Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that the arrival of the spaceships is suspenseful and can be scary. There are tense moments as Roy and Jillian approach Devil's Tower. Smaller children may be scared when Barry is taken by the aliens, and by his mother's distress. Older children may be upset when Roy's family leaves him.
Families can talk about the idea of life beyond our solar system. Do you think there are other intelligent beings out there? Why or why not? If so, what do you think they're like, and do you think they'll ever come to Earth? In this movie, why was music a good way for the aliens to communicate with the people on Earth? And what did the scientist mean when he said it was the first day of school? Families can also discuss what might happen in a sequel to this movie. What do you think happened next?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Nell Minow
When Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon) "encounter" a UFO, they travel to its landing site, Devil's Tower, Wyoming. Jillian is seeking her son, who disappeared with the alien ship, but Roy is strangely compelled to go in a way that he can't understand. Obsessed with recreating the monolithic Devil's Tower out of shaving cream, mashed potatoes, and finally mud, Roy drives his family away.
When Roy and Jillian meet each other near the tower, they realize that they're not the only ones who feel they've been called there. French scientist Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffaut), a top-secret U.S. government installation, and others feeling the same compulsion are there to meet an enormous spacecraft, which, when it shows up, returns dozens of humans taken over decades (including Jillian's son). Then the aliens leave the ship, and Roy joins the group boarding the ship in an intergalactic exchange program. (In the reissue, which added some new scenes, viewers get a glimpse of the inside of the spacecraft.)
This is a thrilling adventure story and a brilliant example of the art and craft of moviemaking. The story unfolds with extraordinary power, involving viewers as much in Roy's inexplicable compulsion as in Jillian's search for her son. And the story itself is so different from many other alien movies -- it posits the idea not just that "something" is out there, but that it's something wonderful. Watch how Spielberg lets viewers know that the aliens are friendly. In one of several tributes to Disney, the interplay between the large and small spaceships has a fond, protective, almost maternal quality. This is a device Disney uses over and over, perhaps most memorably with the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia.
And there's something very believable and compelling about the way that the aliens use music to communicate and to teach the people on earth. They use art as well -- Roy's sculptures and Jillian's drawings help the aliens' message reach their conscious minds. Spielberg creates a sense of wonder not just in Jillian's son Barry (Cary Guffey) but in the adult characters and in the viewers, making them children again, with the aliens as the "adults," who -- reassuringly -- look and behave like gentle children, giving us a sense of comfort.
Activities: Kids can draw a picture of what they think the aliens' planet looks like. Do they live in cities? What kinds of inventions do they have that we don't have? Make a model or draw a picture of the planets in our solar system. Go the library or a museum to get information about space travel. Check out NASA on the World Wide Web at http://www.nasa.gov to get information about the next space mission. Or write to The SETI Institute, 2035 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043 for the latest research on UFOs and extraterrestrials.
Families who enjoy this movie might also like E.T. and Batteries Not Included.
Rate It!
| Content | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CS | adults | kids | ||
Sexual Content |
 |
|
|
|
ViolenceSome scary moments when the human characters have their first encounters with the aliens, and when Roy and Jillian are making their way to the tower. |
 |
|
|
|
Language |
|
|
|
|
Message |
|
|
|
|
Social BehaviorSends a message of tolerance on an interplanetary level. |
 |
 |
|
|
Commercialism |
 |
|
|
|
Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco |
|
|
|
|
