Brilliant and touching

Absolutely amazing

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Sunday,Feb. 21st, I took out an old copy of Pete's Dragon, that i have on VHS and decided to watch it. It had been a few years since I'd looked at it. I watched it in the company of my significant other, who being a few years younger, had not yet seen it. Well, not only did she like it but I was reminded why I liked it in the first place. For a few of my so called 'grown up years, I'd dismissed it a great deal as 'not Disney's best work'. I also didn't have a nice word for Sean Marshall's (Pete's) singing voice. (I'd roll my eyes during the 'I Love You Too' song.Now this past Sunday also, was the Disneyland 60th anniversary show on ABC, in which a preview trailer of the NEW 'Pete's Dragon was shown. I had no idea that a 'new' version of this childhood favorite was coming out soon or was even being made. What I can tell anyone who is thinking of going to see the new version is, as I always say about remakes, see the original version first. Sure, it was made in 1977 and the special effects aren't the same as what we're used to today....but that's what they had to work with then and what movie goers were used to then as well. Yes, that includes 'green-screen'effects. More importantly, what makes Pete's Dragon engaging is that it 'is' so very simple and child-like in most of it's telling. There's a few things said & done by adults in the film that are not up to today's Politically Correct do's & don't's, where kids films are concerned. They're a product of the time it was made and by a different generation, so it's best to just consider the era they're from.The film over the years has been called things from kiddie-fair, to overly sentimental to emotionally disturbing. None of which are fair labels, nor are they grounded in anything but certain scenes taken out of context. I would say that maybe, since it's a movie with a dragon, people then possibly expected Elliot to do more fantastic things than he actually did. He's a funny character with a funny way of talking and uses 'some' of his magic. I'm sure it was expected he'd use that magic on a greater scale. Anyhow,the story is this. Pete's an orphaned boy between 10 & 12 who is 'purchased' by the despicable 'Gogan' family, who are dirty, filthy and lazy and use Pete as child slave labor back home. They even have a 'bill of sale'. Pete's been befriended by Elliot, a usually invisible but sometimes seen, green Dragon (with little wings) that's helped him escape from the Gogans. He and Pete have come upon the quiet seaside town of Passamaquoddy, Maine. (Circa 1910s) Where in no time at all, Elliot makes the possibility of Pete living (and hiding out) there almost impossible. Enter Nora (Singer Helen Reddy) and 'Lampie' (Mickey Rooney), who operate the local lighthouse. (It's never made clear if they're co-workers or Father & daughter).Lampie is a drinker & former sailor, who actually sees Elliot and is frightened like crazy. Nora (and the boys at the bar) doubt him completely. Soon, because of Elliot's antics, it seems the town (except for Nora) is against Pete. Nora takes him in and thinks that Elliot is just something Pete made up. As the story goes on, there's other baddies to worry about besides the Gogans. Doc Terminus a snake-oil (fake medicine) salesman and his shill Hoagie arrive also. not just to take money from the townspeople but, when finding out about Elliot, want to get hold of him to use his parts in the things they sell. How will all of this turn out? Watch and see. In the meantime, I can tell you the songs here are pretty good. Reddy's 'Candle On The Water' is a great number, so much so it w released as a single for radio in1978. All of her numbers are good, as before this she'd had many top selling records. "Brazzle Dazle Day' is also an unforgettable & very catchy number sung by her, Roony & Marshall, as the paint the lighthouse.The Gogan's "Bill Of Sale' song is as grungy as they are. not note perfect but they're not perfect either, so it's fitting. Other songs by other characters are sung , 'in character'. To be fair to Pete, Marshall is actually a good singer but is singing as a regular boy like Pete could only be able too. So, I feel it was meant to happen that I ended up watching the original the same day as that special. Meaning, I may just go see the new version but it's still good to know that the original's always there. Not just to give an idea of what the new version may be like or how it'll be different ..but also, if someone may just like something from a time that was simpler and more easy going. 9 out of 10 from me, only one off for,again, some questionable dialog and actions from the grown ups in the film. (END)

An orphan boy and his magical dragon come to town with his abusive adoptive parents in pursuit.Mickey Rooney never disappoints, but this film leaves something to be desired. The animation is cheesy, the story runs a bit too long, the romance with the lost sailor seems unnecessary. Most of the songs are pretty awful (though the ones sung by the snake oil salesman are alright).Maybe in the 1970s this was very entertaining, but today it was rather blah. Exactly why is unclear, as many other 70s (or older) films have held up quite well. One key reason may be just that the boy playing Pete was not very likable.

I had seen the iconic image of the little ginger kid and the title character, I do remember at one time seeing a couple of clips as well, it was just a case of watching the actual early Disney animation and live action film, from director Don Chaffey (Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C.). Basically, set in early 20th century New England, nine year old orphan boy Pete (Sean Marshall) has escaped his abusive adoptive parents, the Gogans, led by the nasty mother Lena (Shelley Winters). His only true friend is the one who found him, a large green, purple haired and winged fire breathing cartoon dragon named Elliott (the grunts and roars voiced by Charlie Callas), who can become invisible. Pete and Elliot have travelled to Passamaquoddy, Maine, an ocean front harbour town, filled with superstitious fishermen, drunken hooligans and wary townsfolk, and they try to find somewhere to settle, the invisible dragon obviously causes some destruction and gets Pete into trouble. Eventually Pete meets Nora (Helen Reddy), the daughter of drunken lighthouse operator Lampie (Mickey Rooney), he in fact is the only one to see Elliot, the little boy is allowed to live in the lighthouse, while the dragon hides in the beach cave nearby. The little boy's arrival causes a lot of rumours, rioting and gossip in the town, and this ignites the interest of visiting con artist Dr. Terminus (Carry On's Jim Dale), who believing the dragon superstition is keen to get his hands on it for profit. There comes the point when Elliot is indeed brought out in the open and exposed, even captured, while Pete's horrible adoptive parents the Gogans come back to snatch him. In the end the bad guys get what they deserve and are driven away, Elliot is no longer seen as a monster, Pete settles happily in his new home with Nora and Lampy, who did find out about the dragon, but Elliot has to fly away to find another child in need of help. Also starring Red Buttons as Hoagy, Jim Backus as The Mayor and Grease's Jeff Conaway as Willie. The performances are very cheesy, as is the story, and the mix of animation with live action, which was at the early stages, so looks dated, and the songs, though mildly catchy, are also lame, Elliot is certainly a lovable cartoon character, but overall the film sort of fails to bring any magic for the family, a fair but disappointing part-animated musical fantasy. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Song for "Candle on the Water" and Best Music for Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn and Irwin Kostal, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. Adequate!

Pete (Sean Marshall) is a poor orphan boy who arrives in the small town of Passamaquoddy to escape his cruel, slave-driving adopted parents. The residents are generally nice folk, only they don't take too well to Pete due to his large, mainly invisible dragon named Elliott. The first person to see it is local lovable drunk Lampie (Mickey Rooney), who makes his concerns known only to be laughed at. So Pete is taken in by Lampie's daughter Nora (Helen Reddy), a lighthouse worker who is still pining for her partner who disappeared at sea almost a year prior. Trouble starts to brew though when a medicine wheeler-dealer named Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale) arrives in town and sees profit in the dragon.One of Disney's few attempts to cash in on the success of Mary Poppins (1964), combining live-action with animation, Pete's Dragon is one of their lesser known efforts (although it does have it's nostalgia-filled fanbase). It was made in a time where freckly ginger kids were considered cute and likable child characters, and the adults overacted to the point where they looked like they were presenting a children's TV show. Containing very few memorable songs (if any) and some very shoddy animation, Pete's Dragon is one of Disney's laziest and poorest productions. None of Disney's classic animators (the 'Nine Old Men') worked on the film and it shows. Of what little dragon there is, it appears very little effort or imagination was put into it.Thank the lord then, for Dr. Terminus, played with enjoyable enthusiasm by Jim Dale (who appeared in a few Carry On films) who saves the film from complete embarrassment. He gets the best song 'Passamaquoddy', in which he tries to charm the townsfolk into buying his crap medicine that has already made one of them fat and turned another one of their hair pink, while repeatedly mispronouncing the name of the town. He's like a malpractising Del Boy, and is so enjoyable that I was rooting for him to get his hands on the annoying ginger kid and his crappily animated dragon. Not a total failure then, but instantly forgettable, overlong, excruciatingly squeaky-clean, and exhaustingly enthusiastic.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com