The ultimate non-horror alien movie

Rating: 6/10 (8 November 2015)

"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is an American science-fiction fantasy film from almost 35 years ago that won 4 Academy Awards, 3 technical and 1 for John Williams' score that basically won every other award that year as well. The movie comes close to the 2-hour mark and is considered a classic today. I myself would not go so far and include it in my absolute favorite films, but nonetheless it was a pretty decent watch and E.T. certainly is a truly memorable character. Maybe you also need to watch this film around the age of 12 and not in your adulthood for the first time to truly appreciate the magic of it. That said, I think there were a couple really memorable scenes, mostly of course the shot with the bike ride in front of the moon, which is truly famous.
Steven Spielberg truly played with audiences on this one. You never know where it is going. Early on, when E.T. and the boy meet for the first time, it could very well have been a horror movie. Lets be honest here, the character of E.T. with his looks would have worked as a scary character as well. Then later on, it could have been a thriller with the doctors and police force all coming to capture E.T. But they actually were really friendly towards him. Pay attention how there are also no guns in this film to make it accessible for young audiences. I felt it interesting how basically everybody who wasn't family had no face in this film until around the 80 minute mark. And when we saw Peter Coyote, he was introduced in a way where he could also have been the major antagonist. But nope, we see his face, he becomes a friend. Apart from that, Peter Coyote is really used to playing likable characters. He is amazing in my all-time favorite "A Walk to Remember" too and I'm very glad he won his first Emmy this year.
So yeah, all in all, this film is a great achievement technically and a good watch in terms of drama, emotion and all the supernatural aspects. you should not watch this if you are in the mood for a particularly realistic movie. This one isn't, but that is not a problem as it somehow even adds a certain charm to it in my opinion. And let's not forget, this is fantasy and does not need to be realistic. Final shoutout to Drew Barrymore in one of her fist acting roles. She became the biggest star from the cast in the following decades. "E.T." is a good watch and I recommend it. Finally, a rip to writer Melissa Mathison who just died a couple days ago.