Hard to be objective, but this is a truly special film for me

Rating: 10/10 (21 October 2017)

First off, I am so disappointed my children found this film boring when I took them to the theater for a 35th anniversary screening. They didn't hate it, but they did not get the sense of wonder and magic that I got when I watched this film as a child. Granted I was a few years older than them, but I'm still disappointed. Anyhow, "E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial" drips in 1980s nostalgia, with Mike and his friends playing Dungeons & Dragons while ordering pizza from a corded telephone, Space Invaders t-shirts, references to someone getting the high score on Asteroids, BMX bikes prominently featured, and so on an so forth. That alone made this film fun to rewatch, but beyond Gen-X nostalgia, Steven Spielberg does what he did best during this period of his career, he brought a sense of magic to the world. Spielberg at this time also populated his world with characters who seem very real and identifiable. I was the exact same age as Henry Thomas when this film first came out (I suppose I'm same age now as well), so that likely also added to me feeling a strong connection to the characters in the story when I originally saw the film. Thomas is great and very genuine in his performance, but this was Drew Barrymore's first film and she really does steal every scene she's in. It's hard to say a six-year-old has star quality, or if it's the script, or if it was Spielberg, but she has some of the film's best moments; dressing up E.T., calling him a deformed kid, telling her brothers, "Give me a break!" or her the film's heartfelt finale with E.T. telling Gertie to "Beeeeeee... gooood." The overall story is of a boy hiding a lost alien in his closet and helping him get home is charming, but I believe it's really all of these small moments that made this film great. It's as if "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" is entirely filled with precious Spielbergian scenes like the one from Jaws where Chief Brody and his son mimic each other at the dinner table. I couldn't get over how charming and innocent moments of the film were, particularly when Elliott first coaxes E.T. out of his closet and tells him all of his toys. Those little touches all add up to making the audience more connected with these characters, even if they don't necessarily forward the plot. Those are the scenes that stick in your mind, although the flying bicycles are certainly going to stick in your mind and are a big plot moment. A few things I don't think I picked up on when I originally watched this film was some foreshadowing of E.T. and Elliott's connection. Early on in the film when Elliott is getting food from the fridge, E.T. is startled by something in Elliott's room and shrieks, causing Elliott to also shriek and spill a carton of milk. Upon first viewing, you'd think it was E.T.'s shriek that startled Elliott, but it's the start of their psychic and physical bond between the two. The other part of the film that escaped me as a child was Elliott's mom, Dee Wallace and a great performance that's very nearly very easy to miss, struggling with being a newly single mom and a still coming to terms with a recent divorce. Her struggles as a parent are something I now identify with as an adult and allowed for a new emotional connection to the film and characters. It was also fun when rewatching the film to see how many tips-of-the-hat that were done in "Stranger Things" to this film. It's no secret that "Stranger Things" cribbed heavily form Spielberg, but I was struck by how spot on "Stranger Things" was when I actually went back to watch a Spielberg film from that era. Overall, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a film classic and if Elliot saying, "You could be happy here, I could take care of you. I wouldn't let anybody hurt you. We could grow up together, E.T." doesn't get to you, you have a heart of stone.