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I used to think E.T. was great too, until...

... I bought the LD back in '89 or '90 and watched the darn thing again. Some movies hold up well, some don't. E.T. seemed great when I saw it in the theater, but it looked hokey, dated and childish when I watched it ten year's later. Now, I'm not saying that E.T. isn't a charming kid's movie, but you've got to admit that none of the kid actors in E.T. were believable nor, by comparison, could any hold a candle to an actor of Haley Joel Osment's calibre today.

>>> "No one cared about science fiction or space at the time." <<<

Ed, you're kidding, right? Are you forgetting such films as Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back, Alien, Star Trek the Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan, Blade Runner, and how about Close Encounters of the Third Kind (i.e., a much better SF film about friendly aliens by Steven Spielberg which preceeded E.T.)? All of these and more came out in the late 70's and early 80's!

As far as E.T. being revolutionary at the time, well perhaps in terms of animatronics, but technology changes so rapidly that many mechanical effects shots from 20 years ago don't hold up well when compared to more modern films. As I've already mentioned, Spielberg had already created friendly aliens in Close Encounters so that wasn't really groundbreaking. One of the things I liked LEAST in E.T. was that it was the start of Spielberg's "cute-but-smart-ass-kids-who-are-smarter-than-the-adults-in-the-picture" period that frequenly cropped up throughout the 80's and into the 90's in a number of his films and studio's productions. Don't get me wrong, I like seeing kids who can ACT in his pictures, but far too often they were carricatures who really didn't act like believable kids.

So, there you have it; I'm sorry to have gone on at length about E.T., especially since you like the movie so much. Perhaps it's just that my taste in films with aliens and/or child actors differs from yours. I'm glad that you and your kids like E.T.; obviously Steven Spielberg and millions of other folks agree with you.

Respectfully,
AuPh


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