E.T.20

A twentieth anniversary edition of Spielberg’s finest feature film, specially repackaged to include less grit and added cuddle factor.

What’s that you say? Surely, E.T. would hardly have qualified as traumatic viewing in the first place? Maybe so, but in these hideously over-sensitive post- September 11th times, the director has intervened using computer generated images so that the cops’ guns at the road-blocks have been magically replaced by walkie-talkies. Presumably, the technology to change weapons into fluffy feathers hasn’t yet been perfected.

For similarly squeamish reasons, a fleeting reference to terrorism has been removed from the film’s Halloween sequence and annoying politically motivated amendments aside, the central fable here remains difficult to argue with.

For anyone as new to the planet as this movie’s title character, the plot sees a space creature crashland in suburbia and befriend a little boy in the throes of absent father syndrome. This simple premise of secret childhood friendship comes replete with moments of fish-out-of-water comedy, fear of persecution and a good deal of heart.

Granted, devoted fans may well be annoyed by Spielberg’s new-fangled digital enhancements which include extra footage of E.T. legging it toward his space-craft and E.T. in the bath. Thankfully though, these changes amount to little actual screen time and should only prove an annoyance to the more militant E.T. purists.

Of course, we could try to ruin it for you by pointing out that this is perhaps the most manipulative movie ever made. Try watching it with the sound down some time to see how the overwhelming sentiment of John Williams’ swooping and soaring score actually grants the movie most of its emotive clout. Better yet, check out how E.T.’s eyes change throughout the movie – from malevolent slits in the opening scenes to full scale big, Bambi peepers by the end of the proceedings.

What though would be the point of such observations? Only the most award-winningly hard-hearted of bastards won’t be moved by this particular flick.