Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8775 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-12-09
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 3
• Formats: Box set, Collector's Edition, PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
This 20th Anniversary edition of E.T. introduces the warmth and sense of magic of Steven Spielberg's much-loved movie to a whole new generation. And it is the youngsters at whom this new version has been aimed, with the film being given a Star Wars-style make-over in the hope that it will appeal to a generation weaned on digital effects. Thus, ET now has a souped-up space ship and the pursuing FBI agents are more politically correct, carrying walkie-talkies in place of guns. They've even given ET himself a CGI face-lift, digitally replacing the beloved puppet in certain scenes.

But this is no Apocalypse Now Redux. The re-edited scenes are small and insignificant to the plot: the only additional footage of any note is ET taking a bath and demonstrating that he can breathe underwater, which is amusing but irrelevant. The surprise is that the deleted scene with Harrison Ford playing Elliot's school Principal has still not made it to the new version. Despite such grumbles, E.T. is still the joyful experience it was 20 years ago, only this time grown-ups can follow the story through an added glow of nostalgia, as they fondly remember just how great BMXs were! --Nikki Disney

On the DVD: E.T.--20th Anniversary Edition has the revised version of the movie (but not the original cut) on Disc One, presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and with a choice of gloriously remastered Dolby 5.1 or DTS sound options. The major beneficiary of this new presentation is John Williams' outstanding music score, which uniquely can also be played along with the film in the live version from the LA Shrine Auditorium 2002 premiere. A documentary about Williams conducting this extraordinary performance and a feature on his original scoring sessions are the best extra features on Disc Two. Other documentaries cover the "Evolution and Creation of ET"; a "Reunion" of the principal cast and crew with some fun behind-the-scenes footage; a piece on the planets of the Solar System narrated by ET himself (!); a photo gallery; trailers, and DVD-ROM extras. There's no director's commentary, but Spielberg does briefly introduce the movie on Disc One. --Mark Walker

Special Features
Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic
Dolby Digital 5.1
Contains both the 20th Anniversary Edition (2002) and the re-mastered original version (1982)
A Look Back -- 40 minute exclusive documentary
20 Years Later: An intimate interview with director Steven Spielberg
Isolated John Williams Live Music Score
The Music of John Williams
20th Anniversary Premiere
Space Exploration
The Creation and Evolution of E.T
The Reunion
E.T. Archives
Trailers
DVD-Rom features

Synopsis
The 2002 rerelease of E.T., which marks 20 years since the film's 1982 debut, includes never before seen footage, enhanced visual effects, and a new remastered soundtrack.
E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL is Steven Spielberg's warmhearted classic delight for both children and adults. It tells the story of an alien creature, E.T., mistakenly left behind on Earth. When a young boy, Elliott (Henry Thomas), finds E.T. and hides him in his home, both their worlds are changed forever. E.T. teaches Elliott and his two siblings (Drew Barrymore and Robert MacNaughton), whose parents have recently separated, about caring and love while the children protect E.T. from the malevolent world of grown-ups. Elliott and E.T. become so close that they share emotions; as E.T. becomes ill, so does Elliott. The children end up going on a fabulous adventure trying to help E.T. find a way back to his home planet. The movie was originally going to be based on a story idea by director John Sayles, but after he removed himself from the project, screenwriter Melissa Mathison (Harrison Ford's former wife) took over the script and made it her own. John Williams's beautiful soundtrack became forever linked to E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL.

Customer Reviews

FANTASTIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember watching this film for the first time when I was about seven. Now, ten years on, I still love it. Every time I watch it, the part in which Elliot thinks that E.T. has died still makes me cry, without fail, because it is so beautiful and emotional. Everything about this film is fabulous: the acting (especailly Drew Barrymore as little Gertie), the music (especially when E.T makes the bikes fly) and the direction. In fact, now I buy any film that has Steven Spielberg's name on it, because I think that someone who can direct something as wonderful as E.T. must have talent and therefore none of the films thathe directs will be bad: in fact they won't be anything but brilliant!!!

Special review of the 20th Anniversary Edition
In 1982 the original version of Spielberg's E. T., The Extra Terrestrial to hit the theatres and became one of the biggest hits in movie history. Spielberg and his crew had created an international phenomena which has gone into cinema history as one of the top twenty highest grossing films this century. The scene where Eliot and E.T. fly across the moon, now the official logo of Spielberg's Amblin studios, is one of the most recognizable moments in cinema.

To those select few unfamiliar with E.T., the story is both very solid and well-crafted. An anthropologist race of extraterrestrials are investigating the vegetation on earth, and due to people chasing them, the ship has to go, leaving a lone alien, who promptly has to run for his life. After a memorable sequence in Eliot's family shed, where E.T. throws a baseball back after Eliot hears a noise and he throws it in, Eliot gets scared. None of his family believes them, but in the end Eliot finally meets E.T. From there, E.T. learns to talk, teaches Eliot a thing or two about drinking, and takes him on the most memorable bike-ride in movie history. Through the course of the movie, the government, whose never fully explained in the film, discover just where E.T. is at, and they try to take him away. The climax of the film is both harrowing and very emotional. There are two things to be noted about the film's ending. One, E.T. was filmed chronologically, a very rare thing in Hollywood. The emotional response of each of the principals to E.T.'s departure is real. Another is that E.T. is the only film that Spielberg has reedited to fit the film's score. The original ending was too short for John Williams' score, and Williams told Spielberg about the problem he had, and Spielberg changed the film's ending to fit his score.


That's the film in all its glory. The original deserves all the acclaim it got. So what have they added in the Twentieth Anniversary re-release? Well, some very interesting changes. The most noticeable is the opening scenes where E.T. runs away from the humans. In the original, as Spielberg said in the documentary recently aired on ABC, E.T. looked as if he was on a track, and in the rerelease you can see E.T. actually running. They added two deleted scenes, one from the Halloween sequence and a bathroom scene with Elliot and E.T. Why the Halloween scene didn't make it to the original I'm not sure. The bathroom scene was cut because Spielberg felt the animatronics were too lacking. They have digitally reanimated many of E.T.'s facial shots, the most noticeable being Elliot's first encounter with E.T. and when Gerty (Barrymore) meets E.T. for the first time. To the original film's credit, most of E.T. himself goes untouched, and what they do change never feels gratuitous or out of place. While over 100 shots were redone, they are so seamlessly incorporated into the original that it never occurs to you that this has been redone. The only time you can really tell it's CGI is the bathroom scene. George Lucas could learn a few things from Spielberg in this regard.

The most interesting changes occur near the end of the film. In the original, Elliot's mother tells his brother that he cannot go to Halloween as a terrorist. In the ending sequence, the agent's guns are changed to walkie-talkies, which Spielberg said he always regretted having in the original film and would be the one guaranteed change if he ever re-released E.T. One of the rumored changes that did not make the film is Harrison Ford's only scene as Elliot's principal which was cut from the film because Spielberg thought it was to distracting. (Ford's wife wrote E.T.'s screenplay). Hopefully, we will see this footage on the DVD.

For those of you who have not seen it, this is a great opportunity to see this remarkable film. For those of you who know the film, discover E.T.'s magic one more time.

April 3, 2002

When i first saw ET and the reaction as a child !
When i first ET in the movie thearte in the Bronx with my parents
at the age of seven year old I immediately fell in love with the movie Et ! That a boy notice in the movie thearte with my parents
at age of seven year old crying in my sit ! My first words where ET going to die ? " There was something about ET I love and like about the flim of happness and sorrow , a little bit of romance
That is why any specail edition collection of ET I would love to own on dvd ! I am a big fan of ET since 1982 so any seller who wanting to throw away ET ! Just send it to my home address at my EMail preciousprincess310@yahoo.com that is all for now ! I will give my full address when you apply to My Email address !
Attention to seller : when you respond to me through my email or through amazon UK I will give my full address of where I am at in
United States of America !