|
Home
|
Quotes "The film's major achievements are in the simplicity and directness of its vision and Spielberg's ability to both articulate that vision and transfer [it] to the audience. . . . Its major weakness, however, is the comfortableness of that vision." -The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction "From the wordless, poetic and suspenseful introductory sequence to an exhilarating, poignant finale, it (E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial) [became] an indelible part not only of American film history, but of this nation's cultural fabric." -E.T. Extra Terrestrial Production Notes "The best Disney film Disney never made." -Variety "Whereas in Close Encounters [of the Third Kind] Richard Dreyfuss is the ordinary man who escapes his mundane life by dint of his commitment to his dreams and is liberated by dreaming, Thomas Elliot (E . . . T) is a child who loses himself in his dreams. Dreyfuss is a man in an adult world who has kept his childlike wonder alive at great cost (to those around him, notably his family, indeed he could be Thomas' father at one remove, as well as himself) and is rewarded for his faith by a miracle as great as the parting of the Red Sea. Thomas is merely a lonely child whose world is dominated, not by commitment to dreaming but by the lack of a father. As such the character may accurately reflect Spielberg's own childhood - he has called E.T. his most personal and autobiographical film - but in comparison to Dreyfuss, Thomas is not called upon to defend his dreams, merely to protest and assist the extra-terrestrial that takes up residence in his toy cupboard and becomes his new plaything." -The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction "Everyone has a good cry." -John Clute "E.T. is far more one-dimensional, far more emotional [than Close Encounter of the Third Kind], as in the over-stressing of the empathy between E.T. and Thomas." -The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction E.T.'s popularity ensures it can get along quite nicely without critics analysing, interpreting and explaining why it works. It works because it touches that (uncritical, non-analytical) childlike part of us that we often need to be reminded is still there. It's the part that believes in the supreme power of love and has an innocent faith in magic. The part that urges us to clap so Tinker Bell may live. -Apollo Movie Guide "In E.T. too much is explained - Elliott needs a father, gets E.T. - and too much is too close to the surface for the sense of mystery of the power of the imagination." -The Overlook Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction
|