My wife borrowed a copy of Close Encounters of the Third Kind over Thanksgiving and we watched it the other night. I know it was quite popular at the time but when all was said and done, I have no idea why. Well, that's not quite true, the visual effects used to create the alien spaceships were quite well done. I would say that to this day, they hold up quite well and don't appear fake at all. (This is not true of the make-up used on the aliens. They looked like small children with rubber masks.) Aside from that, though, I found the film rather disappointing.
This isn't the only early Speilberg film that was popular when released and that I find mostly unentertaining. Just a year or two ago I finally saw Goonies, about twenty years after the peak of its popularity. There were many moments throughout the film where I had flashbacks to grade school and finally figured out the pop culture references I had missed at the time. The "Ah-ha!" effect was probably the only redeeming part of the film for me. That and the fact that it was filmed on the Oregon Coast (along with other run-away hits like Free Willy and Kindergarten Cop).
For me, the most annoying part of these early Speilberg films is the dialog/relationships between the main characters. If I had to say, the rule seemed to be that all family units must be dysfunctional in a painful way and all dialog must include at least three people talking at the same time. In the case of "Goonies", the dialog must also be loud and obnoxious.
Obviously, Speilberg went on to make other films that will probably stand the test of time: my votes are on Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Oddly enough, there were also two films that received critical acclaim when released and were made in-between "Close Encounters" and "Goonies": The Color Purple and ET. I haven't seen "The Color Purple" but I remember the buzz surrounding it and it has been a while since I've seen ET but I know I generally enjoyed it.
So maybe early Speilberg is more inconsistent than anything else; I'm sure some would say that this just isn't early Speilberg but all Speilberg. For me, though, I think I am much more able to tolerate his more recent films than his early ones.
That said, it looks like Jurassic Park IV is in pre-production with Mr. Speilberg as the executive producer. I think I'll pass.
