"Come." "Stay."

Rating: 10/10 (9 April 2002)

These two words spoken by E.T. and Elliott, respectively, is the heart of this beautiful fable of a young boy and his meeting and eventual love for an extra-terrestrial being.
Elliott's (Henry Thomas) love is returned in full by E.T., hence E.T.'s desire for Elliott to come home' with him.
This makes for a delightful story with all the suspense, laughter and devotion that any good film could ever have.
The interaction between Elliott and his family is so finely fashioned that it is completely believable. (The torturing of the doll brought back a few memories.) There is a truth to their interactions that adds so much to the believability of the film.
Just because a movie relies on children to tell a story doesn't make it a children's film. While this is a family film' there are some issues around language and the death of E.T. that the parents of some children may find objectionable. Also, parents that cannot control their children should not bring them to a theater where people are actually trying to quietly enjoy a movie.
The new revamped Twentieth Anniversary edition of this film classic adds a few scenes, digitally expands on the facial and body movements of E.T. (which couldn't be done with the puppet in the original filming) and removes the guns in one scene. I must admit that when I saw this film when it came out in 1982 the thought that the children were, on some level, threatened with guns bothered me. I am glad to see that they are gone.
When this film came out it added the `E.T., phone home.' phrase to the American lexicon.
The stirring score was the product of the genius of film music: John Williams. He is a national treasure.
This is a brilliant film with a good story and a great message and is certainly worth revisiting. It is a classic for all time.