E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

E.T. is one of my all time favorite movies. This movie blew me out of my seat as a kid, and still kills me every time I watch it. Only four or five movies have made me cry, much less sob uncontrollably. When I returned from seeing E.T. for the first time, I couldn't talk for the rest of the day. I laid in my bed and cried for about five hours.

The movie still makes tears well up in my eyes and gives me a lump in my throat. I still find it profoundly moving. It's heart-breakingly sad, yet phenomenally uplifting at the same time. I had no idea a movie could be so powerful when I saw this in the movies for the first time when I was eleven.

What I think makes E.T. so powerful for me now is the heart-wrenching way it has of making me long to be a kid again. I refuse to ever completely grow up, and my memories are my own, but man does this movie make me wish I was eleven again, when riding my bike was a pleasure, Matchbox cars were the greatest thing in the world, Halloween was a night of mystery and creepy fun I looked forward to all year, going to the movies was an adventure, and looking up at the stars could be a mind-blowing experience.

E.T. keeps those feeling alive for me. So do a lot of other things, but E.T. is the champ. As much as my cynical adult side may want to slap Steven Spielberg around sometimes, I would happily give him a hug for his timeless gift to the world, E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL.