You seem to be missing what makes this movie so great. It's a simple story. I mean, I think it is one of the greatest movies ever made but it really is. But the thing is, they didn't need to develop everything so in depth for such a simple story. The character motivations and characterizations, specifically ET himself and the evil leader of Area 51, are extremely complex. The concepts of telepathy applying to health through a psychic connection, him developing a machine to get back to his people, the many things from all the strange worlds they visited from the beginning, a link connecting all the aliens, are all great concepts. They boil down in the end, however, to a very simple story: the story of a boy who learns to love. A boy who learns to, as one of the early lines says "think about someone other than yourself for a change," and learns to do this through this wise old alien who he takes care of. The older brother who didn't love his younger brother became much more caring in helping his brother to take care of this alien and get him home and help him look for him when he is lost, to the point the two bond deeply over this alien. All three, after losing a father figure, have someone to look up to after a long long while. Overall, when you boil it down, it's a very complex set of fantastic concepts and ideas that boil down to one simple thing: love.
~NW~
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