E.T. - reviewed by Alex Kocan

E.T: - The Extra Terrestrial. The 20th Anniversary Reissue.

This month sees the re-release of the magical film “E.T: - The Extra Terrestrial” to cinemas in the United Kingdom. Originally released in 1982, and winner of four Academy Awards, this Box Office smash was popular with everyone irrelevant of age. Everyone loved the feeling of this modern day fairy tale or childhood story. The films director, Stephen Spielberg, is a well-known perfectionist who wanted to go back to this film and alter the sections that he has not been completely satisfied with for the past two decades.

For those of you who do not know the storyline of this film, it begins with a family living in the suburb area of California. There are three children of varying ages. Michael, in his mid to late teens, Elliot aged around ten and Gertie aged six. They go about their normal lives until they dramatically come into contact with this Extra Terrestrial. Elliot finds him in the back yard. The creature was stumbled across the family after he was accidentally left behind by his space ship. The children’s lives are complicated by the continual hiding of E.T from the neighbours. This eventually ends in disaster, happiness and heartache. It is the bond between E.T and Elliot (Henry Thomas), which really brought the film to life. I wont say anymore about the how the story proceeds, as it will spoil it for those of you who haven’t seen it. However, I will say that the story is as stunning today as it was originally.

The re-release contains several previously deleted scenes. They have been seamlessly edited into the original pre-production storyboard position. The most significant of these is the scene where Elliot gives E.T a bath. Industrial Light And Magic, the same company who created the original special effects, are back to adjust the scenes that were not completely up to the director’s standards. Among other things E.T’s facial expressions have been digitally tweaked to give him the appearance of having more emotion. They also went back to original negative to begin the more intricate improvements. They have removed scratches, enhanced the colour of the film and repaired any damage that has occurred over the past decade or so. Also the spine tingling soundtrack by John Williams, who originally won an Oscar for best score, has been remixed and digitally re-mastered. This improved the original sound quality and the overall audience viewing experience.

The acting standards from the main characters is superb. The portrayal of Elliot by Henry Thomas is breath taking. The feeling of emotion when you see E.T’s glowing finger bring a dead plant back to life is extremely intense. The innocence of the six-year-old Gertie (Drew Barrymore) appears to reflect E.T’s ignorance of planet Earth. Also when Elliot’s older brother Michael’s (Robert Macnaughton) teen heart of stone melts to E.T’s charms, so does the audience.

The genius of the producer, Kathleen Kennedy, as well as Spielberg, cleverly brings this magical movie to life. One of the scenes which best describes this talent is where Gertie (Barrymore) dresses E.T up in women’s clothes, while hiding him in the closet from their mom. It is the mark of a good producer and director team to be able to make you laugh one second and cry the next.
The only difficult thing about reviewing this movie is what genre best describes it. It is a dramatic, sci-fi, comedy, drama to name a few. It even has a pop at the government’s clinical approach to severely delicate situations.

My memories of watching E. T are of dark winter afternoons. The curtains are closed and everything is cosy. There’s just you and this magical world to indulge yourself in. To relive such a sensation on the big screen is certainly an event I will not want to miss.

Re-released in the UK on March 29th and after already receiving its world premier in California on January 31st 2002, it is certain to once again break records. Originally earning $720 million at the box office it’s certain to do the same again. Rated P-G, I have no doubt that it will, once again, be the multi-sensual experience that it has always been.

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