E.T. (5 Stars)

There's no winning. It's like life. You don't win at life.

After watching "E.T." at the Brindley Place Film Festival earlier this month I felt the urge to watch it again. Watching it in the comfort of my own home, without the distractions of the cold weather, I could fully appreciate the film. It's understandable that it was the most successful film ever at the time of its release. It's a film for the whole family, from young children to their grandparents. It's a tale of childish innocence, wrecked by the pain of the parents being divorced, but healed by the arrival of a magical new friend. The science fiction aspects of the story are underplayed and fully credible. There's no reason for visitors from another planet to be aggressive conquerors. Why shouldn't they be peaceful botanists?

I bought the Blu-ray Disc on Ebay for only £3.75 (including postage). That's a bargain. I was somewhat disappointed that it only contained the 2002 edited version, not the original version, after reading that Steven Spielberg considers the original version better. It would have been good to compare. I'd read that all recent DVD releases contain both versions, but they probably omitted the original version from the Blu-ray release because it isn't available in high definition. Shame.