If I sound bitter, it's because I loved this film when it first came out..

Rating: 9/10 (6 November 1999)

I would have been nine or so. It just goes to show that you should be deeply sceptical of the aesthetic judgements of a nine-year-old - even if that nine-year-old is yourself. What a let-down it was to watch the film later and realise I'd been had!
Not completely had: John Williams's score, one of his very best, is still stunning (the only part of the film that doesn't show its age, in fact); Spielberg moves from scene to scene with great assurance, hiding from a trusting audience the fact that he's telling a story that makes little sense; and I must admit that the two key children, Henry Thomas and Drew Barrymore, have both charm and talent.

There's also a great bicycle chase scene. We need more bicycle chases - this one is easily the highlight of the film.
But couldn't Spielberg have spent his resources on a story that didn't fall apart when exposed to bright light? For a start this shouldn't have been a science fiction story. Pure fantasy would have worked better. (Impure fantasy, which is what this is, always feels awkward.) We have a supposedly intelligent alien race, capable of mounting a sophisticated interstellar expedition - or, in other words, sneaking into the outskirts of Los Angeles at night for an hour or so only to scuttle off in fear when, surprise, surprise, humans appear. What did they expect? Oh - and they fail to notice that one of their number isn't aboard when they take off. How smart are these aliens, exactly? Judging from ET himself (there's some reason to think of it as a he), brighter than dogs, not so clever as chimps. And then there's the way the stranded ET alerts the other ETs that he's missing - with a ploy that comes straight out of `Gilligan's Island'. Nope: the trappings of science fiction don't suit this story at all.
Not that removing them would remove any non sequiturs from the script. Why does ET suddenly recover? Why must he be hidden from NASA? Why must he be hidden from Elliot's mother? And is there ANY explanation for the behaviour of the aliens as a whole? I'm not unearthing irrelevancies here: all these things drive the plot.
But who cares, you can hear the director thinking, the kids won't notice any of this until they're older. He's probably right. Children can be manipulated into consuming any old rubbish - but sometimes, when they're older, they resent having been so manipulated. At any rate, they ought to.