Pete's Dragon Review Roundup: Critics Praise the Disney Movie's "Inherent Magic"

Robert Redford, Bryce Dallas Howard, Karl Urban, Wes Bentley, Oakes Fegley and Oona Laurence star in the reimagined version of the 1977 classics

By Zach Johnson Aug 11, 2016 3:40 PMTags

Pete's Dragon soars into theaters Friday.

Whether the movie will take flight, however, is anyone's guess. Box office analysts predict Warner Bros.' Suicide Squad will retain its No. 1 position in its second weekend, although Walt Disney Studios' reimagining of its 1977 classic has the best chance of beating it. This weekend's other new offerings include Bleecker Street's Anthropoid (in limited release), 20th Century Fox's Florence Foster Jenkins, CBS Films' Hell or High Water and Columbia Pictures' Sausage Party.

Audiences needn't have seen the original Pete's Dragon to enjoy director-writer David Lowery's adaptation. An orphan, Pete (Oakes Fegley), roams a forest with his dragon friend Elliot. He's discovered by local townspeople, including a forest ranger named Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard). She reintroduces Pete to modern society and, as many adults would, initially dismisses the idea that dragons are real. (It doesn't help that Elliott can turn invisible, and for Grace, seeing its believing). Grace's father (Robert Redford), however, claims to have seen a dragon in his youth.

Pete's Dragon also stars Wes Bentley, Oona Laurence and Karl Urban.

Here's what critics are saying about the film (rated PG):

Disney

• "Even though it sets aside the show tunes, Disney isn't ruining any childhoods with its fresh new boy-meets-dragon team-up," USA Today's Brian Truitt writes, noting that Lowery "embraces a throwback nature by setting the simple and sweet tale in the '70s-era Pacific Northwest but utilizes the most modern technology in crafting his gigantic, whimsical green star." Like its predecessor, Pete's Dragon "skews heavily kid-friendly," though a dragon hunting scene "could bother" some children. But, "the movie knows what it is and embraces that rather than going for storytelling gymnastics or a greatly nuanced family adventure. All one needs to grasp is the hope and inherent magic of a kid and a dragon being BFFs, then let the feels flow from there."

Disney

• Calling Pete's Dragon "a film of uncommon warmth, decency and humanity," Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson describes newbie Fegley as "expressive and convincing." He also praises Howard, who "gives an especially warm hug of a performance, perfectly embodying the film's notions of familial comfort and connection while still playing a credible grown-up." Lowery directs the film with "reverence and understanding," which adults will no doubt admire. "Kids "will get a thrill out of the film's mild car chase and bridge peril...It's modest and proportional."

Watch
Bryce Dallas Howard Wants "The Help" Sequel
Disney

• "With a terrier's blocky face, a somewhat portly figure and klutzy landing technique, the flying dragon Elliot is unlike almost any other creature on screen. This update of Disney's animated 1977 character is less like a dopey uncle and more like the ultimate fantasy canine, a tail-chasing companion who can also scare off packs of wolves and hunters. His emerald-green fur is as inviting as a soft carpet of moss, when he's not camouflaged in the forest, or totally invisible," The Wrap's Russ Fischer writes. "Elliot is a triumph, a new ideal for fantasy creatures." Praising all involved wit the production, he adds, "This is a major studio effects picture with the heart of a much smaller movie, a thing as rare as a legendary forest creature."

Disney

• "Despite there being ample room for improvement, the extensively reimagined Pete's Dragon fails to breathe fresh life into the 40-year-old property," The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Rechtshaffen writes, adding, "the notably darker interpretation turns out to be, like the CG creature itself, a moody, lumbering thing that seldom takes flight." The film lacks "any element of surprise," he argued, mentioning its "haphazard plotting" and "undernourished character development." Elliott holds "all the magical allure of a dusty Disneyland animatronic," and the actors are there merely to react to him. "When you factor in the overheated Daniel Hart score that swoops and soars at the slightest provocation, you just might find yourself pining for the simpler, comparatively more melodic charms of Helen Reddy crooning 'Candle on the Water.'"

Are you planning to see Pete's Dragon? Sound off in the comments.

Watch
Robert Redford's Movie Idea for Donald Trump
Disney

• "Set in a dreamy Pacific Northwest, it has a distinct hippie-folktale aesthetic, riffing on the idea that the natural world holds breathtaking secrets if we just know where to look. By itself that idea is wonderful, and the CGI dragon Elliot—an expressive, furry green beauty—lives up to its promise. To watch him soar above a misty ocean of trees—with or without young Pete—is to feel lilting, airborne freedom," TIME's Stephanie Zacharek writes. Though the movie offers feel-good fun more often than not, "A protracted dragon-capture sequence is grim and swollen with syrupy music to cue us when to feel. It all turns out O.K., but to see Elliot in peril is unsettling."

photos
Stars at Disneyland & Disney World

Latest News