"I'll be right here"

Rating: 10/10 (28 February 2011)

One of the big secrets to the blockbuster format of the late 70s and early 80s was that while the movies were primarily aimed at an adult audience, for the most part they were also fine to take your kids along to. It was only a small twist then for that most savvy of blockbuster pioneers Steven Spielberg to create a picture that was made for kids but could also appeal to the grown-ups in the audience. But most of all, like the director's earlier hits, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial works because it is just so well thought out and perfectly pulled off.
The opening moments of E.T. are a masterful piece of filmmaking. Spielberg shows us what the aliens are doing without revealing quite what they look like. We see a few silhouettes through the trees, a couple close-ups of hands and feet, even some point-of-view shots, but no clear views. This builds up a feeling of wonder and anticipation. We only get to see exactly what E.T. is like when Elliot encounters him face-to-face, which helps us identify with Elliot's discovery of his new friend. Bizarrely, in the CGI-ed up 2002 re-release Spielberg violates his own earlier genius by including a very clear shot in the opening scene of E.T. running into a clearing as his spaceship departs. This, to my mind, is far worse than the oft-maligned change of cops' guns into walkie-talkies, because it would destroy that sense of curiosity for a first time viewer. Spielberg claimed the re-release is how he would have done it first time round had he had the technology, but I reckon he's mistaken. It seems in his drive to make the creature more realistic he forgot the careful touches that made the picture so vital in the first place.
Thankfully, even in the overdone re-release there is enough of the director's original inventiveness shining through. A move like cutting down the line on the ringing telephone seems a bit excessive, until you later see an identical bit of cutting on E.T.'s makeshift equivalent, encouraging us to draw a parallel between the two machines. Spielberg keeps the focus on the younger characters by having some of the less important adult figures (such as the teacher or some of the government scientists) appear only vaguely – hands, backs, but never faces. In contrast, the focus is constantly on the facial expressions of the three children and E.T. A really important moment is the reaction shot of E.T. as he watches Elliot and Michael making threats over Gertie's favourite toy. At that point, the little alien stops being an odd creature and becomes a feeling, empathising character.
And then there is so much else to this picture that make it so wonderful. There is its touching story, one of the most heart-warming aspects of which is the way E.T.'s presence brings the family together. There is John Williams' powerful and evocative score that seems so utterly in tune with every image. And the performances of the three young actors, natural and deeply poignant, and even out-acting their on screen mother Dee Wallace. A moment like the release of the frogs and the recreation of a scene from The Quiet Man, inter-cut with the original may be incredibly surreal for a kids picture, but it is a gorgeous tribute to all that is romantic in cinema. The ironic thing is that E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is such an intelligent and beautiful production, it moves me more as an adult that it did as a child.