Elliot, der Drache

Ein schöner Familienfilm. Wenn ich mich für einen der Disney-Spielfilme aus letzter Zeit entscheiden sollte, würde Elliot, der Drache z. B. The Jungle Book eindeutig schlagen. Der Film ist auch ohne viele Tricks und ohne einen epischen Charakter wirkungsvoll. Er macht es ganz anders und meiner Meinung nach viel besser. Er hat sich auf den (ausgezeichneten) digitalen Drachen und vor allem auf eine gute Auswahl der Schauspieler*innen sowie schöne Aufnahmen von magischen tiefen Wäldern konzentriert. (25.01.2017)

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. (19.12.2016)

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 (13.02.2017)