Pete's Dragon (2016) review

Up until now, Disney’s current trend of live-action remakes have mainly been based on the studio’s long line of animated films; Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, Cinderella, etc. And as I’ve gone over before, while this current practice has obviously been rather controversial with some fans, at the very least the films have been performing very well commercially and some of their more recent ‘re-imaginings’ have actually been doing really well critically too. But with their newest remake, Pete’s Dragon, things are a little bit different. This time around the source material is not an animated film, well, not entirely at least. In 1977, Disney released Pete’s Dragon, a live-action musical centered on the titular Pete, a young orphan boy, and the adventures that he had with his best friend, a dragon named Elliott. While the majority of the film was live-action, Elliott was an animated character with the film’s animation notably being directed by animation legend Don Bluth. Upon release, the film was a fairly decent box-office hit and although the reviews were mixed at best, it has since gone on to amass a pretty sizable cult following. But now here we are with a brand new take on the story of the boy named Pete and his dragon friend Elliott, brought to us by David Lowery, director of 2013’s indie hit Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. His take on Pete’s Dragon is noticeably different from its predecessor because whereas the original 1977 film was a full-blown musical, this new film is more of a drama. But despite the change in ‘genre’, this new take on Pete’s Dragon is still a very charming and heartfelt story that may seem simple but is full of strong themes that both young and old can admire.

The film opens as a young boy named Pete (Oakes Fegley) tragically loses both of his parents in a car accident while the three of them are on a road trip. The accident ends up stranding him in the forest alone but he soon comes across a large, furry, and friendly green dragon whom he names Elliott (Elliott’s ‘vocals’ are provided by John Kassir) after the title character of his favorite book. The two become best friends and spend the next 6 years living together in the forest. But Pete and Elliott’s peaceful lives are soon interrupted by the growing presence of people from the nearby town of Millhaven, specifically a bunch of lumberjacks from the local lumber mill owned by Jack (Wes Bentley). Pete ends up being found by one of the town’s park rangers, Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard), who also happens to be Jack’s fiancé. Fascinated by how a young boy like himself was able to survive ‘alone’ in the forest for six years, Grace decides to invite Pete to live with her, Jack, and Jack’s daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence) until they can figure out where he really came from. However, Pete becomes increasingly anxious about being separated from Elliott for too long and Grace realizes that he’s referring to the same mythical ‘Millhaven dragon’ that her father, woodcarver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford), had always told her about when she was younger. And to make matters worse, Elliott soon becomes ‘known’ to the people of Millhaven which then leads to people like Jack’s hunter brother Gavin (Karl Urban) to go after him.

As noted earlier, this film eschews the musical aspect of the original film for a more ‘straight-faced’ approach, which was probably the best move that it could’ve done in order to readapt the story for modern audiences. However, with that said, some have argued that this is really just Pete’s Dragon ‘in name only’ due to how much is changed from the original. However, despite the change in overall execution, this new take on Pete’s Dragon is quite fantastic. Thanks to the indie experience of director David Lowery, the film very much finds the heart within its extremely fantastical story. As a result, the film could certainly remind you of a film from the likes of Steven Spielberg or even more recent efforts like J.J. Abrams’ Super 8. It’s a simple story overall (heck the film is even set in the late 70’s/early 80’s) but one that is rooted in strong themes; family, friendship, etc., and said themes are handled excellently. It also isn’t afraid to go to some dark places at times. After all, the film straight up opens with the death of Pete’s parents (this is a Disney film, after all). But amidst all of the serious moments, the film also very much wears its heart on its sleeve, allowing audiences to be whisked away by the magic of the story. And while it’s very much told from a child’s perspective, both young and old can appreciate it for its charm and lovable characters.

Pete and Elliott are very much the heart of the film. Oakes Fegley does a fantastic job in the role of Pete, displaying a great sense of maturity for his age and showing that he’s perfectly capable of carrying a lot of the film on his own. But of course it wouldn’t be Pete’s Dragon without its dragon and while he is a CG-created character, Elliott proves to be a very believable and extremely endearing character. Just watching Elliott respond to various things, from Pete scaring off a bear in the beginning of the film to when he ends up going into town to look for Pete, is an incredibly charming sight. Their friendship is so strong that, without giving anything away, the ending is most certainly a tearjerker. But they’re not the only great members of this cast. Another young star, Oona Laurence, also shines in the role of Natalie, who quickly becomes Pete’s friend as he adjusts to normal life. Bryce Dallas Howard brings much warmth to the role of Grace, who very much becomes the closest that Pete has ever had to a ‘mother figure’ in quite some time. After all, as Jack notes, Pete being alone in the woods for so long doing his own thing is very much reminiscent of her. Robert Redford also provides plenty of charm in the role of Grace’s father, who unlike his daughter and the rest of Millhaven still believes in magic due to his own experiences with the mythical Millhaven dragon. Finally, there’s Wes Bentley and Karl Urban as brothers Jack and Gavin, who admittedly end up getting the least amount of material to work with in the film. Both Bentley and Urban do excellent jobs regardless but Jack is basically the most thankless part of the story and doesn’t really add much to the proceedings. And as for Gavin, who’s basically the main villain of the film, while he is at the very least not a completely evil ‘mustache-twirling’ villain he’s still a fairly simple villain who’s primarily motivated by greed.

I should probably mention that, at the time I am writing this, I actually haven’t seen the original Pete’s Dragon. I recall watching snippets of it when I was younger as I did own the film on VHS (ah, the good old days…) but never in full. I promise that I will try and get around to watching it in the future but until then, I can only talk about the newer Pete’s Dragon. And remember back in my review of The Jungle Book in which I explained why I’m optimistic about all of these upcoming Disney live-action remakes, saying that if they can be done well and stand on their own merit while still respecting their original adaptations then this slew of upcoming remakes isn’t such a bad thing? Well, now Disney has had three straight hits in a row when it comes to their most recent remakes because Pete’s Dragon is another fantastic Disney flick. As someone who, as noted earlier, hasn’t seen the original, this new film very much stands on its own merit. I mean it pretty much does the smartest thing that any remake can do and doesn’t directly copy its predecessor note for note. Instead of being a straight-up musical like the original adaptation, this new film is more of a drama. But even with the change in tone, the film still maintains a lot of heart, especially in regards to the friendship between Pete and Elliott. Sure in some ways it’s a pretty simple story but sometimes that’s exactly what audiences need, if you ask me. As a result, this is very much a highly recommended family flick that both young and old will very much enjoy. It may seem strange that Disney decided to remake one of their lesser-known live-action films but ultimately it worked out in the long run.  

Rating: 4.5/5