E.T. - Der Außerirdische
Regie:
Steven SpielbergDrehbuch:
Melissa MathisonKamera:
Allen DaviauMusik:
John WilliamsBesetzung:
Henry Thomas, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore, C. Thomas Howell, Erika Eleniak, K.C. Martel, Sean Frye, David M. O'Dell (mehr)Streaming (6)
Inhalte(1)
Der 10-jährige Elliott freundet sich mit einem Außerirdischen an, der im Haus von Elliotts Familie Unterschlupf sucht, nachdem er von seinem Raumschiff zurückgelassen wurde. Sowohl der Außerirdische wie auch Eliott sind einsam: das Menschenkind vermisst seinen Vater, der sich aus dem Staub gemacht hat, und E.T. vermisst seine Gefährten, die ihn 3 Millionen Lichtjahre von Zuhause entfernt auf der Erde zurückgelassen haben. Die beiden erleben sowohl komische als auch tragische Abenteuer, während E.T. sein Heimweh ausdrückt, indem er nach Hause telefonieren will. Im Laufe der Zeit entwickelt sich zwischen Elliott und E.T. eine telepathische Verbindung, die eine Übertragung ihrer Gefühlszustände bewirkt. Gemeinsam mit seinen Geschwistern Gertie und Michael versucht Elliott den ungewöhnlichen Freund vor der Welt der Erwachsenen zu beschützen. Besonders vor ihrer Mutter Mary, die sie erst ganz zum Schluss einweihen, als sich E.T.s, und damit auch Elliotts, Gesundheitszustand dramatisch verschlechtert. Die größte Bedrohung geht jedoch von herumschnüffelnden Regierungsvertretern aus, die E.T. zu Forschungszwecken einfangen wollen. (RTL II)
(mehr)Kritiken (10)
Die Welt der Emotionen, die hier Steven Spielberg schuf, kann nur ein Genie schaffen. "Die Bösen" werden einfach und dabei wirkungsvoll charakterisiert (die finstere Musik + der Schlüsselanhänger). Spielberg hat ihnen nicht einmal in die Augen geschaut, er hat alles mit der Perspektive eines Kindes dargestellt… Das kann nur ein Regisseur schaffen, der für dieses Handwerk geboren wurde. Aber… Auch wenn ich die Geschichte von E.T. mit ganzem Herzen wahrgenommen habe, auch wenn ich geweint habe, hat mir in dem Film etwas mehr als nur ein ehrlich gemeintes Sentiment gefehlt. Etwas Größeres, Tieferes.
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That's right, when you don't remember anything and you're addicted to the digital atrocities of contemporary cinema (most of the FilmBooster users), you can't relate to a film like this. Taking inflation into account, it's the 4th highest grossing film of all time, but what makes E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial the most important film of the 80s is the response it got. A fairytale that brought everyone to tears in the cinemas, regardless of age (I witnessed it myself, even my tough father cried :o), at one time there was almost nothing else to talk about among people (only Sandokan and the series I, Claudius had a similar response in our country during the Bolshevik era), and a doll of E.T. was a must-have for every Czech family, and not only Czech – and I’m not even counting the failed movie clones that followed it. Simply, this film is a big phenomenon and anyone who says otherwise is lying. What’s most remarkable, though, is that it still works today (I have confirmation after today's Blu-ray screening). The way the whole film is essentially conceived from a child's point of view by the eternal child Spielberg, where we don't see the faces of the adults for the first two-thirds of the runtime (except for Elliot's mom, of course), the timing of each scene, and the gorgeous music by John Williams all make this film a unique affair that – unless you're a cynic, a jerk, or both combined – will bring you to tears at the end, too.
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The emotional core of E.T. can be summed up in two words: “Come” – “Stay”. Also, thanks to the fact that it doesn’t say (or explain) more than is necessary, E.T., together with some of Truffaut's films, remains one of the most reliable ways to briefly relive one’s childhood. Spielberg’s most personal film (suburbs, divorce, loneliness, escaping into a world that adults don’t understand) works both as an intimate family drama and as a breathtaking sci-fi movie (when one genre level supports the other), thus reversing the situation known from numerous Cold War movies in the same genre (to which ET visually refers). ___ A visitor from outer space does not pose a danger to the traditional American family, but rather – in the spirit of optimism that prevailed in Reagan’s America – helps to balance a single-parent family by taking the place vacated by the father. In the first half of the film, the absence of a father figure is cleverly emphasised by the fact that we never see the face of an adult male (a scene with Harrison Ford as the school principal, with his back turned to the camera the whole time, was edited out). Thanks, however, to a highly conspicuous bunch of keys, we remember one man, who in the end is distinguished by having greater understanding than the other adults in the film (and of course it shouldn’t come as a surprise to us when we later learn that his name is Keys). ___ In relation to Elliot, Keys undergoes the same transformation as E.T. does, changing from a threat into a relatively kind being. However, it suffices for the boy to get to know him better and overcome his fear of the unknown resulting from insufficient information. Due to the fact that Elliot’s perspective dominates from the beginning (and thus there is no elevation above the world seen through the eyes of a child), the viewer is led to the same perception of Keys's role in the narrative. This is not the only timeless (and clearly increasingly relevant) message of a film calling for tolerance and defending the right of every being to their own home. ___ Like a significant number of Spielberg’s movies, E.T. thus basically does not have a classic antagonist. It mainly tells a story about a clash of two worlds (childhood and adulthood, faith and rationality) that are mutually incomprehensible, but not entirely incompatible. The very suggestive “colonisation” of Elliot's home by scientists in white spacesuits is an inevitable developmental phase on the path from childhood to adulthood. The home, symbolising previously carefree childhood, must undergo a transformation, just as Elliot did. Together with the main protagonist and with considerable support from Williams’s uplifting musical motif, which for me will forever be the music of childhood, we can again experience a childlike fascination with the unknown, our own emotional maturation and a touching farewell to that which was beyond the comprehension of adults. ___ For me, E.T. is proof that you can fully appreciate the best children’s films only as an adult. Only then will you probably realise that the final emotional tears of childhood were not and still are not merely a manifestation of your suppression of mistrust and succumbing to intense playing on emotions, but also of the director’s honest understanding of childhood and his mastery of storytelling with precisely timed gags, twists, changes of pace and careful guiding of the viewer’s attention. I’ll be glad to be convinced of that again in a couple of years. 90%
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Yes, maybe it's emotional blackmail of the coarsest kind. Maybe.. I'm sure it is, but try explaining it rationally to my then childishly naive tear ducts.
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Spielberg is a director who can work wonderfully with human emotions and has the gift of creating a perfectly tailored family spectacle. He has kept a sizable piece of the romantic boy inside him, who never stopped loving fairy tales and simply started fulfilling his childhood dreams and visions as an adult. His E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is a fairy tale with an idealized visitor from outer space, the kind that many children want to meet. A decent screenplay, a suitable budget, and careful direction make E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial a timeless spectacle, where both children and adults are moved by the alien visitor. Additionally, at the time of its creation, it was a fascinating visual spectacle. Overall impression: 60%.
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A brilliant thing for young audiences. Steven Spielberg is able to effortlessly and yet captivatingly evoke emotions in the vast majority of viewers. Although it is a legend, it didn't affect me as much as I would have imagined for a full rating.
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There is no other film in the world that so purely and beautifully shows the mood of its creator as E.T. Spielberg spent his childhood more or less without a father, as a rather asocial dork from the suburbs, with his mind drifting to the stars – those in the sky and those in Hollywood. E.T. is his personal confession, a sentimental return to a stage in his life when it was easier to tell important values apart and to define right from wrong. It’s a brilliantly directed story about the fact that important things must persist in the human heart, even though fate takes them away irretrievably. A film with so many inventive techniques (a good two-thirds are only from a child's perspective), real emotions and beautifully staged scenes (the arrival of the "bad guys" in the house and the play with lighting, the romantic kiss and the play with cross-cutting and character positions, the flight over the moon, etc.) that there is no time to breathe. A film with a huge heart and probably John Williams's best soundtrack. A film with a capital F that you have to love. You just have to…
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My natural emotional defenses against cutely ugly windbags with funny voiceovers were not overcome, so I kept seeing a legless youth dressed in a costume. And it doesn't help that Williams has basically made an opera out of it, and the soaring loops don't let up for a minute throughout. But at the points where the real and memorable boyhood adventure shines through, it still works well, and I still experience the adult institutions as depicted visually in the film in exactly the same way. It's just a shame that instead of letting that suburban environment of broken families, junk food, broken toys, and unsupervised children bubble more in the background, the film focuses all its attention on the innocence of the protagonists, mirrored in the giant, virginal eyes of a friendly and harmless alien.
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How else should I rate a film which showed me what a pizza looks like and that you can even eat it? But seriously, this film was the best of sci-fi for me until Terminator and The Thing landed on the video store counters. Watching it today convinced me that E.T. still has something to offer. I've already tasted pizza, so that’s one mystery less, but I had a great time just the same. The level of special effects thankfully doesn't reach today's "amazing" digital qualities, so I was able to enjoy a film that blew my mind in primary school, and I still like it very much.
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But yeah, as a family movie, there's not much to criticize about it, plus Spielberg has a knack for truly epic and memorable scenes. There are several of them right here. He also has a knack for the right actors. But I simply never got into "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial" and that hasn't changed at all even now. It's nice, but it just doesn't touch me. Maybe it's too cliché.
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