At what age did your children watch E.T.?

[Meriweather]

It came out the year DD was born..........we went to a drive-in to see it. DS was 3 and loved it.
He gave DD a stuffed ET for Christmas that year.

 

[Diznygrl]

Ugh. I don't remember how old I was the first time I saw it, maybe 6 or 7? "Santa" brought me the VHS one Christmas. We watched it that day, and I was BAWLING. I've never watched it since, and I don't plan to!! My mom still laughs about it.

I watched a great many things in my childhood that wouldn't be considered "age appropriate" these days but my parents weren't very strict about that sort of thing. It's funny how out of all the crazy things that I watched, E.T. was the one that scarred me for life!

 

[WDWBarb]

My DD saw it sometime in late elementary school / early middle school. They showed it AT school (I'm sure there was some editing) and unfortunately, she had a very strong reaction to it. She was very embarrassed because she cried uncontrollably. She's NOT emotional and never cries at movies, but E.T. really got to her.

To this day she refuses to watch it or even talk about it.

I have a friend who played one of the extras (student) in the "frog" scene. He tells me that that many kids and that many frogs didn't result in happy endings for all of the frogs.. so I absolutely can't watch that scene ever again.

 

[jennyjinx3]

Well tonight was movie night! DD9 took off upstairs when the men in the spacesuits came to the door and never came back, DD7 started bawling when ET was found face down by the creek and she basically never stopped, and DD4 cried too. Mostly just to copy her big sister tho.

So not the most successful movie night LOL, but I did catch DH with a tear or two in his eye. Poor guy! And gosh Drew Barrymore was just adorable.

 

[elgerber]

Well tonight was movie night! DD9 took off upstairs when the men in the spacesuits came to the door and never came back, DD7 started bawling when ET was found face down by the creek and she basically never stopped, and DD4 cried too. Mostly just to copy her big sister tho. So not the most successful movie night LOL, but I did catch DH with a tear or two in his eye. Poor guy! And gosh Drew Barrymore was just adorable.

Sorry it didn't go so well, but isn't it amazing that a movie over 30 years old still has such an affect on people?

 

[jennyjinx3]

Sorry it didn't go so well, but isn't it amazing that a movie over 30 years old still has such an affect on people?

I know! And I loved when Elliot was showing ET his Star Wars figures. So cool.

 

[luvflorida]

It came out the year DD was born..........we went to a drive-in to see it. DS was 3 and loved it.
He gave DD a stuffed ET for Christmas that year.

Off topic, but I just had to say what an adorable little "clown" in your signature! I'm guessing that's your new little granddaughter. What a sweet pic!

Okay, back to the topic! My son was around 7 or 8 when he first watched E.T. He loved it! Nothing seemed to bother him until the very end when E.T. and friends were being chased on their bikes. When the bike and E.T. started flying, my son was so caught up in the moment that he burst out crying. He was so relieved and happy that E.T. got away and was safe!

 

[Meriweather]

Off topic, but I just had to say what an adorable little "clown" in your signature! I'm guessing that's your new little granddaughter. What a sweet pic!

Thank you.........community outing. Someone there painted her face.
She will be a mouse on Halloween.

Back to ET

 

[CdnCarrie]

Can't remember for sure but it's been a couple years so maybe 4 and 7ish.

 

[Cindy B]

I remember seeing it when it came out. I was 11.

 

[Cindy B]

I took my kids to see it this summer (shown at a local theater) and my youngest was 8.

If you are sensitive to language, there are a few phrases that may bother you - such as "five-letter-word-beginning-with-P breath" and a few others that the kids around me hooted at.

ET and the boy get drunk. The killing of the frogs, along with the near death of ET may be upsetting to younger kids.

I think the movie - which I think was made before there was a PG-13 rating - is a little rougher than PG movies today. There were tons of very little kids (summer day camps and preschools) in the audience at our showing and I thought some of the kids were really too young to be seeing it.

My kids (8 and 11 at the time) did enjoy it.

Yes it was made before Pg13. It would definitely not merit a PG13 though, since the first PG13 was much more violent and had much more adult themes.

For a guide: http://www.mpaa.org/ratings/what-each-rating-means

It definitely still rates a PG, since some of the words are not officially curse words, the drinking is done by the alien and not the child (technically) and the frog is in a biology class setting.

To be told, I think the frog dissection looks like for a 5th grade class. In 5th grade we only dissected worms. Frogs were more for 7th grade and up classes.

 

[TanyaS]

Common Sense Media and Kids In Mind are both useful movie review sites.