Set in the heart of the Pacific Northwest, Pete’s Dragon tells the tale of an orphan boy named Pete who lives in the woods with the dragon who saved his life. After many years of companionship, the pair are dramatically separated when a family discover Pete alone in the forest and take him back to their hometown. Although most of the townspeople have heard the myth of the dragon, many are unwilling to believe Pete’s story until they see the creature for themselves. A trip back to see his old friend soon turns deadly, however, after a ruthless lumberjack decides to take matters into his own hands.

As someone who was lucky enough to grow up watching the 1977 version of Pete’s Dragon, I was admittedly a little disheartened to discover that such an obscure classic had been thrown onto the reboot wagon. The original, while inherently flawed and dated, has a peculiar charm that Disney has somewhat rejected in the modern age. Gone are the hillbilly child abusers who follow the young Pete and his beloved dragon all the way to the seaside town of Passamaquoddy. Instead, the movie reroutes its intentions in a Jungle Book format which sees the orphan boy and his beloved dragon fall victim to deforestation and violence.

Where the appeal of the original film relies heavily on its Chitty Chitty Bang Bang-style idiosyncrasies, most of which involve bizarre musical numbers, eccentric medicine men and a group of vagrants, the remake respectfully sands down the rough edges but it ends up turning an inherently quirky story into something rather generic. With the addition of an ear-bleeding score composed by Daniel Hart, the film becomes rather trite in places and the young Pete fails to match the charisma of his winged companion.

While Pete and his foster family cosy up in small-town America, the adorable Elliot shines as the lone pup who is carelessly led into danger after being separated from his best friend. Considering the breadth of this guy’s screen time, the special effects hold up surprisingly well and the CGI doesn’t take away from the gawky charm of the original cartoon dragon. Sadly, my desire to pat the furry fellow on the head was never enough to overcome the cringiness of twangy all-American aesthetic. Whoever had the idea of incorporating a bunch of lumberjacks into the story is definitely to blame for a lot of the film’s missteps, even though it does retain the gentle charm of every great Disney movie.

As much as we were looking forward to this movie, we have to actually admit that it flew towards a 4 out of 10 score.

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