| E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial - The 20th Anniversary Rating:   Director: Steven Spielberg Producer: Steven Spielberg & Kathleen Kennedy Writer: Melissa Mathison Director of Photography: Allen Daviau Cast: Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas |
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Review by: Ryan
Kugler
3/23/02
I first saw E.T. twenty years ago. I remember standing in line for three hours at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood with my dad, while teenagers played football in the parking lot to pass the time. I was the same age as the main character Elliott and I related to him and his predicament. I also fell in love with the title creature and the film itself. I remember going back and seeing it countless times in the theater, owning the board game and even dressing up for Halloween one year thanks to my mom's connection with a Hollywood make-up artist. The film became a cultural phenomenon and one of my all-time favorites.
When I first heard that E.T. was going to be released on home video several years after it's initial release, it automatically shot to the top of my holiday must-have list. I got the tape for a gift and couldn't wait to throw it in the VCR, but when I sat down to watch it, things had changed. Where I was once the age of Elliott, I was now closer to that of older brother Brad and I could care less about these little kids and their plight. This stuff didn't interest me at all as I had moved on to cooler things like The Road Warrior, Robocop, and The Terminator. I've revisited E.T. a few times over the years, and while I always appreciated its artistry and heart, it lost some its magic.
Word came down sometime last year that director Steven Spielberg was reshaping his masterpiece (as many consider it, though I'd have to reserve that title for Raiders of the Lost Ark, his most perfect film to date) for its 20th Anniversary. Rumors were rampant that he was taking out some controversial language and footage, adding in a new scene, cleaning up some of the effects through the use of CGI and remastering John William's fantastic score. People shouted blasphemy and the controversy began.
With all of this in mind and my love for the film severely diminished over the years, I skeptically ventured out to see this new and drastically reworked version. So, how was it? It was good, real good, maybe even great. I hadn't seen it in at least five years, so I was going by memory, but as far as I could tell, all of the dialogue was intact (except for a reference to terrorists), the CGI was pretty seamless, the picture looked great and the sound was amazing. The two most controversial aspects had been the new scene and the removal of some guns towards the end of the film. The new scene in question is a mere three minutes in length and while it doesn't add much to the overall story, it's funny, and doesn't detract from anything. E.T. looks a little different in this scene, as it wasn't completed until recently, but it's not that big of a distraction. As for the gun removal, sure it's silly and unnecessary, but it doesn't ruin the film (though it looks a little awkward the way the agents hold their walkie-talkies like pistols). In fact, except for these two minor changes, I didn't notice anything else that was different and as far as I could tell, I was watching the same exact film that I watched that first time twenty years ago.
This viewing really came full circle for me, as I'm now closest in age to the mom. Sure it takes a little while to get going (it's called story development) and it gets a little long at the end, but I was immediately swept up in the characters and story and it was like seeing the film for the first time.
On a side note: Spielberg has decided
to release both versions of E.T. on DVD later in the year.
I highly commend him for this, as some of his peers have replaced
their classic cuts with new and unimproved ones, making it almost
impossible to get a hold of the older and more preferred versions.
Agree? Disagree? Talk about it in the forums.
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