E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) review

(8/10)

This timeless family classic has lived in the hearts of many movie-goers over the years with its touching sentimentality and iconic film moments.

PLOT:Young Elliot (Henry Thomas) lives in a normal neighborhood with a mean older brother named Michael (Robert McNaughton), an adorable little sister named Gertie (Drew Barrymore), and his mother Mary (Dee Wallace). They have just been through a separation and have been recovering when Elliot discovers something in his backyard: an alien. Elliot finds a short, chubby, brown, homesick alien in his backyard and decides to take it in to raise it, letting only his siblings know. However, E.T. misses his home and has to make contact soon or die. It's a good plot executed pretty well.



ACTING:The acting was pretty good overall, but iffy in some places. Henry Thomas played a decent part as the lead, Elliot. He had his moments of good and bad. Drew Barrymore played a cute part as the little Gertie, but served no more a purpose than a charm of the film. The other shiners would be Robert McNaughton as Michael, Dee Wallace as Mary, Peter Coyote as Keys, and Debra Winger as the voice of E.T.

SCORE:The score is one of the best and most memorable parts about the film. John Williams does a great job composing a symphony of soundtrack for the film. The theme here is curious, triumphant, and just memorable all over. I loved it.

EFFECTS:The effects were pretty good for its time. E.T. was animated for the most part with puppetry and some computer graphics. They did a good job of making his movements fun and simple. The effects of the spaceship was pretty well done in computers, but nothing too spectacular.



OTHER CONTENT:I used to hate this film for the longest time because I thought it was just boring and cheesy, but I eventually gave it a re-watch and rethought my opinion. The film is touchingly simple with enough overwhelming charm to win over a high score. However, this film still does maintain a few of the same flaws it did with me. It's very cheesy and has a few slow moments, even for the '80s. However, it's still overall a very touching film for everyone to enjoy.

OVERALL,a great '80s sci-fi with a pretty good plot, decent acting, memorable score, good effects for the time being, simplicity, and lots of charm, but it was kind of cheesy and slow at times.