Pete’s Dragon Movie Review

Pete’s Dragon is a delightful journey of imagination and magic where hope prevails in even the most dire of circumstances.

Pete is a ten year old boy who has spent the majority of his childhood in the forest with Elliot, his dragon. How Pete arrived in the forest and why he is there with Elliot is explained clearly to the audience in the first few moments of the movie.

The main reason for my interest in seeing this movie was seeing Bryce Dallas Howard. Known for her role as Claire in Jurassic World, she trades more teeth for something even bigger and more of a fantasy than her last role. She expertly portrays the little girl who wanted to live in the forest who grew into a woman who does everything she can to protect the animals in the forest. Her character, Grace, is a forest ranger whose job is to protect the forest and animals when loggers go beyond their boundaries.

Some secrets are too big to keep

Grace builds an unlikely bond with Pete, who wants nothing to do with the world we live in and fights to return to Elliot and their home. When humans destroy their world they are left without their happy place filled with joy, imagination, and peace.

Oakes Fegley, who portrays Pete, expertly conveys that Elliot is a real dragon and is an authentic child actor taking us along on his journey bringing fantasy to life before our very eyes. He has a very bright future ahead of him as an actor and we look forward to watching his journey.

Robert Redford grounds the movie and is the calming force between good and evil. He was most recently seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, but trades his business suit for jeans and flannel shirts as the woodworking grandpa known as Mr. Meacham, the teller of tall tales from when he claims to have meet a mysterious dragon in the forest when he was a child.

Family defines who you are but family is not always defined in the same way for everyone.

Pete’s Dragon takes you on a journey of self-discovery and fills you with hope.

When we left the movie screening and we were asked for our reaction, only one world summed up the entire movie: delightful.

Parental Advisory: (SPOILER ALERT)

It isn’t a Disney movie unless a parent dies, usually the mother. The opening scene shows Pete as a very young boy riding in a car when the car tries to avoid striking a deer and drives off the road, killing the parents, and leaving Pete alone and afraid in the forest when wolves find him. This is a frightening scene for young children seeing one of their nightmares shown on the big screen. The parent’s death is implied but never shown on screen. After this scene it skips to six years later and would be a much better way for younger children to begin the movie.

Pete’s Dragon is rated PG for action, peril, action, and brief language.

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A reimagining of Disney’s cherished family film, “Pete’s Dragon” is the adventure of an orphaned boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just so happens to be a dragon.

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.

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• Release Date: August 12, 2016
• Rating: PG
• Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Oona Laurence, Isiah Whitlock, Jr. and Robert Redford
• Director: David Lowery
• Screenplay: David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks
• Producer: Jim Whitaker
• Executive Producer: Barrie M. Osborne
• Studio: Walt Disney Studios