Seamless and brilliant enhancements bring the current eyeball-reality up to par with our cherished movie memories. Well done!

Rating: 10/10 (4 November 2002)

I had fond memories of having seen "E.T." at the theaters when it originally came out in 1982. I have never seen it since, because the VHS was late and limited, and there was no DVD until now. Anyway--- upon watching the new DVD anniversary edition, I was re-charmed and re-enrolled in the Steven Speilberg fan club (so to speak). Wow!
I watched the entire restored version, waiting for the "new effects." i never saw them. It looked like the "E.T." movie I had remembered. It was bright, deep, warm, engaging, and utterly cool. It was only upon watching the marvelous commentary portions on Disk Two that I got my answers, as to where the new stuff was. Speilberg does a shot-by-shot explanation of the enhancements. Nothing "new" in the sense of added stuff--- by what looked great as sci-fi FX back in 1982 really DID look a bit stupid today. Not quite on the Flash Gordon level from the 1940s and 1950s, but pretty lame and stale. the enhancements added the sparkel and zong we now have come to expect from the techno advances of the California film industry. The new stuff really is seamless, and brilliant. It didn't "change" anything--- it merely brought the current reality up to the level of our cherished movie memories. Well done Steven! "E.T." on DVD is a spectacular 10 out of 10 for me!