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53
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41
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84
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69
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53
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53
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31
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43
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55
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31
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55
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57
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43
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64
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27
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55
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45
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83
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61
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65
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74
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57
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34
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33
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32
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42
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54
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34
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19
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47
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39
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79
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73
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69
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57
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36
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83
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34
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25
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71
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43
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63
Youth in Revolt
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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82
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71
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73
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75
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43
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19
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49
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24
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76
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52
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67
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65
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64
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65
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84
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83
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21
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51
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xx
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81
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57
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61
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68
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64
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72
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85
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61
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70
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24
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81
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56
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52
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xx
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43
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xx
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77
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69
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73
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47
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78
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35
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68
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20
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xx
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52
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xx
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41
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76
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47
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51
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71
Lourdes
73
Me and Orson Welles
77
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80
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57
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76
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
79
Mother
50
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88
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49
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67
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64
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67
Off and Running
52
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40
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49
Pop Star on Ice
49
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74
Prodigal Sons
xx
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89
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76
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63
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32
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83
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69
September Issue, The
36
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57
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63
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xx
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77
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76
Still Bill
34
Stolen
xx
Suicide Girls Must Die!
52
Tales from the Script
74
Terribly Happy
74
That Evening Sun
47
To Die for Tano
19
To Save a Life
63
Toe to Toe
69
Town Called Panic, A
54
Until the Light Takes Us
60
Videocracy
84
Vincere![]()
66
Waiting for Armageddon
45
White on Rice
82
White Ribbon![]()
xx
White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, The
43
Women in Trouble
xx
Word is Out
64
Yellow Handkerchief, The
64
Young Victoria, The
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (re-release)

Universal acclaim
Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 42 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Sci-fi
Written by: Melissa Mathison
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Release Date:
Theatrical: March 22, 2002
DVD: October 22, 2002
Running Time: 120 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG for language and mild thematic elements
Starring Dee Wallace-Stone, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, K.C. Martel, Sean Frye, and C. Thomas Howell
The 20th Anniversary re-release of Steven Spielberg's classic tale of an extra-terrestrial who is accidentally left behind on earth and befriends a young boy and his family.
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A.I. Artificial Intelligence Amistad Catch Me If You Can Empire of the Sun Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Jaws Jurassic Park Minority Report Munich Raiders of the Lost Ark Saving Private Ryan Schindler's List The Color Purple The Lost World: Jurassic Park The Terminal War of the Worlds
GAMES: PS One E.T. The Extraterrestrial: Interplanetary Mission
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
New York Post Lou Lumenick
An all-time classic that seems even better after two decades.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Unchecked goodness has its price, after all, and childhood wonder wouldn't be nearly as sweet if it didn't fade. That may explain the film's appeal. It trapped that feeling, and its sense of possibility, in amber -- then, now, and for any time.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Desson Thomson
A sophisticatedly sappy masterpiece that bucked the prevailing Hollywood vision of aliens as nasty invaders and recast them as friendly collectibles for children.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Just as moving, uplifting and funny as ever in its slightly modified form.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This movie made my heart glad. It is filled with innocence, hope, and good cheer. It is also wickedly funny and exciting as hell.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The least fussy great movie ever made.
Variety Todd McCarthy
Had the aura of an instant classic when it was released, and the good news is that it looks at least that good, if not better, on the eve of its 20th anniversary reissue.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
Watching E.T now, in an era dominated by cold, loud special-effects-laden extravaganzas, one is struck less by its lavish grandeur than by its intimacy and precision.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Always a magical film. For its anniversary rerelease, though, it's been extensively restored and even partly reshot by Spielberg. It now looks better than it did back then.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Seeing E.T. again reminds us of how much we've remained the same, how gratified we still are by a film that connects so beautifully to our sense of wonder and joy.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
Beaming back on screens for its 20th anniversary, holds up spectacularly well.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
It's one modern film worthy of being called a contemporary classic.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Jay Carr
Music for the eyes. That's why it has become a treasured classic. That's why we'll see it again and again.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker Anthony Lane
Spielberg wrote a poem. And all the best movies are poems. [25 Mar 2002, p. 86]
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
In E.T., Spielberg proved a herald of the age when moviegoers would make full-time friends with fantasy, but his most special effect was taking us into ourselves.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
One of the loveliest and happiest of American movie entertainments.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
If we approach with sympathy and curiosity, we will be rewarded with same. And our souls, not to mention our bicycles, will soar to the heavens.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Paul Malcolm
The film's real power to move flows from its low, childlike angles, which, rather than infantalize its audience, bring it down to where the hurt and fear, and hence the comfort, loom larger.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan
It's a fascinating look into what Spielberg truly loves, but it's not so much a masterpiece as a nice milestone.
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
When E.T. debuts on DVD, you can choose between the new version, which better matches E.T.'s words to his lips, and the sweetly clunky, digitally deprived version redolent of penis breath. I don't need to phone home to know which one I'm buying.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Staff (not credited)
One of the most popular movies ever made, E.T. translates religious myth into cute, familiar terrain.
Read Full Review >New Times (L.A.) Gregory Weinkauf
We're told that this new version is tweaked and enhanced, with the E.T. puppet digitally smoothed out, and the guns in the meanies' hands removed (silly, but bravo).
San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
A fine picture because it can still, without fail, make an entire audience of children shut up and fall in love with a little green alien with big eyes and a turtlelike body.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Doesn't make it a masterpiece, but it's fun.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
The story itself holds up fairly well though, twenty years later, does come off as thinner than I recalled.
Read Full Review >Village Voice Don McKellar
E.T. is a dog movie. Genre-wise, I mean. It's about a boy meeting a dog, naming it, taming it, learning from it, and growing up. Of course, the genre is superficially disguised as science fiction, as was the fashion at the time.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 42 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Lauren S. gave it a10:
Spielberg's E.T. is one of greatest movies ever made, as a 13 year old, i've never been a fan of kid movies. But E.T. lives on as the friendliest alien Earth, or at least, the movie Industry has ever met. The effects are spectacular, everything is superb. It's a favorite of my all time movies.
Jens J. gave it a10:
Ask John Williams to play in your country live with his orchestra in E.T.'s 30th Anniversary Edition. Please enter here: http://sites.google.com/site/et30thjohnwilliams/Home
[Anonymous] gave it a10:
Hmmmm...this is really interesting. When E.T. was first released, a lot of critics hated it. Now that it's re-released, they love it...i don't get it....Anyway, this movie is just a classic and one of my favorites. (Please stop calling movies "shows"...unless you want to look like an idiot)
Mon gave it a10:
One of the best modern classics!
Antoine T. gave it a10:
One of Spielberg's greatest films by far, timeless storytelling.
Sam gave it a10:
A masterpiece that you will fall in love with every time you see it. Key word, "will."
John B. gave it a10:
Don't listen to the cynics, those who reject anything with an ounce of heart. Forced sentimentality is junk, yes, but this movie has none of that. It's enchanting and wonderful. A great film all around.
