This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Robert Redford.
I go into Pete's Dragon not having seen the original as of this writing. As such, I think I come at this with an advantage as I have neither negative nor nostalgic feelings for the property. The 2016 version of Pete's Dragon has a curious logical flaw that I struggled with. However, I found it a decent enough family film that works separate from that.
Young Pete Healy (Oakes Fegley) is riding along with his parents in what I presume is the Pacific Northwest. He is on "an adventure" with his parents when they are involved in a car accident. Pete is the only survivor, and he stumbles into the forest. Wolves come close to devouring him, but he is rescued by an unlikely figure. It is a large, green dragon who can turn invisible. The dragon takes a shine to this young five-year-old, who names him "Elliot".
Pete, now living as a wild boy in the woods, is not the only person to have seen what is called "the Millhaven Dragon". Conrad Meacham (Robert Redford) regales local children with his tale of his own encounter with this dragon. They delight in his stories of dubious veracity. One person who does not delight in these stories is his daughter, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard). While she appreciates how Meacham's tales of the western woods were the impetus for her career as a park ranger, she thinks them frivolous. Grace is engaged to Jack Magary (Wes Bentley), who ironically is a logger working alongside his brother Gavin (Karl Urban). Jack is displeased, like Grace is, that Gavin keeps pushing further into the woods almost at a haphazard and rushed manner.
Attempting to mediate, Jack's daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence) spots a strange wild child. It is Pete, who has been essentially raised by Elliot. Eventually, Pete is discovered by Jack, Grace and Gavin. Elliot, however, has not. Gavin, however, is no fool and knows that something is out there.
Pete is fiercely resistant to entering the human world and wants to go back to the woods. That, however, is impossible. Grace, reluctant to turn Pete over to Child Protective Services, turns to her father after Pete tells Grace, Natalie and Jack about Elliot. Could the stories of the Millhaven Dragon be true? Gavin finds that they are and has the literal proof. However, wild dragons must be free. Will everyone live happily ever after?
What I found a bit illogical to downright nonsensical is how Pete spent those six years completely missing and raised by a dragon. Did Elliot procure food and what little clothing he had for Pete? How did no one find Pete's parents? There is mention by local Sheriff Gene Dentler (Isiah Whitlock) about Pete being part of a "missing persons" cold case. However, I never accepted that a child could be raised by a dragon and speak relatively well. I especially struggled in believing that Pete's parents were never found. Come to think of it, the thought of their rotting corpses trapped in their car for six years is rather gruesome.
Then again, I might be overthinking something like Pete's Dragon. This is supposed to be a family-friendly fantasy. Those rarely have true logic in them. One knows that Pete's Dragon is family-friendly in that Gavin and his hunting party are not shooting Elliot with bullets. As Grace, Conrad, Jack and especially Pete & Natalie watch in horror, Gavin and his men are firing at the lassoed Elliot. Gavin and I think Jack immediately shout to everyone that Elliot is being shot with tranquilizers. Therefore, any young child who fears for Elliot will see that he is merely being put to sleep and not killed.
The film does take great care to not frighten its target audience. We see this with the aforementioned treatment of Elliot. It is threatening but never vicious. We also see it in the characters. Gavin is the de facto villain. However, I would argue that Gavin is more misguided than truly evil or heartless. He does initially rescue Pete. He also makes a daring rescue attempt of Grace and Jack when Elliot begins taking his own version of revenge towards those who threaten him and/or Pete.
One usually does not think of Robert Redford as being part of a family-friendly ensemble film. However, in his scenes as Conrad, he had a surprise rapport with the children when he is regaling them with his dragon encounter. When Grace asks him about what really happened when he met the Millhaven Dragon (minus the embellishments), Redford delivers a surprisingly effective monologue where he talks about feeling a sense of "magic".
The two children did well in their roles. Oona Laurence and Oakes Fegley were not precocious or cutesy. Instead, they showed themselves to be realistic in how their characters behaved and interacted with both strangers and strange new worlds. Director David Lowery (who also adapted the original film's screenplay with Toby Halbrooks) guided all his actors to good performances that kept within the family-friendly mode. He also kept things going at a steady pace.
Finally, we see that the music plays a role in how Pete's Dragon is that family-friendly fantasy. Daniel Hart's score had a strong fantasy feel that aimed high to make things magical. The film had pleasant soft songs such as the opening theme The Dragon Song. It gives us not specially the origin of Elliot but on how dragons might be real.
The visual effects were not awe-inspiring. They were serviceable and pleasant, in keeping with the overall feel the film I think was aiming for.
Pete's Dragon is a charmer of a film. I think it will appeal to young children without frightening them. It might be a touch longer than needed. That, however, is a relatively small point. It might not be logical. However, Pete's Dragon has its dragon heart in the right place.
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