A closer look
Everyone's favorite wrinkle-faced extraterrestrial is basically an emotional houseplant. While most viewers assumed E.T. was a standard biological flesh-and-blood alien, Steven Spielberg and designer Carlo Rambaldi conceptualized him as a highly evolved botanical creature. This is why E.T. possesses the magical ability to instantly revive dead flowers; he is just aggressively performing photosynthesis. The movie isn't about returning a boy to the stars, it's about returning a sentient turnip to his garden.
