Movie Review - E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

Not all aliens are scary looking big-headed, beady, black-eyed creatures who've come to earth to take over the world - and your body. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial is the story of an alien who accidentally gets left behind when his spacecraft visits earth.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial was originally released in 1982 but aside from a few bad '80s hairdos, clothes and old-skool toys, you can't really tell the film is 20 years old. This timeless story of a young boy who befriends an alien takes you on a wild adventure, makes you laugh and might even make you cry. Elliot, the young boy played by Henry Thomas, finds a special connection with E.T. which helps fill the void since his dad left. Despite the friendship that's grown between the pair, E.T. must return to his home in outer space.

Some of the funny moments include E.T.'s first meeting with Gertie, Elliot's little sis played by a young Drew Barrymore. She's hilarious and some of her comments are so cute. E.T. is pretty adorable too with his waddling walk, neck like a giraffe and big blue eyes. There are plenty of laughs with this alien, especially when he discovers beer in the fridge. Uh-oh!

For the 20th anniversary release of E.T., director Steven Spielberg did some movie-magic touch-ups and upped the special effects on E.T.'s facial expressions, E.T.'s spaceship and the famous flying bike scene. A scene with E.T. in the bathtub which had been deleted from the original version was added to the new version. He also chose to take out a line that said, "terrorist" for obvious reasons and changed it to "hippie." The agents held guns in the original version but that was digitally changed so they're now holding walkie-talkies. This might be taking the sensitivity-factor a little too far but that's for you to decide. Let us know what you think. So if you rent the video, you'll see the original version without the extra stuff and changes, so you can always compare.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial definitely gets two alien thumbs-up. It's fun, adventurous, heartwarming and humorous. What else could you want in a flick? Oh... before you hit your movie seat you'll definitely wanna have a box of Reese's Pieces on your lap! You'll understand why before you can say, "E.T. phone... home!"

Rating:

Visit E.T.'s official site and he might visit you!

Related Stories:

AI, Artificial Intelligence

Monsters Inc.

Planet of the Apes

Betty and Barney Hill

Read more: Movies