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| E.T. |
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  (7/10)
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Runtime: 120 |
| Public Rating: 8.57 (42 votes) |
Director: Steven Spielberg |
MPAA Rating:  |
| Genre: Sci-Fi |
Year: 1982 |
| Writer(s): Melissa Mathison |
| Reviewed by: Le Apprenti |
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Once upon a time in a suburb Californian neighborhood, a lamb came down to Earth in the form of an extra-terrestrial being. It befriends one who is the least among men – a little child – and sees the world through his eyes. Being not of this world, it attempts to contact its superior. While doing so, it falls ill and dies. On a third day, it rose again and ascends to heaven.
In some ways, “E.T.” is a child-like retelling of the Messiah’s earthly life, with two differences. Whereas the Gospel focuses on His kingship, “E.T.” delves on the simplest of relationships between an otherworldly visitor and a hometown kid. And unlike the visitor’s accidental stranding on Earth, the Messiah’s godly path of sufferinf is solely of His own choosing. To the young innocent and impressionable kid, the visitor is unusual in appearance, speech and behavior, qualities that sparks his curiosity. The visitor exhibits high intellect and is gifted in supernatural powers. It is friendly, adorable and peace-loving. Knowing that others will be disturbed upon seeing the ‘different’-looking visitor, the kid forges an unbreakable bond of friendship with the visitor in secret. This bond is tested through trials and tribulation, including the visitor’s apparent death, and stands unbroken.
The secret of “E.T.”’s success lies in Spielberg’s ability to tug at the audience’s empathic senses, by telling the story from a child’s viewpoint. The prevalent idiosyncrasy of that is a child views adult strangers as spooks with hostile intents, a point that Spielberg reinforces throughout the movie. In this story, all the adult characters are either unfriendly or creepy, but only two of them have names, faces and identities: Eliott’s mother (Dee Wallace-Stone) and extra-terrestrial hound Keys (Peter Coyote) who is named after the bunch of keys hooked onto his pants. There are no noteworthy performances from any of the cast, but he is able to bring out the raw emotions of Henry Thomas (Elliot), Drew Barrymore (Gertie) and Robert MacNaughton (Michael), making their poignant scenes tear-jerking. Even though E.T. is an alien, albeit from another planet, Spielberg uses it to show how adults and children choose to perceive someone who is not like them, a similar perception that is used towards their fellow human ‘aliens’ that differ in ethnicity, social class or physical appearance.
For its 20th anniversary release, director Steven Spielberg has re-released “E.T.” with enhanced visual effects, ‘creative’ editings and politically correct statements. Good or bad? The visual effects are definitely good, and richly supported by John Williams’ Oscar-winning score. No matter how old you are, the flying bicycle scenes are always breathtaking. Spielberg’s goal of a family-friendly theme is realized in the ‘Creative’ editings with notable changes being shortening Elliot’s classroom antics, lengthening the E.T.-Elliot relationship – including a bath scene and extended and policemen holding walkie-talkies instead of handguns. However, seeing policemen holding walkie-talkies and not using them versus toting guns somehow diminishes the excitement. It does not make the juvenile characters look like they are in any real danger. One particular scene where a policeman points a rifle towards E.T. is deleted. That supposedly forces Elliot to close his eyes in anticipation that the policeman might open fire – that scene is apparently not removed for some reason. With its deletion, it makes no sense why Elliot closes his eyes at all. Although Spielberg has some of the dialogue altered for post-September-11 correctness, he forgets to remove Elliot’s cussing at his brother the evening after discovering E.T..
Between the original release and the 20th anniversary one, the authentic cut and the ‘family-friendly’ version, it is a matter of preference. As a single male film purist with no family of my own, I prefer the original version any day.
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