I agree.
They likely will resemble life on Earth, not the freakish ones we see in movies.
Rubbish. At best, there will be an endoskeleton and a symmetric distribution of sensory organs and limbs.
The "freakish" aliens you typically see in movies are shocking precisely because they have a vague resemblance to humans. Two eyes above a midline nose, and below the nose a mouth with teeth. Head on top of spine, two arms, two legs, bipedal gait, etc.
Real aliens will look nothing like humans or even necessarily like vertebrates. They may look like an odd sea creature, or they may be something totally new like a Horta.
