'Pete's Dragon' (2016) Review

Pete's Dragon joins Disney's ever-expanding library of live-action adaptations of older films including the likes of The Jungle Book (2016) and Cinderella (2015). Like it's predecessor,
Pete's Dragon (1977), this new incarnation aims to tell the simple story of a boy Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a massive fluffy emerald dragon with camouflaging capabilities. And while Pete's Dragon's story may be small, it has a huge heart thanks to the special bond evident between Pete and Elliot.

The combination of spectacular visual effects work and John Kassir's captivating grunts make Elliot an authentic wondrous creature who just so happens to live in our world and he's irroestiable thanks to his dog-like mannerisms and warm fuzzy appearance. Elliot just so happens to be a nice comforting presence to both Pete and the audience because it's endearing every moment the dragon trounces onscreen. I'm unsure if that was an intentional choice or accidental, but either way Pete and his dragon are able to bring a smile, a laugh, and maybe even a tear to your face.

While many scoff at the idea of remaking or rebooting older films, I think remakes should wait to be judged as the purpose of rebooting should always be to make a better version, never about being a cash grab. Thankfully, this film is superior in visuals alone and succeeds in just about every other category thanks to director David Lowerey's vision.

Lowerey helms the reboot, in addition to taking up writing duties alongside Toby Halbrooks, bringing some awe-inspiring shots of Elliot maneuvering the skies thanks to some nice collaboration between the cinematographer and visual effects team. Lowerey's vision takes the basic concept of the original and makes it more accessible as the remake has a timeless charm to it, even though it's set in a seemingly 80's era small town. My only issues with Pete's Dragon lies in it's screenplay.

Lowerey and Halbrooks penned a sweet story but some dialogue was very cheesy and the supporting characters fell flat, failing to feel more than one-note caricatures. Despite the story's sweet and valuable undertones, it seems all too reminiscent of various other Disney properties about outsiders discovering man's world and all it's wonders, the importance of family, and the values of friendship including Tarzan, this year's The Jungle Book, The Good Dinosaur, and even to some degree Thor.

There was one other film took into account as being remarkably similar, and I even had similar feelings towards it, Jurassic World. Conveniently, both starred Bryce Dallas Howard, other worldly computer generated creatures, succeed in technical elements but lack the proper script. I also enjoyed Jurassic World, but feel it was grossly overrated and didn't reach the heights of Jurassic Park, but that's a story for a Recollection Reflection Review some other day. Anyways, my point is that although the story differentiates significantly from the predecessor and aims to bring something new to the table it reminded me of several other films that just so happened to be under the Disney umbrella.

Whilst all I've mentioned so far is important in a films success, there was one critical factor in making sure Pete's Dragon was going to work, and that was in casting Pete. Disney needed to find a child actor who could act opposite a CGI creature and be able to reach out to the audience convincing them that Pete and Elliot were worth caring about. Fortunately, Disney has their work cut out for them with an excellent casting department finding Neel Sethi recently for his star-turning role as Mowgli in The Jungle Book and now Oakes Fegley as Pete.

Fegley hits all the marks, accurately depicting Pete as a child who's been isolated for a majority of his life as he's amazed by the local small town and all it has to offer and at the same time captures the childlike wonder one would have if their best friend were a dragon. Fegley's performance helps the audience buy into Elliot and Fegley also manages to showcase a nice range for such a young performer. I won't be surprised if Fegley begins to see a lot more work turn up as child actors are invaluable these days and Fegley's proven here that he's more than capable of measuring up to any task requested of him.

Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Wes Bentley, and Karl Urban all offer up terrific performances, as is to be expected from actors of their caliber, but suffer by portraying thinly sketched characters as the endearing park ranger Grace, kindred father Meacham, kind wood mill operator Jack, and devious Gavin respectively.

No doubt about it, Pete's Dragon is a cute movie but the film never quite reaches it's full potential as Pete's Dragon soars in it's technical prowess, exemplifying excellent filmmaking, making it's static one-dimensional characters and uninspired screenplay a bummer. However, Pete's Dragon succeeds in the vein of actually being a remake superior to the original and is definitely worth seeing.

Film Assessment: B

Throwback Thursday Review: 'Pete's Dragon' (1977)

Sorry for the delayed review but this week I'm reviewing Disney's original 1977 incarnation of Pete's Dragon to coincide with the rebooted Pete's Dragon. Next week I will be beginning my series of Harry Potter reviews with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone where I will be rereading the books and reviewing each Harry Potter film every two weeks till the release of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The following week I will close out my reviews of the Dark Knight Trilogy with my Throwback Thursday Review of The Dark Knight Rises. New reviews you can expect in the next two weeks include Pete's Dragon (2016), Sausage Party, Kubo and the Two Strings, and War Dogs.

'Pete's Dragon' (1977) Review

Nominated For: Best Original Song "Candle on the Water" (written by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschhorn) and Best Original Score.

Pete's Dragon tells the simple story of the kindred companionship of a boy and a dragon. The film doesn't really explore much outside that premise and stays quite self-contained.

Pete's Dragon was released in 1977 so naturally the effects are quite dated and a lot of the special effects looked extremely fake. One exception was the animation for Pete's Dragon Elliot. However, anytime Elliot interacted with any tangible onscreen it just didn't seem authentic. This probably lies with the performances though as the acting ranges from minimal effort to grossly over exaggerations. At the time acting opposite animated characters in a live-action film had been scarcely done and so few actors had ever experienced such an experience, something that's very evident from the film's portrayals.

Sean Marshall plays Pete and never really captivated me in the scenes that should have been connected with the viewer emotionally thanks to his stale or quickened line delivery. Helen Reddy's Nora was a nice mother figure but almost all her line delivery felt very bland. Micky Rooney felt extremely cartoonish as the sailor Lampie and Jim Dale's Dr. Terminus is the classic con-artist. All around there weren't really any standouts with an extremely lackluster cast and they weren't given any favors with a abysmal screenplay featuring lines ranging from forced to downright stupid and a bore of a story.

The film also boasts quite a few songs, albeit generic music. It's no surprise that I had practically never heard of any of these songs. There's little to salvage out of Pete's Dragon, but Elliot is definitely one aspect as a lovable green dragon who's well animated and persona makes for a charming presence. Elliot has minuscule screen time in a film entitled Pete's Dragon though.

I don't have much else to say about Pete's Dragon because there honestly isn't much else to say about Pete's Dragon. It's a straightforward film that has little successes and abundant failures. I wouldn't consider Pete's Dragon a classic Disney film as it lacks any memorable songs, characters, or story and in fact falls in line with the lesser Disney films.

Film Assessment: D-

Throwback Thursday Review: 'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial'

This week I will be publishing two Throwback Thursday Reviews of Disney's Tarzan and, of course, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial to coincide with the dual wide release of The Legend of Tarzan and The BFG this weekend. For those confused why I chose to review E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and how that has anything to do with The BFG, both films are directed by Steven Spielberg and focus on the relationship between child and an unworldly being, an alien and a giant. The reasoning behind choosing to review Tarzan is fairly obvious so I won't delve into that. For the next two consecutive Throwback Thursday Reviews, I will be reviewing Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters 2 to tie into the new female lead Ghostbusters. I'm unsure if the tag line "Answer The Call" is a subtitle or not. Following that I will finish off my series of reviews on the J.J. Abrams' directed Star Trek films with my Throwback Thursday Review of Star Trek Into Darkness coinciding with the release of Star Trek Beyond. 

'E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial' Review 

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Steven Spielberg, Best Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Visual Effects. Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Score.
Won: Best Visual Effects. Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Original Score.

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial tells the simple tale of an alien who's mistakenly left behind on Earth. E.T. then stumbles upon Elliot and his siblings, so the family takes him in. They quickly become very close friend, but E.T. longs to return to his family so they all must find a way to help "E.T. phone home." 

Steven Spielberg directs the flick and is able to capture feelings of suspense, awe, humor, and heart along with some some extremely emotional moments that will probably make you shed at least one tear if you're truly human. Spielberg is able to capture a dual sense of wonderment as both the human characters and E.T. are in admiration of one another and the exposure to the other's customs and culture. 

E.T. is regarded as a classic by many, and I was quite surprised how well it held up to today's standards. The technology of course is dated, but the messages and themes found in the film are still relevant along with the interesting depiction of government surveillance. 

The special effects used hold up remarkably well, as the puppetry that brings life to E.T. is honestly better than some CGI animation I've seen, and the visual effects used when E.T. levitates things or glows also look very authentic. The practical effects used to create E.T. make a creature that's simultaneously repulsive to look at and lovable at the same time. E.T.'s facial expressions are very lifelike thanks to the phenomenal puppet utilized in production. 

I'd say Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time and that can certainly be evidenced by the cinematic magic he captures in E.T. Spielberg is joined once again by one of the greatest film composers of all time, John Williams, as Williams composes a fantastical score that's equally memorable and imperative to the cinematic experience. I will say that Williams' other works do exceed this score in being more memorable and epic in scale but I don't feel that should diminish the great work he displays with E.T.'s soundtrack. The screenplay written by Melissa Mathison and the narrative is brilliant capturing the meaning of friendship with memorable lines, moments with some ingenious fresh uses of science fiction in regards to E.T. and his psychic abilities. 

What makes all these elements click into place however are the performances. Henry Thomas stars as Elliot, the boy who befriends E.T., and brings about childlike innocence, wonder, and heart to captivate our hearts. Robert MacNaughton and Drew Barrymore bring Elliot's siblings Michael and Gertie to the fray, and both are serviceable in the capacity used. Elsewhere, the only notable performance was Dee Wallace as Elliot's mother, who gets some dramatic moments, while the remaining characters are relegated to minuscule roles. 

E.T. is a remarkable film and one of Spielberg's best, which is high praise considering how many terrific films he has made. No matter what age you are, it is nearly impossible not to enjoy E.T. since it has something for everyone with excellent direction, a compelling narrative, fantastic effects, great child actor performances, and another incredible score from John Williams.

Film Assessment: A+