Subject: Review: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

From: Dennis Schwartz <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 20:40:41 -0000

E.T. - THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL (director: Steven Spielberg; screenwriter:
Melissa Mathison; cinematographer: Allen Daviau; editor: Carol Littleton; music:
John Williams; cast: Henry Thomas (Elliott), Drew Barrymore (Gertie), Robert
MacNaughton (Michael), Dee Wallace-Stone (Mary), Peter Coyote (Keys), K.C.
Martel (Greg), Sean Frye (Steve); Runtime: 115; Universal; 1982) 

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz 

A retelling of E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial from 20 years after its release. The
director, Steven Spielberg, in this 20th anniversary reissue, has made use of
modern CGI effects and added some digitally mixed sound updates and made some
inconsequential changes to the classic such as adding two new scenes (an alien
now digitally enhanced taking a bath and the hero's mom in search of her kids
during Halloween), as the film basically remains intact from its original. In a
PC move Spielberg replaces, in the climactic scene, the guns with
walkie-talkies, the pursuing Feds have when chasing the alien. That change is
also no biggie. If you liked the 1982 film then, you'll still like it now. 

It's a mushy feel-good fantasy about a harmless alien and his contact with a
harmless kid from the 'burbs, as the kid helps the stranded alien go home. The
realism part of the film tells about unsupervised kids in suburbia, how lonely
they can get, how much they yearn for a nuclear home, and how unhappy and
harried a mother can get who is trying to raise a family without a father in the
house. 

There is no question, this manipulative tearjerker became one of the biggest
hits in box-office history. But I doubt if the public that fell so much in love
with this cute Disney-like tale, looked too deeply at this religious parable,
steeped in mythology, and examined how overwrought and crude it really is. The
film dumbs everything down sitcom style, and even reduces the alien mystery to
the vulgar lovable relationship between two children from different cultures.
This flick is strictly for the kids and those who are nostalgic about so-called
old-fashioned values, as the suburban teens rebel by ordering a pizza without
mom's permission and later help the alien escape from the perceived enemy
space-suit wearing government cops. When they're not called on to rebel, we see
the teens act obnoxious and play board games like Dungeons and Dragons. 

Lonely Elliott (Henry Thomas, he was 9-years-old at the time) finds an alien in
his suburban house, where he lives with his recently separated mom Mary (Dee
Wallace-Stone) who tries to keep her family functioning despite being alone.
Elliott's initial problem, is that no one believes him when he sees an alien.
Also at home are Elliott's high school student brother Michael (Robert
MacNaughton), and Elliott's precocious younger sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore,
she was a six-year old at the time). Gertie is the film's source of comic relief
as she innocently mimics Elliott, who is intent on keeping mom from knowing his
secret visitor. 

"E.T.", as the alien is called, has been left behind accidently by visitors from
outer space who were in a rush to escape government agents. The cute looking
creature just wants to get home (wanting to be home is what the alien has in
common with the suburban kids). Elliott can relate to that and confides in his
brother and sister to keep him a secret and protect the alien until it can make
that magical call to his people and get them to pick him up in the chosen
desolate forest spot of a California suburb. Elliott bonds with the alien and he
not only becomes his best friend, but is on the same brain-wave. 

The alien invades the refrigerator and gets drunk on beer, this causes Elliott
to also get drunk as his class is about to dissect frogs. Elliott gets sent home
from school when he springs the frogs loose in the class, he does it so that
they won't be used as part of the anatomy lesson. 

The creature was created by Carlo Rambaldi to sparkle with childlike gifts for
communication and also to sprinkle in some supernatural powers such as, flying
when on a bike. 

Beginning to get sick because of the Earth's atmosphere, the alien uses
household items to build an interplanetary phone-like device that allows him to
signal into space for help. He then must get the help of Elliott and his
brother's teenager friends to escape from the government agents. 

This film like all Spielberg films, shows off his skills as a great storyteller.
And to prove that the director made this film primarily for kids, it is
interesting to note that Mary and the government agent Keys (Peter Coyote) are
the only two adults whose faces are shown. The film is about children learning
how to deal with the loss of their father and learning how to love someone who
is completely different from them, and it's a film about growing up in the
suburbs -- which outwardly appears to be very safe but there's also a dark spot
where anything could happen to kids who are not supervised properly (which is
the fantasy part of the film). Seeing the film again in 2002 has not changed my
mind about it, I still thought it was mawkish but appealing to children. The man
is a master at pulling the public's heartstrings and giving them what they want,
and the youngsters in the audience seemed especially enthralled by what
Spielberg gave them. 

REVIEWED ON 3/27/2002     GRADE: C + 

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews" 

http://www.sover.net/~ozus 

[email-masked] 

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED   DENNIS SCHWARTZ

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X-RT-RatingText: C+