By Emilio Frenk
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley, Oona Laurence, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Rating: Good.
Another remake comes this summer to the theaters and is “Pete´s Dragon” based on the 1977 Disney movie adaptation.
The movie tells the story of Pete (Oakes Fegley) an orphan boy who has an encounter with a green dragon which he names Elliott.
One day the boy will have another encounter with Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) a park ranger who invites him to stay in her home with her husband Jack (Wes Bentley) and daughter Natalie (Oona Laurence).
They form a very special bond that will eventually lead them to the true existence of Elliott which at the beginning everybody thinks that it´s Pete´s imaginary friend. Another person joins the journey as well is Meacham (Robert Redford) Grace´s father who saw the dragon when he was a kid.
The real problem starts with one of the locals Gavin (Karl Urban) meets face to face with the dragon. Now he will stop at nothing and capture the dragon at any costs.
Now it´s up to Pete to help his friend and avoiding that he will become the main attraction of the town.
I´m not a big fan of remakes but with this version of Pete´s Dragon I was really surprised. For starters it´s totally different than the 70´s version since this is not a musical and it´s more human than the original version.
Also one of the things that we see in this version is that we know more of Pete´s backstory and the way how he ended up being an orphan which was an element that we didn´t see originally.
The direction and script by David Lowery are really surprising and the movie is engaging from start to finish, which has been very difficult to do in remakes which normally their are not as good.
This is an exeption since this version surpasses the original version and is more a fantasy.
This version reminds me a lot of Steven Spielberg´s “E.T. the Extraterrestial” for the theme and it´s very similar in narrative style and theme of a boy who has an encounter with an unexpected creature.
I give “Pete´s Dragon” a huge recommendation making it one of the biggest surprises of this year for it´s sweet screenplay and the performances of Howard, Oakes Fegley which you will identify with him from the beginning of the film to the end.