A fun, emotional family movie

Rating: 8/10 (8 November 2002)

Spielberg brought us a fun, emotional family movie about kids who find an alien that was accidently left behind. Though much of what happens is pretty unbelievable, for some reason it seems we are willing to accept it for the sake of the movie. There's a good 80s cast of kids and adults, including Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton (with his cool Space Invaders shirt), C. Thomas Howell, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote...and a young Erika Eleniak, of Baywatch & Playboy fame, as the girl that Elliott kisses in the classroom. There is a good theme of acceptance. Unlike most other movies with aliens, everyone welcomes E.T., even the adults. I hadn't seen the movie in well over a decade, and I was pleasantly surprised that I still enjoyed it as much as I did back in the 80s. With it now being released on DVD, I'm glad it will bring E.T. to a whole new generation of kids
*** (Out of 4)