This is one of the best family films of all time.
Elliot (Henry Thomas) is a lonely boy, the middle child of parents who have recently separated. His older brother Michael (Robert McNaughton) is a jerk (and reminds me constantly of The Middle's Axl) but has his moments of sweetness. Then, while his brother's friends are over, he is sent away to get pizza and then something amazingly odd happens. He notices a strange sight in the shed out back. A spaceship has landed but thanks to some men chasing it, an alien is left behind and finds his way back to Elliot's shed. Elliot is shocked and drops the pizza. But when everyone else joins him, the odd creature is gone. Michael's friends make fun of him even more now.
But Elliot is not wrong. The alien creature is still around. Elliot fakes sick (in a great scene) and then spends some time with the alien. Upon arriving home from school, Gertie (a very young Drew Barrymore) and Michael discover the creature. They are also beyond surprised. The boys make Gertie promise not to tell Mom (Dee Wallace-Stone) about the alien, soon dubbed ET. ET can also talk, learning it while Gertie was watching a simple television show. ET also has special healing powers, healing a cut on Elliot's fingers and bringing dying flowers back to life.
Then, without much explanation, Elliot becomes emotionally attached to ET, they have the same feelings at the same time. The following day, during a science class, Elliot behaves oddly, imitating ET's emotions as ET channel flips and explores the house. Elliot is set to dissect frogs but cannot bring himself to kill them, so he frees all the frogs, causing his teacher to call Elliot's mother. Which means that Gertie is unable to introduce her to ET.
ET, then, goes on a mission to phone home, using household items to build an elaborate machine so this can be done. On Halloween night, Elliot bikes out to the clearing in the forest so this can be done but as the phone call is made, Elliot falls asleep and ET nearly drowns in the river.
By morning, Elliot's mother is terrified that something bad has happened to her son. Elliot returns but is very sick. By afternoon, the kids have to introduce ET to their mother who freaks out and grabs her children and tries to run out the house, but she can't. The feds have been eavesdropping on the family for the whole time and now take over the house, with tons of fancy equipment to research and examine the alien. Elliot and ET are both very sick but despite Elliot's pleadings, ET takes a turn for the worst and as the flowers keel over, ET also dies. The two are forever separated. Elliot is devastated as he is torn away from him. Luckily, an kind investigator (Peter Coyote) lets Elliot say good-bye to ET, but ET is not actually dead, he is alive, just like the savior. Then, there is the desperate attempt to free ET and let him board his mother ship before the people come and take him away. Thanks to some great bike riding, and ET's magic of flying to escape. The final scene is touching as the whole family wishes ET well as he leaves them forever, hopefully better than they were at the start.
The acting, despite being largely unknown, is fantastic with an interesting plot. There is only one major flaw: it is never explained how Elliot and ET bond so they feel emotions as one. Still, the film is marvelous with special effects that don't appear dated. The score only adds to the enjoyable experience. Too bad there aren't more movies like this being released now. Grade: A-
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