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

[jennyjinx3]

Just curious, I want to let the kids watch it now, but I can't really remember how old I was when I saw it. All I remember is clinging to my dad crying in the movie theatre when E.T. got sick. DH thinks they will be bawling through the whole thing!

 

[kimj88]

I have been wondering the exact same thing about DS4 and DS9, maybe just DS9, if he is even ready for it....curious to see the answers you get

 

[EMom]

Geez, DD was probably 11 when we decided she needed to see it and rented a copy. She is not prone to crying at sad movies. I can be bawling my eyes out and she'll be fine. She cried like a baby when ET got sick and declared it the saddest thing she had ever seen, begging to know whether he would get better. She loved that little guy. When we went to Universal, she bought an ET in a hoodie.

 

[Mousemommy1]

That was the 1st movie I ever saw in the movie theater. I was 4.

My kids haven't seen it yet, but only because I only have it on VHS and no longer have a VCR. I will have to buy it on Blu-Ray at some point (is it even available?) for them to see it.

They have seen a lot of DH and my favorites there, including each and every Star Wars and Indiana Jones movies. I think they will like E.T.

DD9 will probably cry, especially since an episode of Phinneaus and Ferb made her cry once though...

 

[Minnesota!]

My parents brought me to see that at the drive in the year it came out...so I was 4. I fell asleep, lol! Still have not seen it. But, I would let my kids see it whenever they expressed an interest in it. WE bought the DVD a few years back - it has yet to be opened.

 

[TanyaS]

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.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Just curious, I want to let the kids watch it now, but I can't really remember how old I was when I saw it. All I remember is clinging to my dad crying in the movie theatre when E.T. got sick. DH thinks they will be bawling through the whole thing!

My 17yodd has NEVER seen it. I think my 22yodd saw it at some point. My girls are not criers at movies so it would have not phased them at all.

Me on the other hand would cry if I watch it again.

Have they expressed an interest in it? If so, I would go for it. There is only a short window where the "magic" of the innocence of the movie & a kid's age walks a fine line between "beauty" and "cheesy" for this generation imo.

 

[soccerdad72]

Mine are 13 and 8 and have only recently mentioned something about the movie. I forget if my wife and I were talking about it or they saw something mentioning the movie, but it never dawned on us that our kids have never seen it. We told them we'd rent it sometime soon.

 

[lorimay]

I think they were around 10.
It holds a special place in my heart, it was the first movie date my husband and I ever went on. I remember trying so hard not to cry, but cried when I got home. Years later he said he was holding back tears too.

 

[wiigirl]

I watched it with my daughter around 8ish....she liked it.

 

[Chelley00]

Our kids watched it last fall to prepare for our Universal trip before they rode the ET ride. They were 10 and 7. I prepared them for the sad parts but completely forgot about the language!

 

[mombrontrent]

I love E.T and my kids like it too. It is one of those movies I think can be watched at any age. I wouldn't censor this one at all (but I really don't censor much). I think mine saw it at age 3-4. Good family movie

 

[Mrs.Malone]

My youngest were probably around 5 when they saw it for the first time. I told them that ET would be okay in the end.

The killing of the frogs was the only part that upset any of them.

 

[savannahcat]

We watched it recently when my girls were 9 and 7. Both loved it!

 

[proud_canadian]

Kids saw it in preparation for a universal studios trip!

Ages 6 and 4

They loved it. We have the DVD and they still watch it all the time.

 

[elgerber]

My kids saw it when it was rereleased in the theater several years ago. Looks like 2002, so my dd was 6, ds was 9. No qualms at all about taking the 6 year old, and she was pretty sensitive about stuff. That movie was the first movie that made her cry, she was sooooooooooooooo upset when he "died". She crawled in my lap and said "how can they help him go home if he's dead". But she loved it, and was so happy that he came back to life. That right there though, is testament to what a great film it was, the emotions it brought out in people.

 

[ZephyrHawk]

I was the same age as Drew Barrymore's character. I wasn't scared at the ET being sick scenes, but when Drew's character screamed bloody murder at an earlier point in the movie, so did I.

Saw it at a drive-in, in my mom's station wagon. Ah, the memories.

Okay, actually, now I just remembered a funny story about the first time my cousins saw the movie. They were 12 and 10, and had both come into town for my wedding. The day afterwards we put the movie on to keep them busy while all the adults did something else. I wandered into the room and said, "Wow, hard to believe that was Drew Barrymore." The twelve-year old freaked out. "That's Drew Barrymore?!?" I think I blew his world view about pre-teen sex symbols.

 

[jennyjinx3]

Thanks all!!

 

[Sparkly]

I think I was about 6/7 when I saw it for the first time on TV. It's a lovely movie

I need to watch it again at some point.

 

[JRawkSteady]

I was 2 1/2 when I saw it in the theatres. My mom always laughs because she cried at the end and silly two year old Me said "Mom, why are you crying? It's only a movie!" It's one of her favorite stories.