Brilliant

Rating: Null/10 (27 June 2008)

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
**** (out of 4)
A lonely young boy (Henry Thomas) finds a stranded alien who he calls E.T. and must help him get back home. It's rather strange how sentimental this movie is because the farthest back in life that I can remember is my mother taking me to see this on opening night. If the release date for this on IMDb is correct then I 25 months and 2 days old. It's strange but I still remember just about every feeling that I was feeling while watching the movie then and I still fondly remember the reaction that the other kids were having while watching the movie. All these years later I still have the same affection towards the film and it still makes me lose it like a little girl just like it did when I first watched it. I certainly don't think this is a movie for young kids due to various subject matters including death but I once read an interview with Spielberg who said it was a film for anyone who believes. This is certainly one of the most magical movies out there due to its sense of wonder and its meaning of friendship. In a lot of science-fiction movies we really don't get to know or feel for the characters but that's not the case here because the screenplay is so smart that we learn all sorts of facts about not only the humans but E.T. himself. Thomas gives the greatest performance here that I've ever seen from a child but I'd probably go even further by calling it one of the greatest ever put to film. The range of emotions he has to display is rather amazing considering his age. Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton and Peter Coyote are all very good as well. The greatest performance in the film has to go to the special effects that created E.T. and made him one of the most memorable characters in the history of film. The 2002 "CGI enhanced" version is pure garbage but the original creature is one of the greatest to ever come to the screen and it's just amazing at how well he holds up and how human they were able to make him. With his funny talk, silly walk and human eyes, he really is one of the most loved characters in film history. I also find John Williams score to be the best work of his career and it certainly gives an extra charge to all of the scenes, especially at the end.