Elliott comes
across a little alien stranded three million light years away from
home. He takes him home and tries to work out a way to get him
back to his own planet - before a group of government scientists
get to him first...
"Steven Spielberg's ode to aliens could also be seen as a tribute to all the loners of the world, as little ET, abandoned by his pot-bellied extraterrestrial pals, has to cope on Earth until they can come back and rescue him. Luckily, he's befriended by an equally lonely little boy named Elliott, played by Henry Thomas, who proceeds to teach his alien chum how to talk, dress up in women's clothes and guzzle beer. Much has been made of the changes and additions to the anniversary edition, but this is no extended director's cut; the alterations are minimal. Some of ET's facial expressions have been enhanced with computer animation, there are five additional minutes of footage that were left out of the original and — significantly in the current political climate — the guns carried by the government agents have been digitally replaced by walkie-talkies. However, changes or not, this is still a special, delightful adventure, in which Spielberg manages not only to entertain young children but also reach out to the child in all of us." - Radio Times Review
"Steven Spielberg's ode to aliens could also be seen as a tribute to all the loners of the world, as little ET, abandoned by his pot-bellied extraterrestrial pals, has to cope on Earth until they can come back and rescue him. Luckily, he's befriended by an equally lonely little boy named Elliott, played by Henry Thomas, who proceeds to teach his alien chum how to talk, dress up in women's clothes and guzzle beer. Much has been made of the changes and additions to the anniversary edition, but this is no extended director's cut; the alterations are minimal. Some of ET's facial expressions have been enhanced with computer animation, there are five additional minutes of footage that were left out of the original and — significantly in the current political climate — the guns carried by the government agents have been digitally replaced by walkie-talkies. However, changes or not, this is still a special, delightful adventure, in which Spielberg manages not only to entertain young children but also reach out to the child in all of us." - Radio Times Review