E.T. - THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL - DVD review

Note: The two-disc Limited Collector's Edition reviewed here contains both the original 1982 and the new 2002 cuts of the film, but it does NOT include two of the documentaries advertised on the cover (more on this in the review.)

One of the most-beloved Steven Spielberg films about aliens, "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" finally arrives on DVD. It is Spielberg's story about a boy's encounter with a very friendly space alien and their growing friendship. As with "Close Encounters", the film provides a positive look at an alien encounter and gives us hope that if we are more tolerant and if a boy can love a creature like E.T.--a creature so different from himself--perhaps we people are not that different, either.

As with most films done by Spielberg, I always feel I'm in good hands and in for a good movie experience, and "E.T." is up there with the best of them.

Video:
"E.T." is a film with a lot of dark scenes, and the 1982 cut seems more dark in general than the new version. Both versions do well with deep blacks, and a good 1.85:1 anamorphic transfer delivers what we expect.

Audio:
It is nice to hear "E.T." in full digital surround in either DTS 6.1 ES or Dolby Digital 5.1 EX. Both cuts of the film deliver "E.T." as we have never heard the movie before, with great dialogue and good separation of sounds. It does not deliver the same experience as that of "Attack of the Clones," but, mind you, this is a twenty-year-old movie, and "E.T." is just not that kind of film with an explosion every two minutes. Thank god.

Extras:
On the first DVD (containing the 2002 cut), we get a special introduction by Steven Spielberg, where he explains the reasons for revisiting "E.T." and making the much-discussed changes that he did.

When the 2002 cut premiered in March at the Shrine Auditorium, it was a very special occasion. The composer of the film's music, John Williams, was given the task of conducting the entire score of the film live while the film was playing. This is quite impressive, and one can only wish to have experienced the movie that way. For those of us who were not there, there is an audio track on the DVD containing the sounds from that evening. If you want to watch a movie with a live orchestra conducted by John Williams in your living room, here is the chance. Included as well is a short documentary about this event with interviews with Williams and clips from the rehearsals.

Disc one also contains a feature mainly for the small ones in the family called "Space Exploration." Here, you can choose the planets in our solar system and hear E.T. tell you about them.

With disc two we get, besides the original 1982 cut of the film, a "Spotlight on Location" making-of featurette, which runs about twenty-five minutes. It tells about how the new effects in the 2002 cut came to life. We also get a featurette called "The Reunion," with interviews with the main cast, Spielberg, and producer Kathleen Kennedy (in December of 2001). There's a vintage 1982 promo about the Special Olympics. Also to be found are your normal set of cast and filmmaker bios, a trailer, and various design and advertising galleries.

As a big movie score fan, I was sad to see that something called "The Music of John Williams," featuring interviews and footage of the long-standing relationship between John Williams and Steven Spielberg, was not to be found on the DVD, even though it was advertised on the cover. This and a fifty-minute documentary was removed from this set, but not from the cover, to make room for the 1982 cut of the film. It was probably decided at such a late stage of development that the cover could not be changed without delay. Sad, sad, sad...

Limited Edition vs. Ultimate Edition Box Set:
The 2-disc set will do justice to the film for most people, but if you are a true "E.T." fan (or this was the movie that you took the love of your life to for the first time), you might want to take a look at the Ultimate Edition Box Set. If you choose the box set, this is what you get besides the two DVDs in the Limited Edition:

An extra DVD with:
a fifty- minute making-of documentary;
a ten minute John Williams featurette;
an eighteen minute "Creating E.T." featurette;
the John Williams CD soundtrack;
a book called "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: The Illustrated Story of the Film and The Filmmakers"; and
a collectible senitype.

(Note: The 1982 cut of the film in the Ultimate Edition Box Set does not have a DTS track.)

Conclusion:
"E.T." is movie magic at its best, and it is sad that Universal did not avoid all the problems concerning not knowing which version is on what set and which documentary is to be found where. I hope that this review has shed some light on this subject so that you now know which version you will be taking home. Any way you slice it, not even bad management from a studio can destroy a film like "E.T."