The greatest live action family movie EVER.

Rating: 9/10 (26 January 2004)

But, It's more than just that. Spielberg perfectly combined the magic of childhood with the magic of 70's/80's science fiction. The result: pure 80's pop poetry. Perhaps like no other film, this film completely captures what it was like to be a child in 1980's American Suburbia; I should know- being the same age as Drew Barrymore. For many, it's too sentimental (as if that was a deadly sin.) Maybe that's why ET gets no respect in the 21st century. Spielberg's other magic sci-fi masterpiece from the period(Close Encounters) receives the same lack of respect. It's also a hopeful film that is meant to awe, not scare or depress. Have we become so cynical in the last twenty years that we seriously consider movies(as good as they may be) like Trainspotting and Heat to be superior to two of Spielberg's best? I hope it hasn't come to that.