Impressions
An alien is left behind on earth and is discovered by a young boy. The boy shelters the alien and the two learn from each other. However, a devoted scientist is tracking the alien. Soon it becomes adult versus child as E.T. must find his way home before he's tracked down by the government.
I can definitely see what frightened me about it. At various points, E.T., the scientist and the police are all depicted as fairly menacing. The story itself isn't the best managed. The psychic link developed between E.T. and Elliott would have been incredibly interesting if it weren't brushed over. The friendship between Elliott and E.T. is probably the best thing about the movie. The kids versus adults thing is something that had been done often. The adults come off more ignorant than stupid at least.
E.T. is a clueless alien from a friendly race who gets stranded on earth. He acts like a child by constantly screaming and flailing. I suppose this is supposed to reflect his otherworldliness and make him endearing. It didn't have that effect on me. When he isn't acting like a child off ritalin, he becomes more tolerable. I'm refering to the part where he gets drunk of course.
Elliott is the little boy who discovers E.T. hiding in his shed. Elliott is awkward and so nerdy it hurts even me. In Elliott's first scene his brother and friends won't let him into their way cool Dungeons and Dragons game. Either Dungeons and Dragons was waaaaaaaaaay cooler in the 80s or Elliott is incredibly pathetic. He's at his best when he gets sympathetically drunk.
Gawking Observers The little sister is pretty obnoxiously cute. Mind you tiny Dre Barrymore is preferable to the adult version, at least I think so. Naturally she makes the biggest actual breakthroughs with E.T.
The older brother is an incredibly cheesy eighties cool. He sort of picks on his younger siblings while acting like everything he does is awesome.
Their mother is overworked and oblivious to most of what her children are doing. It's played for comedy, though it does get somewhat ridiculous.
Suburban Atmosphere
Ah, suburban Southern California, I know it well. There are certain waves of nostalgia that flow through me when it shows their rooms and neighborhood. Simpler times.
In the End
Deus Ex Machina! Chase! Awkwardly slow farewell. Seriously, take the music away from the last scene and it is painfully slow. However, as cheesey and overly emotional as it gets, it is a satisfying ending.Overall
I know I've been hard on this movie, but it's not bad. It is a simple film about accepting others for who they are. It could have been tighter and used its concepts better. However, I must say that I can see why its a much beloved classic. Oh and no, I'm not scared of E.T. anymore, though it'll probably be another 25 years before I decide to re-watch it. Stay way from the 20th anniversary edition where they added some horrible CG faces to E.T. That is scary.
7/10
The next film on the Spielberg list is one that defined my childhood in a more positive light: Jurassic Park.
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