goolizap Pete's Dragon was my favorite Disney movie when I was growing up, but I hadn't watched it since I was little. Recently, I've revisited many films I loved as a child only to be disappointed by them. So naturally, I was afraid the same was going to happen to the one I loved the most.The film is about a boy, Pete, who has escaped with his dragon, Elliot, from his abusive foster family. The two of them come to the town of Passamaquoddy, where they meet a lighthouse owner, Nora (Helen Reddy) and her father, played by Mickey Rooney.As far as the music goes, the songs are some of Disney's best. It's hard to point out highlights, since all of them are so memorable. My favorite might be the film's first song, "The Happiest Home in These Hills," which is as memorable of an opening as could be. They say that in most films, the part you remember the least is the beginning. But in Pete's Dragon, it's one of the best scenes. The choreography and the creepiness of Pete's orphan family chasing him through the swampy forest is still ingrained in my head all these years later and sets the tone for the rest of the film.But the dark tone shifts a lot throughout and we end up getting more of a campy musical feel the rest of the way out. But at least that's what it wants to be.Elliot, the dragon, is as adorable as any Disney character. He brightens up the screen whenever he's on it. In fact, the biggest problem is probably the fact that he only gets 22 minutes of total screen time in a movie that's 134 minutes.It's still better than the original plan, which was to have him absent in the movie altogether. Instead, remaining in Pete's imagination only. What we get is better than nothing.Most films back then aren't without their issues, and neither is Pete's Dragon. It has its fair share of plot holes. It doesn't make much sense why Pete waits almost the entire movie to show Elliot to Nora. He has no reason to hide him from her. But if you throw in nostalgia, these things don't really matter as much.It's a fun movie. Kids will enjoy it, and it's completely tolerable for adults.Twizard Rating: 92

Rainey Dawn In 1977 I was 5 years old and I loved this film when I was a kid - and I can still remember quite a bit about it today. This film helped me to fall 'in-love' with dragons... a childhood wish to have a pet dragon of my own just like Pete. It's a wonderful family film with a good story - great for all ages.The movie has a pretty good soundtrack for a Walt Disney Musical - but my favorite song from the film is "It's Not Easy". I had the song on an old Disneyland album (Best of Disney Vol 2) when I was a kid. LOL I get a chuckle when I think about that today: Nostalgia. Pure nostalgia.If you like movie like 'Eragon' or 'Puff the Magic Dragon' then you might like the film Pete's Dragon.8.5/10

Blueghost I saw this movie a number of times on HBO, but, Ironically enough, I can't remember too much about it. I remember when it was first advertised for the theatres, and shrugging my shoulders at it as a kids' film. A friend of mine really took to it, but I don't recall anything too extraordinary about it.The old "out of the ink well" animation formula is taken to the extreme when a young boy who comes across a sleepy coastside Hamlet discovers intrigue among the locals. His special medieval mythical fire-breathing (and flying) friend aids him in his search for a family and to right a wrong.To be honest, I never got the whole thing, but it was fun for what it was. Not a film I would own in my collection ... unless the wife and kids wanted it. Don't get me wrong, it's a very fine children's film, my tastes just lie elsewhere.Give it a whirl on the old DVD player, and watch it with the family.Enjoy.

Foux_du_Fafa By the middle/end of the 1970s, the Disney studio was in crisis. Walt had died relatively recently, and the conservative management who ran the company kept on consciously producing films they thought Walt would have made back in the 50s and 60s. As a result, nearly all of the films being produced, at least the live-action ones, were not just throwbacks; they were generally all quite stale with it. "Pete's Dragon" is one such film. It tries to be the next "Mary Poppins" but genuinely fails. Not only does it not live up to that film's legacy, but it hasn't really got any pizazz of its own.The story concerns a young orphan named Pete who runs away from a cruel family of hillbillies with the help of his pet dragon Eliot. Along the way, Eliot, who can turn himself invisible, gets up to mischief, and hilarity ensues. The pair arrive in a small New England town, where Pete ends up staying with a kindly lighthouse keeper named Nora and her lovable drunken father. In keeping with the spirit of replicating "Mary Poppins", the titular dragon character is animated, and the best moments in the film tend to feature him. He is a cute and well animated creation, even if he doesn't quite fit seamlessly into the live-action world around him. However, the story overall is boring and introduces too many elements at the wrong time, and many scenes fail to move the plot along at all (including a scene where the lighthouse keeper and the evil doctor's assistant go to look for Eliot in the cave). Acting and character development are also consistently below average. The musical numbers tend to be overdone, and some of them are just downright awful. Though I saw the standard version many years ago, the version I last watched was the shortened version on the UK's Channel 5, which did a lot of good by shortening or even removing the most long-winded scenes (primarily the musical numbers), but even that didn't do much to diffuse some of the film's problems.Let me state that I did not want to go out of my way to hate this film. I am a big fan of Disney, and I watched "Pete's Dragon" as a child a few times and I quite liked it (even if not to the same extent as "Mary Poppins" or "Bedknobs and Broomsticks"). However, as an intelligent adult, I can see hardly any worth in this film. It seems overall like a mismanaged and highly amateur attempt to make a "Disney classic" based on the elements of more successful previous films.