Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
94
(26 sources)
94
(26 sources)
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100
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100
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Unchecked goodness has its price, after all, and childhood wonder wouldn't be nearly as sweet if it didn't fade. That may explain the film's appeal. It trapped that feeling, and its sense of possibility, in amber -- then, now, and for any time. Read Full Review » -
100
Washington Post
A sophisticatedly sappy masterpiece that bucked the prevailing Hollywood vision of aliens as nasty invaders and recast them as friendly collectibles for children. Read Full Review » -
100
Charlotte Observer
Just as moving, uplifting and funny as ever in its slightly modified form. Read Full Review » -
100
Chicago Sun-Times
This movie made my heart glad. It is filled with innocence, hope, and good cheer. It is also wickedly funny and exciting as hell. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
Variety
Had the aura of an instant classic when it was released, and the good news is that it looks at least that good, if not better, on the eve of its 20th anniversary reissue. Read Full Review » -
100
The New York Times
Watching E.T now, in an era dominated by cold, loud special-effects-laden extravaganzas, one is struck less by its lavish grandeur than by its intimacy and precision. Read Full Review » -
100
Chicago Tribune
Always a magical film. For its anniversary rerelease, though, it's been extensively restored and even partly reshot by Spielberg. It now looks better than it did back then. Read Full Review » -
100
Los Angeles Times
Seeing E.T. again reminds us of how much we've remained the same, how gratified we still are by a film that connects so beautifully to our sense of wonder and joy. Read Full Review » -
100
New York Daily News
Beaming back on screens for its 20th anniversary, holds up spectacularly well. Read Full Review » -
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
It's one modern film worthy of being called a contemporary classic. Read Full Review » -
100
Boston Globe
Music for the eyes. That's why it has become a treasured classic. That's why we'll see it again and again. Read Full Review » -
100
The New Yorker
Spielberg wrote a poem. And all the best movies are poems. [25 Mar 2002, p. 86] Read Full Review » -
100
Entertainment Weekly
In E.T., Spielberg proved a herald of the age when moviegoers would make full-time friends with fantasy, but his most special effect was taking us into ourselves. Read Full Review » -
100
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100
Philadelphia Inquirer
If we approach with sympathy and curiosity, we will be rewarded with same. And our souls, not to mention our bicycles, will soar to the heavens. Read Full Review » -
90
LA Weekly
The film's real power to move flows from its low, childlike angles, which, rather than infantalize its audience, bring it down to where the hurt and fear, and hence the comfort, loom larger. Read Full Review » -
83
Portland Oregonian
It's a fascinating look into what Spielberg truly loves, but it's not so much a masterpiece as a nice milestone. Read Full Review » -
80
Rolling Stone
When E.T. debuts on DVD, you can choose between the new version, which better matches E.T.'s words to his lips, and the sweetly clunky, digitally deprived version redolent of penis breath. I don't need to phone home to know which one I'm buying. Read Full Review » -
80
TV Guide
One of the most popular movies ever made, E.T. translates religious myth into cute, familiar terrain. Read Full Review » -
80
New Times (L.A.)
We're told that this new version is tweaked and enhanced, with the E.T. puppet digitally smoothed out, and the guns in the meanies' hands removed (silly, but bravo). Read Full Review » -
75
San Francisco Chronicle
A fine picture because it can still, without fail, make an entire audience of children shut up and fall in love with a little green alien with big eyes and a turtlelike body. Read Full Review » -
75
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60
Film Threat
The story itself holds up fairly well though, twenty years later, does come off as thinner than I recalled. Read Full Review » -
60
Village Voice
E.T. is a dog movie. Genre-wise, I mean. It's about a boy meeting a dog, naming it, taming it, learning from it, and growing up. Of course, the genre is superficially disguised as science fiction, as was the fashion at the time. Read Full Review »
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