Pete's Dragon, mini movie review

Rating: 3.25 out of 5 stars

I hear from so many friends that Hollywood has a creativity problem.  There are a boat load of remakes, sequels, and prequels.  Just earlier this year Disney released a live action version of The Jungle Book, which did phenomenally well.  I saw it in French in a little theater in Issoudun, and it was charming, though for the most part I was theorizing what was going on.  Really need to see it in English. Last year Disney did a live action Cinderella.  Next year is Beauty and the Beast.  And they just recently did Alice Through the Looking Glass.

Now we have another version of Pete's Dragon, a remake of the 1977 version.  The original was charming, and as a kid I was enchanted by Elliott's animation, juxtaposed unto live action.  With modern technology we have CGI, but as a kid a cartoon dragon intermingling with live humans was cool.  Then there were the songs: Brazzle Dazzle Day, Candle on the Water, and It's Not Easy, to name a few.

When I found out about the Pete's Dragon remake I didn't know what to expect.  The trailer looked interesting, but it was obvious that this story was being removed from the original, hinting that Pete is lost in the forest and protected, for years, by a mysterious dragon.  Already the heart of the original lost.  Maybe it was simply a change of setting?  Maybe that's all.

But no, nothing of the original movie, besides the character names of Pete and Elliot and Pete needing a new family, survive.  Instead we have an original story that draws more on Jungle Book and Tarzan than on Pete's Dragon.  A new plot void of originality and magic, though we are reminded over and over that this is a story about magic.  Magic of the unknown and the mysterious dragons.

Don't get me wrong, there were still delightful and heart felt moments.  The scene where Pete first finds Elliot had me in tears.  If only the film maintained that enchantment throughout.

In sort what we have is a predictable original story that should be entitled "The Boy and his Dragon," because that's more fitting, instead of a title slapped onto a script to make a few extra bucks.

I've read what some people have said about this movie on forums.  That the original Pete's Dragon is incredibly cheesy and stupid, and that this remake is an improvement.  I think my issue is that so much is changed that instead of making this a remake, it should have gone in the direction of original, because so much originality is mission in Hollywood.  And I just now thought of The Jungle Book, this kid being lost for six years, and how he howls like the wolves.

*Sigh*

It's still a good family film, not a musical, not Pete's Dragon, but a film children may find interesting.

MPAA: Rated PG for action, peril and brief language.