Pete's Dragon (2016)

[FireAndSun]

I haven't seen the original movie, so I don't terribly care about this remake. If it turns out to be good, maybe I'll go see it if I have the money.

[Elton John]

[quote="Rollo"][quote="MetalHeart"]That dragon looks retarded and the plot is too cheesy, I can't believe some people are actually looking forward to see that. Oh well, each to their own I suppose.[/quote]

Each to their own indeed. Also, it's Disney. What did you expect? Uber-edgy material? [/quote]

I doubt he expected it to be uber-edgy.

There is a middle ground between cheesy hokiness and 'so edgy i cut myself' material. Which disney can do.

[Rollo]

.

[SlayerOfLight]

[quote="Rollo"][quote="MetalHeart"]That dragon looks retarded and the plot is too cheesy, I can't believe some people are actually looking forward to see that. Oh well, each to their own I suppose.[/quote]

Each to their own indeed. Also, it's Disney. What did you expect? Uber-edgy material? [/quote]

Yes.

[Ninaroja]

I never saw the original movie, but the trailer definitely intrigued me. I'll be taking a look

[TheLionPrince]

I did not grow up with Pete's Dragon, but I have been wanting to see it for a number of years after reading about it and seeing trailers of it. I finally did watch it on New Year's Day 2016 on Blu-Ray. What I came away from it was a less-than-stellar second attempt to recreate the success of Mary Poppins; Bedknobs and Broomsticks was the first attempt. It had over two hours of running time, which was much too long for a family movie that it became quite tedious towards the ending. The songs did not really further or deepen the narrative as much, but I did love "Candle in the Water" which was beautifully sung by Helen Reddy. Speaking of her, I felt she gave the best performance in the movie but her talents weren't enough to save the movie. The integration of animation was not as impressive as it was in Mary Poppins, but as an animation enthusiast, it was nevertheless a treat though the sodium vapor process by which it was produced shows its dated efforts. Overall, it was a very sentimental and maybe cheesy film with a heart-warming center of friendship, but it definitely could have been better in a few areas.

Concerning remakes in general, I am usually fine with remakes of original films that didn't properly use its source material to its advantage (as in a film adaptation of a novel) or just were just downright awful. Looking at the trailers for the remake, it definitely has the vibe from The Iron Giant with the animated companion being viewed as a threat by the community and the flying scenes reminded me of How to Train Your Dragon. That said, I won't watch it in theaters.

[Soren]

I just saw it a little while ago. It was breathtaking. Heartwarming. Beautiful (I mean, it was filmed in New Zealand!). What else? Oh it was also AWESOME! For the style of movie, it was amazing. The opening scene though was pretty heartbreaking. I was crying pretty badly. I think it was pushing a little bit over the edge of the PG rating, but that made it more interesting. The live-action was very well done. What I really appreciate is that it looked like they really tried not to anthropomorphize Elliot too much, so there really weren't that many cheesy scenes. Robert Redford did a really good job. The soundtrack was extremely well done. They had some tunes in it that were a little bit folky, but weren't that bad. The theme song was quite good. Overall, what an amazing movie! It's one of my favorite movies now.

Bottom line: I highly, HIGHLY recommend that you go see it in 3D. This was a movie that was absolutely made for 3D.

[PridelandsPhantom]

I'm going to be the naysayer and say I didn't like the new look of Pete's Dragon at all being a fan of the original movie. I like corny and syrupy. This generation doesn't get enough wholesome movie and the song "It's not easy" is a sweet song. I am not impressed as all at this attempt.

[Elton John]

I liked the movie. Unlike many modern family films it had a feel of subtlety, it was slow paced, only a little bit of pandering to younger audiences. It treated the audience with dignity and respect... Most of the time.

Also there was no corny message that had been done to death by countless other family films.

It had the feel of an indie movie on a bigger budget. Makes sense as I hear Disney got an indie director and gave him a lot of creative freedom.