praise E.T., it still isn’t Spielberg’s greatest. It has its problems, but, for what it’s worth, it has impacted numerous generations, and doing that is hard to pull off. 7.8/10