MPAA Rating: PG/ Genre: Sci-Fi Drama/ Stars: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, K. C. Martel, C. Thomas Howell, Sean Frye, Erika Eleniak; Voice of: Pat Welsh/ Runtime: 114 minutes

I feel it must be said that out of all the movies released year after year, there are iconic movies which leave a mark that lasts a while whilst some have a legacy which endures quite a bit longer. Then there is an even smaller yet equally as special group which leave the things the iconic films do, but in addition, provide audiences with something more. Something that is more desirable yet timeless that although you can’t put your finger on it is something that immerses you like a warm and fresh blanket of nostalgia that is so comforting and so pure that it changes an iconic film into a phenomenon that feels more like a homecoming than anything else. I say that because for those of us who either grew up in the 80s or 90s, filmmaking icon Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is more than just a simple film and if you were to try and reduce its particular charm to the phrase “mark” or why it is so appealing to the phrase “legacy” just feels completely inadequate. A phrase that when attached to a movie whose powerful heart is still beating potently some 3-plus decades following its’s initial release, for a movie that Spielberg has claimed as his most personal film, and for a movie that audiences of all age groups still enjoy and cherish, the mere words weak and impersonal are complete sacrilege. To be fair though, I will not turn a blind eye to the fact that kids born in the 21st century might not feel the same immense respect and love for this movie as children of generations past, mine included, nor do I expect them to give the visual effects, which to some may seem dated, the benefit of the doubt. Be that as it may, the fact remains to be seen that E.T. is just as comical, suspenseful, emotional, and potent as ever and it would be extremely tough for anybody to walk away and not be able to see that be it their first time watching this or their fiftieth.

The plot is as follows: E.T. opens its riveting tale in the middle of a pursuit by a group of government agents of…..something shall we say from another world that is here on a scientific expedition of sorts. Yet while 99.8% of the alien team is able to fly away on their ship in the ensuing getaway, the same can’t be said of one member who is accidentally left behind in the chaos. Lost, lonely, and being hunted our little visitor finds himself (?) stumbling into the backyard of a home lived in by a single mother and her 3 kids: a little girl named Gertie and a pair of boys named Michael and Elliott. Yet when Elliott stumbles upon the alien in return, the stage is set for a friendship truly unlike another. Yet with the government closing in and ET literally becoming the most extreme form of homesick you can possibly imagine, it’ll be up to Elliott, with help from his family, to get his new intergalactic buddy to a rendezvous point with his ship so he can at long last head for home….

Now when taken on surface level, E.T. may tell a simplistic story about a ten-year old boy who becomes friends with a stranded extraterrestrial visitor to our planet, but there is a lot more to the story than that. Indeed as we soon see that Elliott is the middle child in a trio of kids and who is struggling with everything from being bullied to feeling lonely and completely isolated in the aftermath of his parents’ split. To that end, I think it should be noted that Spielberg wasn’t just trying to make audiences a film about a young man and his misadventures with a kind and benevolent alien. Rather he was trying, and succeeded in typical Spielbergian fashion, in crafting a film about a broken family that is able to come back together and become a family again thanks to a series of amazing events. Thus E.T., as christened by Elliott, really is no more than an intergalactic catalyst; a wonderful, lonely, homesick, fond of candy, and kind catalyst, but a catalyst nonetheless. Thus the rich quality of this movie’s story manages to come to play courtesy not only of the people making up Elliott’s family by which I mean his mom Mary, and his older brother Michael and little sister Gertie respectively, but also their reaction to crossing paths with E.T., and the suspense of E.T. trying to….well phone home for lack of a better phrase before the government agents hot on his trail find him and capture him.

To that end, I feel that E.T is a terrific example of what Spielberg looks like when he is allowed to be his most creatively free or just his most content period. Indeed the degree of sentimentality that sometimes seems like such a foreign concept in some of Spielberg’s later work was actually perfected placed here alongside the amazement, the heartbreak, and the high degree of sincerity that is key to every single minute of this film. Indeed by drawing from his own childhood and working with a truly gifted cast of youngsters along with a few young at heart adults, Spielberg is able to create a pair of distinct realities and combine them into one. The first is the world as seen through the eyes of a child. A world where adults at times are only seen from the waist down, and strange critters, bikes that fly, flowers that blossom by themselves, fingers that emit a weird glow, and extraordinary machinery built from everyday household appliances are seen as genuine magic at work. The other is one which we seen through the eyes of an emotionally hurt young boy; a world where your parent always seems on edge, your peers all take delight in bullying you, and other grown-ups seem to see something you’ve come to care about as nothing more than just something to study. Yet when these two realities are brought together, we see that through ET and the magic he brings to our world, not only is Elliott able to regain his assertiveness, his sense of individual security, and the belief that, no matter what, everything is going to be alright again, but also that through his attempts to help E.T. get off Earth and go home, he is given the chance to say goodbye to someone on mutual terms; something he was negated when his dad left the family. Yet through all of this, Spielberg is able to insert into each concept, character, and role something that is in equal measure enchanting, innocent, and also unafraid.

Now it shouldn’t be a surprise to know that E.T. was not Spielberg’s first dip into the pond of visitors from outer space, and it most certainly would not be his last. Indeed whilst he also had explored similar themes and ideas, albeit from an adult perspective, with Close Encounters of the Third Kind five years earlier, 2-plus decades later with the 2005 War of the Worlds (which dealt with significantly less friendly aliens and no Reese’s Pieces in sight), and then three years later with……Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (the less said there though the better). Yet while cinephiles will always congregate to Close Encounters, I feel that it is E.T. that is the best film to ensnare the intrigue and imagination a child, or really anyone who is nowhere close to being pessimistic or cynical in any way, is blessed with when thinking about whether we are alone in the universe or not. Yes this film will make you cry, and yes it is the kind of 80s iconic film which is able to pluck at the heartstrings in the way only a master could, and yes audiences nowadays are more prone to seeing alien films of an invasion nature thus making it sadly easier for some to dismiss E.T. as a “cutesy little kids’ film”. Yet I would just like to point out that if you are that unable to either accept an escapism-kind of film or being immersed in a heartfelt quest, then maybe it is time for you to really start thinking about just what made you a movie lover to begin with. Indeed, with few exceptions, I can guarantee it most likely wasn’t some movie like Cannibal Holocaust or The Evil Dead.

Now is E.T. completely free of anything that could be construed as criticism? Well….there may be one or two things, and they mostly have to deal with the character played by Peter Coyote. I say this since somehow he manages to go from an antagonist without a face to an everyman who is surprisingly empathetic with the plight of our hero to……giving Elliott’s mom the eye?? I mean I guess that since E.T. is supposed to be a tale that is told through the point of view of a kid it kinda makes a little bit of sense. Yet there is still no getting around how Spielberg at the same time manages to both make the film’s adults both human and inhuman just as the movie is hitting its stride from a dramatic perspective. With that aside however, there really isn’t a whole lot to gripe about when it comes to this film. Oh yes I do suppose a warning or 2 is necessary as well. First off if you have younger kids that you are watching this that are more used to lighter cinematic fare please please let them know that this film does go to some surprisingly pitch-black dark places and that some of the visual work may be quite hard for young children, and even some adults, to handle. Also the final scene with both E.T. and Elliott is as heartbreaking and cry-worthy as it ever has been and most likely always will be (sequel holiday commercials from a few years ago aside) so please have your tissues ready. Yet even with those warnings in place, it should be noted that none of these things should really stop you from bringing E.T. into your life, to say nothing of your movie collection. Indeed if you haven’t taken the time to see this film in a long time then use this as an excuse to reconnect with the memories. However if you have never seen this movie before then I implore you to please take the opportunity to introduce yourself and your family to a movie that is sure to become an instant favorite.

All in all it isn’t wrong in even the slightest to say that rewatching E.T. for this review really did manage to take me back: not only to the much, much simpler period of time known as childhood, but also to when moviemaking was a lot purer and a whole lot less cynical. Yet that is also the power this film has on those who watch it as well. I say this because, despite my accumulation of cynicism over 26 years, this film somehow still makes me laugh, makes me gasp, makes me smile, and yes, makes me break down bawling like few other films ever could. Indeed it is to that end that I will say ET is more than just an iconic film or proof of movie magic at work. Instead I will say that this is a riveting example of some of the purest magic you could ever hope to find in the world and it is one that will always captivate no matter how long it has been since you last watched it or if it’s your first time or your 100th time watching it. On a scale of 1-5 I give E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial a solid 5 out of 5.