'Pete's Dragon' Review: A Dismayingly Dull Reboot
Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, and Oona Laurence is Natalie in Disney’s reboot of ‘Pete’s Dragon’
By Michael Rechtshaffen, The Hollywood Reporter
In the pantheon of beloved Disney classics, 1977’s Pete’s Dragon would never be mistaken for one of the studio’s crowning achievements.
Overlong and outfitted with a largely forgettable score, the mix of live action and traditional animation might have been aiming to recapture some of that Mary Poppins magic, but it fell considerably short of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.
So when the studio announced plans for a reboot, there wasn’t the same outcry from protective fans that initially greeted news of recent remakes of Cinderella and The Jungle Book.
Related: Disney Stakes Out Release Dates for ‘Jungle Book 2,’ 'Maleficent 2’ and More
But despite there being ample room for improvement, the extensively reimagined Pete’s Dragon fails to breathe fresh life into the 40-year-old property. Directed and co-written by David Lowery (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), the notably darker interpretation turns out to be, like the CG creature itself, a moody, lumbering thing that seldom takes flight.
While it could still hold some appeal to families searching for late-summer distractions, the film won’t come close to reaching the high box-office benchmark set by the likes of Finding Dory, The Jungle Book, and Zootopia.
Related: Disney Developing Live-Action Peter Pan Movie
Relocating the original setting from coastal Maine to the tree-blanketed Pacific Northwest (as played by New Zealand), the new version also dispenses with the old set-up, instead placing young Pete (Oakes Fegley) alone in the woods following a tragic car accident that has killed both of his parents.
It turns out he doesn’t have to fend for himself very long, as he’s taken under the wing of a 24-foot, furry (as opposed to scaly), sage-hued dragon he decides to name Elliot, after the dog in one of his favorite books.
‘Pete’s Dragon’ clip: Pete introduces Elliot:
Fast-forward six years later. We find the now 10-year-old wild child (paging Mowgli) and his dragon pal still happily ensconced in all that greenery when they’re both discovered by a forest ranger (Bryce Dallas Howard) and her boyfriend’s 11-year-old daughter (Oona Laurence).
One doesn’t need to have seen the 1977 version to know roughly where this is all headed, and that lack of any element of surprise is just one of the problems with the script by Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. Haphazard plotting and seriously undernourished character development aside, none of the emotional stakes have been planted deeply enough to elicit audience involvement in young Pete’s plight.
Related: Five Things to Know About Oona Laurence
Meanwhile, Howard (last seen dodging dinos in the far more entertaining Jurassic World) and a supporting cast including Robert Redford as her tale-spinning dad and Wes Bentley as her significant other haven’t been given much to do here beyond reacting to the mighty Elliot, who himself proves to hold all the magical allure of a dusty Disneyland animatronic.
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.
Robert Redford hopes there are no remakes of any of his movies:
