Pete’s Dragon (2016) Review
Oh, the happy memories I have of watching Pete’s Dragon (1977). The film was entertaining, a good musical, and, well, actually looking at some clips, is much darker than I remember, especially the opening song in which some weird hillbillies sing about abusing, torturing, and eventually killing Pete, the main character. Plus, what the hell was Red Buttons doing in the film? And was Helen Reddy really an ideal choice for the lead female character? When she’s not singing, she looks uncomfortable. Mickey Rooney’s a charming drunk, but the rest of the film I have no recollection of. Anyways, that’s just setting the scene for the new version. When it was announced, I was kind of skeptical. Sure, the cast was enticing: Bryce Dallas Howard, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, and Robert Redford. Plus it carried the tradition of a low-budget independent director getting his/her big chance at a big budget film. But still, why remake Pete’s Dragon? I can understand The Little Mermaid (1989) or Beauty and the Beast (1991), and we are getting those, even The Great Mouse Detective (1986) made a bit more sense. The first trailer didn’t do it for me, either, but I kept an open mind. Then the second trailer came, and the emotional elements of the film began to show themselves, and I saw they were completely departing from the original. Instead of a weird seascape town called, uh, quick Wikipedia, help me! Oh, who could forget Passamaquoddy? Well, the new movie says forget that, it’s just a mill town. Plus we don’t have the hillbillies, or that weird magician character, and no loveable drunk Mickey Rooney. And it’s not a musical. The result is a film that had me split down the middle, not because of the lack of faithfulness to the original, which is often touted as a low point in the 70’s Disney canon, live-action or animated, but because I just couldn’t get into the second half of the film the way I got into the first half.
Right from the start, the movie pulls at the heartstrings with a new explanation for why Pete meets Elliott, the dragon. Let’s just say the original film left that kind of open, but this version is just 100% better. Right away I felt the strong friendship the two develop over time and enjoyed every scene the two shared. Oakes Fegley plays Pete, and is a natural at it. While he hasn’t done much as an actor, I’d like to see him get more work. As we are introduced to the adult characters, however, the film started to lose me. Bryce Dallas Howard is passable as the forest ranger, Wes Bentley is given nothing to do as her boyfriend and mill owner, Robert Redford is only in two scenes before the final act begins, and Karl Urban’s character changes sides quicker than my morning toast burns. At first he’s all concerned about Pete, who they find alone in the forest, then he doesn’t give a crap, he’s after the dragon. Either flesh out his character and explain why he’s so concerned about dragons and why it would affect him so much or just make him a straight-up bad guy. There’s also Oona Laurence as Pete’s new best friend and Bentley’s daughter, and like her performance in Southpaw (2015) as Jake Gyllenhaal’s daughter, she is excellent here. Really this is a film where the kids are more interesting and developed than the adults.
However, back to the positives, the special effects are very well done. I think I was in the majority and worried when the first looks of Elliott looked like more like a dog than a dragon. While how the dragon looks won’t sink the ship, there is kind of an explanation for why the dragon does have a dog like attitude and look. Once again, every scene between Pete and Elliott is well executed and performed, and being able to believe their bond without pointing out if the special effects work is a positive for sure. One other thing I wanted to say was that there is one aspect of the film that was good, but unfortunately is just ill-timed as far as how impactful it could have been. When Pete is first re-introduced to the civilized world, there’s a moment where we’re supposed to feel like “Thank God he can grow up in a better environment now”. While it’s well done here, it would have impacted me more if it hadn’t been twice as well done in Room (2015). Sure, that film was a Best Picture nominee and one of my favorite films from last year, but the similarities in the scenes in Pete’s Dragon just made me think about Room and how it was better done there than it was this time. That’s not a mark against the film, but a distraction that dampened the impact of the scene.
So for the majority of the film, I was entertained and moved by the human-dragon relationship, and got what they were going for, it’s just that if the adult characters had been given more development or more to do, I’d be a little more forgiving. Instead we have them playing, “the-villain” character or “the-father” character, which other films have, too, but regardless, the best ones do something with that and just don’t let these face-cards lay on the table. Pete’s Dragon will entertain the kids and most of the young-at-heart, and it did entertain me, but with reservations.
My rating: 7/10.
