Pete’s Dragon (2016) Review!!!

Synopsis – The adventures of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon.

My Take – Disney continues its recent trend of reintroducing its own animated films (like Cinderella, The Jungle Book & The BFG) in live action form with this remake of the 1977 part animated musical film. As a kid who grew up in the 90’s, I remember seeing bits and pieces of the original on TV during its reruns, but as far as I remember I never watched it all the way through, as something about the film never caught my eye. All I remember is a green cartoon dragon on screen alongside real actors. However, I was curious why Disney would choose to remake this film over much beloved properties (like Aladdin), plus I wasn’t sure what to think of the trailers as they didn’t show much and I wasn’t very sure of the film itself. That being the case, I went into this remake a bit blind and not knowing what to expect. To my surprise, I actually liked the film. I do watch family and kid- friendly films now and again, despite my not having kids of my own, and having seen several films in this genre in recent months (The Jungle Book, The Legend of Tarzan), I found this film to have a charm that few such films have exhibited this summer. The tale was intriguing, the acting good, and the overall production quality top notch. Director David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) has hit the jackpot with his big budgeted reimagining of the little known Disney film of the same name and in many ways feels like the type of film Spielberg himself would’ve made during his peak period in the 1980’s through to the 1990’s. One of the many things that I enjoyed about this film was that at certain points it felt like it was paying a great homage to classic Disney films while seeking like it’s own new fresh and original story, despite being a remake. It was also able to be heartbreaking but enjoyable at the same time. It doesn’t go dark being a Disney film, but subtly skips through that part (in the beginning). The film incessantly capers around the happy theme that it intends to walk on. Of course, Lowery‘s direction makes it all the way better. Yes, the film is predictable five minutes into the film and it does have a couple of moments where the narrative seems to take a small dive where a couple of scenes are on the edge of dragging but the film is able to quickly pick itself back up and continue on almost the same note it was on.

The story follows young Pete (Oakes Fegley), who is tragically left abandoned in the woods as a result of his parents being unable to recover from a car accident. Alone and afraid, Pete quickly befriends a dragon who has stayed undiscovered all this time by the nearby town thanks to his cloaking abilities. Five years later, Pete while wandering near a lumber work site is discovered by Park Ranger Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard). She brings him back to civilization and invites him into her family which includes her fiancée Jack (Wes Bentley) and his daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence). Despite Meacham’s hospitality, Pete still wants to return to the forest to stay with the dragon he dubbed Elliot. Meanwhile Elliot finds Pete missing and starts snooping near the town capturing the attention of Jack’s overzealous brother Gavin (Karl Urban). Now before you think anything, yes, the story isn’t all that new and you probably know where this is going. The lumberman might step into the bad guy role in the pursuit of the dragon. Pete winds up retreading the fish-out-of-water story beats. There’s a subtle tension between Pete and Elliot in the beginning of the third act. Heck, there’s an old man (Robert Redford) who tells a story about the dragon who turns out wasn’t crazy after all. However, this film goes to show that how you approach these clichés is important, and the amount of patience and rawness Lowery approaches these should be given more credit. Director David Lowery who has an impressive catalogue of shorts and a couple of main features under his belt has placed this film out as a reinvention as opposed to a remake. The core story is there but with some changes, making Pete a lost child instead of the original orphan on the run. It’s actually a welcomed change making the back story more relatable. The tone isn’t quite as dark, and gone are the themes of alcoholism and abuse. This one is about magic and believing in something without seeing it. From the very first scene to the last, David Lowery proves himself as an unexpected master of rural scene geography and cinematic language. It’s big things like the setting and tone, which feels reminiscent of an old Terrence Malick piece. It’s small things, like the way it shows certain plot points rather than telling us and the personal dynamics between Pete, Elliot, and the family. And it’s the things with individual scenes, like the first act devoting itself to just Pete playing around in the woods with his amazingly rendered dragon friend, and a sequence where Pete interacts with the unfamiliar town in which might be the best version of such moments. The clichés themselves are given more honesty and complete lack of plot contrivances. It all culminates in a piece that largely feels fresh and accessible without being too twee or fluffy. The film also resonates with the acceptance of loss and the beauty of unconditional love. In a heart retching scene the literally cornered Pete is consoled by Grace . Pete screams, “Woooo!” for his protector Elliot, the Dragon. The astonishing envisioning of Elliot as a hulking furry warm blooded creature with gentle eyes inspires the sublime bond of Pete and Elliot. If the filmmakers hadn’t conveyed their fondness of each other well, then the entire film is a bust. But it was all done perfectly, especially given the limited amount of screen time that the two have together. And especially considering Elliot is so young, it amazes me that the filmmakers were able to make me feel so strongly about him.

The biggest accomplishment of this film truly lies in how it does wonder with its coming-of-age parable. Despite some effective adult development with Meacham, Grace and the rest of the family – Gavin himself isn’t much of a bad guy in this as he is a man who’s ambition goes too far – it’s all kept just simple enough to let the child perspective to truly sell. The whole film structures itself as a trial for young Pete to fully embrace human connection again. Tonally, this film is a much more mature rendering of the original high-concept. Young audiences may well be delighted by the dazzling flight sequences and the precious few attempts at humor. Images of a huge dog-like dragon sneezing huge wads of snot is pretty much the funniest thing you’re going to get out of this film. In addition, kids will enjoy young Oakes Fegley who brings depth to a character that would otherwise be a young Tarzan routine. Older audience will no doubt appreciate the positive themes of family and bravery not to mention the most spare and concise justification of faith put to the big screen in quite sometime. Most of those themes are drummed up by Robert Redford‘s wily granddaddy Meacham, who seems to be doing his best impression of Garrison Keillor in all his folksy, folksy charm. The film digs deep and pecks at the neurons hiding your fondest E.T. (1982) memories and almost makes it to the finish line with enough panache to justify its run time. Despite all this its important to point out the weak portions of the film. If you pay attention to the CGI of the film, it fails to touch the levels of culmination you might have had in your head, given today’s heightened age of visual effects. Elliott appears to be more fantastical and imaginary. It doesn’t have that primal realism feel to look at, like all those successful reptilian films in the past that had so beautifully triumphed in visuals. Also the central conflict is never fully developed. Gavin and his rag-tag group of lumberjacks head into the forest with no plan and seemingly no serious work their leaving behind. Once they come face-to-face with Elliot for the first time, Gavin focuses most of his attention on convincing Jack of what he saw instead of, I don’t know, calling the authorities, probing deeper into Pete’s story, bringing a bigger posse next time etc. Granted it’s a little refreshing when Redford calls Gavin out after his second run-in with Elliot, concluding “you really don’t have a clue do you?” But the characters lack of motivation apart from lets catch the monster seems less of a villain story. Granted parts of the story are predictable in terms of the conflict and the secret of Elliot. Lowery’s touching direction allows everyone to emerge at their best. Lowery had the clear benefit of a standout cast willing to join him for the reimagining of the sweet and often moving tale. Oakes Fegley gives a very touching performance as Pete! Seriously it’s easy to forget that the kid was mostly working with thin air yet he makes this bond with Elliot feels so real and strong. It’s a quiet and beautiful performance for a child actor, as you really genuinely care for little Pete. Bryce Dallas Howard has real warmth to her that the director uses to great effect. Robert Redford as the narrator is wonderful, after all he his Robert Redford! Wes Bentley does a decent job, same goes for Oona Lawrence as the little girl who guides Pete to the scary outside world. Karl Urban is awesome as always. On the whole, ‘Pete’s Dragon’ is a predictable yet a very likable film that perfectly blends emotion and action in a heartwarming adventure of friendship and bravery. This is without a doubt, one of the year’s most fully formed piece of family storytelling that will go down as one of this Summer’s biggest successes of course without keeping its Box Office receipts into account.