Still very effective 32 years later.

Rating: 10/10 (24 May 2014)

Steven Spielbergs' beloved alien encounter classic truly touches a nerve. How many of us who experienced this film as a child came away completely unaffected? It's ultimately a touching story of childhood innocence, devotion, and friendship; the friend in question just happens to be an alien being. Beautifully acted by its principals - and, yes, that should include E.T. himself, who's brought to life by a talented effects crew - this sometimes funny, sometimes a little spooky, and always heartfelt story, scripted by Melissa Mathison, still has the ability to move this viewer who's now seeing it from the perspective of a 41 year old adult.
John Williams contributes another of his majestic, iconic music scores, the cinematography by Allen Daviau is excellent, and Spielbergs' storytelling savvy is at its peak. This film moves forward extremely well, and the one hour & 55 minute run time pretty much flies by.
An alien botanist gets stranded on Earth when his spaceship leaves without him; soon, he's discovered by troubled youngster Elliott (Henry Thomas), who does everything in his power to hold on to his new friend and provide for him in any way that he can. He knows that if word got out, that adults would just want to exploit and examine the poor creature. Fortunately, E.T. is sufficiently intelligent to be able to figure out a means of contacting his home planet, so it becomes a matter of spiriting him away so the rendezvous can take place.
This viewer will admit that as a child he just felt like bawling at the finale, but even at this age, his eyes didn't exactly remain dry. There is a fundamental sweetness and charm to all of this that helps it to hold up after all this time. Tellingly, adult characters are very minimal in the mounting drama, save for the always appealing Dee Wallace as Elliotts' mother Mary and Peter Coyote as the basically well intentioned government agent known only as "Keys". Drew Barrymore is adorable and natural as the sister and Robert MacNaughton is fine as older brother Michael. That's C. Thomas Howell as Tyler and Erika Eleniak as the girl in the science class.
This remains among the best of Spielbergs' filmography and is worth introducing to each successive generation.
10 out of 10.