E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial is emotionally manipulative junk food.
Finally someone had the guts to say it!
I’ll go further: Spielberg isn’t a very good storyteller in the first place. He’s a great director of course, especially when coupled with a good script, but whenever he actually writes a story it typically turns out to be “emotionally manipulative junk food” as you described it.
He has the same problems as Lucas, just in the opposite direction. Whereas Lucas doesn’t add enough emotion to his stories, Spielberg adds too much emotion.
Lucas’s attempts at emotion are often childish; Spielberg’s are childlike.
Both of the directors require John Williams to elevate their material, but this doesn’t make E.T. any less excellent.