Spielberg triumphantly succeeds in bringing the magical to the everyday.
E.T. The Extraterrestrial (1982)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:88
Fresh:86
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.9/10
Consensus: A piece of movie magic that touches hearts both young and old.
Runtime: 2 hrs 1 min
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: The 2002 rerelease of E.T., which marks 20 years since the film's 1982 debut, includes never before seen footage, enhanced visual effects, and a new remastered soundtrack. E.T. THE... The 2002 rerelease of E.T., which marks 20 years since the film's 1982 debut, includes never before seen footage, enhanced visual effects, and a new remastered soundtrack. E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL is Steven Spielberg's warmhearted classic delight for both children and adults. It tells the story of an alien creature, E.T., mistakenly left behind on Earth. When a young boy, Elliott (Henry Thomas), finds E.T. and hides him in his home, both their worlds are changed forever. E.T. teaches Elliott and his two siblings (Drew Barrymore and Robert MacNaughton), whose parents have recently separated, about caring and love while the children protect E.T. from the malevolent world of grown-ups. Elliott and E.T. become so close that they share emotions; as E.T. becomes ill, so does Elliott. The children end up going on a fabulous adventure trying to help E.T. find a way back to his home planet. The movie was originally going to be based on a story idea by director John Sayles, but after he removed himself from the project, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (Harrison Ford's wife) took over the script and made it her own. John Williams's beautiful soundtrack became forever linked to E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL. [More]
Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote
Starring: Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace Stone, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote
Director: Steven Spielberg
Director: Steven Spielberg
Screenwriter: Melissa Mathison
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg
Composer: John Williams
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for E.T. The Extraterrestrial
Although conclusively demonstrating Spielberg's preeminence as the popular artist of his time, E.T. finally seems a less impressive film than Close Encounters.
The simple truth is, no other movie has the same power to unite audiences in wonder and fulfilment.
This is Spielberg's masterpiece, a near perfect film directed with astonishing skill and unafraid to get sentimental ... without crossing the line into syrup.
Spielberg triumphantly succeeds in bringing the magical to the everyday.
A devastating rebuke to anyone who has presumed to patronise this great film-maker.
Twenty years after smashing box-office records, Steven Spielberg's gentle sci-fi fable returns to screens as vital and accomplished as ever.
A masterful evocation of the wonder, the magic and the pressing anxieties of childhood.
More than the work of any other filmmaker, Spielberg's output seems uniquely designed to induce in me this queasy false-memory syndrome.
On inherent merit, the movie would not warrant such a highly publicized re-release, but this is one of those films that transcends what's on the screen.
It helped alter the course of sci-fi movies by suggesting that intergalactic aliens might not be monsters but friendly, even loving, creatures. This doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it's fun.
Though marred by Spielberg's usual carelessness with narrative points, the film alternates sweetness and sarcasm with enough rhetorical sophistication to be fairly irresistible.
What I see is simply a timeless story about friendship, loss and maturity -- and, perhaps, an idealized America of the kind Hollywood and politicians strive to convince us could really exist.
...a bona fide classic that has something to offer moviegoers of all ages.
This enchanting fable displays Spielberg's masterful craftsmanship as well as his belief in religious mythology.
E.T. is a film I will continue to watch over and over for the rest of my life. It is one I will never grow sick of, no matter how many times I watch it.
It's a simple beautiful story about loneliness, friendship, and the bittersweet pangs of childhood.
What do Ernest Hemingway, Carl Sandburg, Albert Einstein, and E.T. have in common? The eyes, according to Spielberg.
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