I take it you didn't read the 1985 novel first
That was the one drawback seeing Contact for me. I knew
all the "surprises" coming up, like the ETI being represented
by Ellie's father and the first decoded signal from Vega being
a rebroadcast of the 1936 Berlin Olympics, complete with
swastika and Hitler speech.
A great and underrated film based on the only SF novel by
Carl Sagan. It could have been even better if it was turned
into a miniseries, as there were too many things in the novel
to be explored in a 2.5-hour film.