Film

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

Name: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Genre: Adventure, Science Fiction, Family
Released: 1982
Cast: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Robert MacNaughton, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace

Spielberg's suburban fairy tale, still the gold standard for what wonder looks like on screen. A stranded alien and a lonely boy find each other, and what follows is tender, funny, and quietly devastating without ever feeling manipulative. It's for anyone who wants to remember what it felt like to believe in something impossible as a kid.

TMDb rating

7.5

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Close Encounters of the Third Kind1977

Spielberg's earlier alien film trades E.T.'s intimacy for pure cosmic awe — the same director reaching for wonder on a much bigger, stranger scale.

But Slower, more adult, and less interested in giving you a hug at the end.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind poster

The Goonies1985

Spielberg-produced kids-on-an-adventure energy, with the same sense that childhood is a place where extraordinary things are always just possible.

But Louder and goofier than E.T., with none of its emotional restraint.

Stand by Me1986

No aliens, just kids — but the same unshowy tenderness about friendship and growing up too fast that made E.T. hit so hard.

But Grittier and sadder, with a real body at its center instead of a fantastical one.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Day the Earth Stood Still1951

Same premise — alien visitor, human distrust, a message about kindness — three decades earlier and with none of the sentiment. Watching it after E.T. shows you exactly what Spielberg chose to soften.

The template E.T. is quietly answering — a visitor from elsewhere, humanity's fear versus its capacity for trust, done in stark black-and-white Cold War terms.

But Talky, slow by modern standards, and far more paranoid than wondrous.

Super 82011

J.J. Abrams openly channels Spielberg here — small-town kids, a secretive government, a creature that just wants to go home.

But More action-driven and less patient than the film it's clearly in love with.

Flight of the Navigator1986

A kid, a friendly alien ship, and a chase — this one leans further into gadgetry and spectacle while keeping the same warm center.

But Dated effects and a sillier tone than E.T. ever allows itself.

The Iron Giant1999

A boy hides a strange, powerful visitor from the adults who want to destroy it — animated, but it hits the same aching notes.

But Cold War subtext and a more overtly tragic arc than E.T.'s.

Paddington2014

A stranger from somewhere else is taken in by a family and changes them for the better — same gentle, generous heart, different species.

But Whimsical and English rather than wondrous and American; no chase, no danger, really.

A.I. Artificial Intelligence2001

Spielberg again, but darker — a manufactured boy who just wants to be loved and go home, filtered through Kubrick's original vision.

But Bleak, overlong, and emotionally punishing in ways E.T. never is.

Cocoon1985no page yet

Aliens and elderly Floridians instead of aliens and a kid — same warmth about connection across an impossible divide, played for adults.

But Slower pace and a sentimentality that can tip into corniness.

My Neighbor Totoro1988

Swap the suburban garage for a Japanese forest and the alien for a spirit, and it's the same structural idea: children trusted with a wonder adults can't see, told through a medium — hand-drawn animation — E.T. never touches.

Miyazaki's animated masterpiece about two sisters who befriend a giant forest spirit and keep him secret from the grown-up world — the same hush of private, childhood magic.

But Almost no plot in the conventional sense, and its pace is closer to a lullaby than an adventure.

Starman1984

Same year-adjacent Spielberg-orbit story — hunted alien, wants to go home, changes the human who shelters him — reworked as adult romance instead of childhood fable. It shows the genre's other register.

Jeff Bridges is heartbreakingly good as a stranded alien who takes human form and falls into a road-trip romance with a grieving widow, one state ahead of the government.

But It's a love story, not a family film — more melancholy, more adult, and openly sexual in a way E.T. obviously never is.