Pete's Dragon

Year: 2016
Genre: Fantasy
Directed: David Lowery
Stars: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Marcus Henderson, Aaron Jackson, Phil Grieve, Steve Barr
Production: Walt Disney Studios

Out of all the Disney properties to adapt/remake for the 21st century, Pete's Dragon is by all accounts a quixotic choice. Those who remember it, I'm sure remember it fondly but anyone who has seen the 1977 version lately wouldn't even rank it in the ballpark of Black Cauldron (1985). Maybe within the same vicinity as the jubilant sentimentalism of The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) but let's face it, the original is not a classic no matter how many can find it in the dusty recesses of their VHS collections.

Sorry, folks.

If summed up, the original film was the story of a truant hillbilly boy whose invisible pet dragon gets him into all kinds of zany mischief. In the remake, the boy is less a loose chain of vaudevillian cliches and an actual character worth investing in. As a five-year-old, Pete (Fegley) finds himself recently orphaned and alone in the middle of a vast rural forest. Alone and afraid, Pete quickly befriends a dragon who stays undiscovered by the nearby town thanks to his cloaking abilities. five years later, Pete wonders near a lumber work site and is discovered by Park Ranger Grace Meacham (Howard). She brings him back to civilization and invites him into her family which includes fiancee Jack (Bentley) and daughter Natalie (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 searches for him capturing the attention of Jack's overzealous brother Gavin (Urban).

Tonally, Pete's Dragon 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 gonna get out of this movie. 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.

Just remember, we're the bad guys.

If there's one glaring weak point though it's the central conflict. 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 "git r done" seems less of a villain story oversight and more of a decision by Disney to not make Big Lumber the bad guy this time around.

Elliot's creature design is remarkable given the relatively small scope and occasionally iffy green screen work of the film. He's a cross between the original 2D green goofball and Sully from Monsters, Inc. (2001) only with a snout resembling a dog. It's certainly a different take on the mythical creature and part of me longs for a revival of the Smaug meets Dragonheart (1996) aesthetic but let's not get carried away; this is a Disney movie after all.

As a remake, Pete's Dragon blows the old one out of the water and as a kids movie, the film smuggles in some honest and wholesome family-oriented plot devices. Yet as a movie period, Pete's Dragon is a bit too stiff and a bit too light in the conflict department; even if talented actors like Dallas Bryce Howard and Oakes Fegley are working extra-hard to make ends meet.

Final Grade: C+