E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is not a bold movie; its style takes few risks, and its plot is extremely straightforward. However, Steven Spielberg is such a talented director that he does not need a bold premise to make a great film. Through a masterful command of the basics of cinematic storytelling, Spielberg has created a heartwarming alien encounter film that wondrously celebrates the indiscriminating love of children. Because of the sheer innocence and happiness with which Spielberg approaches his title character, E.T. is about as morally refreshing a movie as you are likely to find.

The plot is simple. E.T. is about an apparently young and certainly friendly alien who is inadvertently left on Earth after a botanical expedition by his family. He eventually falls under the secretive care of a young boy named Elliot. A group of government researchers, however, also knows of the alien's arrival, so Elliot must first keep E.T. hidden from his mother and later from the government, all the while forming a stronger and stronger bond with the alien.

More than anything, E.T. is a fairy tale about believing in the unbelievable. It is sci-fi in plot, but fantasy in tone. There is absolutely no time spent anticipating, and thus pondering the idea of, the arrival of the alien, and when E.T. shows up at Elliot's house, there is no attempt to figure out what he is or to consider the ramifications of life elsewhere in the universe. We simply experience the friendship of an alien. Instead of a tense or mysterious score, there is often whimsical music, especially during the Elliot's famous moonlight bike ride with E.T. The film's compassionate point of view is its whole point, and it is summed up in one exchange between a scientist and Elliot's brother, Michael. After learning that Elliot has actually developed a psychic connection with E.T., the scientist ponders aloud, "Elliot thinks its thoughts." Michael corrects him: "No. Elliot -- Elliot feels his feelings." Even when the scientists do catch up to Elliot and E.T. and begin coldly examining them, the film is only concerned with the emotional aspects of what is happening.

In order to evoke full compassion for E.T., the movie spends most of its time getting to know the alien via Elliot. Elliot plays with him, gets into trouble because of him, receives healing from him, and eventually helps him contact his family. Little moments such as Elliot disguising E.T. as a trick-or-treater or trying to keep him away from the family dog are invaluable in the way of making the viewer feel for the two characters. This strategy of spending plenty of time on character development pays off. It is textbook storytelling, and it works as well here as it ever could.

Adding to the film's favoring of children's point of view is the sinister feel given to the authority figures by camera angles, or in one case astronaut suits (a strange case in which hazmat suits probably would have done just fine), that hide their faces. Since they are faceless, the audience perceives them as emotionless, working for purely utilitarian ends. Elliot's mother is one adult that is exempt from this facelessness, and it is because she is hardly an authority figure at all, unable to control the actions of any of her children. Spielberg uses this technique perfectly fairly, though, eventually showing these figures for who they really are. Sometimes -- sometimes -- what seems to be ominous can turn out to be friendly. In the end, childish, innocent, love wins out over all.

The biggest theme in the film is the concept of wonder versus reason. The fairy tale feel is abandoned temporarily during the film's climax, and everything is a scientific as you could want. Actually, it is more scientific than you want, and that is part of the movie's power. When Elliot accepted the magical occurrences and responded only with love, everything was fine. When science steps in, though, to figure everything out, the results are dire. This is an important theme and one of the most prevalent of all in science fiction. It is one of those themes worth repeating. When I consider this personally, I do not go so far as to say that science should be entirely abandoned, but the world is finding it increasingly harder to retain wonder in the face of reasonable explanations. Thankfully, E.T. does keep the possibility of wonder alive in a final analysis. Maybe what the world needs is a good extraterrestrial encounter.

In this movie, Spielberg has taken a theme as thoroughly proven as any -- the power and necessity of love -- and created an experience that feels totally fresh. E.T. is required viewing for everybody. If you have not seen it, do so immediately. You will be disappointed that you had not seen it before, and you will be glad that you waited no longer.