Directed by:
David LoweryCinematography:
Bojan BazelliComposer:
Daniel HartCast:
Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Craig Hall, Jade Healy, Bart the Bear (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford) has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales... until she meets Pete (Oakes Fegley). Pete is a mysterious 10-year-old with no family and no home who claims to live in the woods with a giant, green dragon named Elliot. And from Pete's descriptions, Elliot seems remarkably similar to the dragon from Mr. Meacham's stories. With the help of Natalie (Oona Laurence), an 11-year-old girl whose father Jack (Wes Bentley) owns the local lumber mill, Grace sets out to determine where Pete came from, where he belongs, and the truth about this dragon. (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
(more)Reviews (3)
I quite like these magical stories about the connection of small children with other living entities. Pete's Dragon is literally saturated with stereotypes from similar films. Throughout the obviously predictable story, it reminded me of movies like The NeverEnding Story, Free Willy or more recent ones like Spielberg's BFG. And even though it doesn't have the emotional impact of older classics, for me My Friend the Dragon had more impact than last year's Big "Fucking" Giant. Initially, I was intrigued by the rich cast, especially Karl Urban who embodies a proper lumberjack with higher ambitions, but a heart in the right place. When he jumps on the car to prevent it from falling into the ravine, he looks incredibly cool, and I'm glad that instead of well-known names, there aren't just random guys from some B movies appearing here. Combined with sufficient CGI of the green monster (the association with Trico from The Last Guardian is spot on!), it's a nice feel-good movie, especially with a very successful soundtrack..7/10
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A beautiful family movie. If I had to choose from the recent Disney movies, Pete's Dragon would clearly win over The Jungle Book. It doesn't need to be full of special effects and be epic from start to finish to be impressive. It does the opposite, and in my opinion much better, relying mainly on well-chosen actors and beautiful shots of magical deep forests in addition to the (great) digital dragon.
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Simply Mowgli, but in a slightly different setting and with more people entering Mowgli's life. Oh, and Mowgli's name is Pete, and his protector is a dragon. Visually beautiful and seemingly flawless, but with an incredibly clichéd story. There's absolutely nothing surprising here. A job well done, which is expected of Disney, but nothing excellent.
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