The attention to details is what makes 'Pete's Dragon' stand out as an experience. With its old school story-telling charm, uncluttered plotting, magical CGI and restrained performances, this film comes as fantastically alive as is possible for a fantasy to get
Pete's Dragon
'Pete's Dragon'
U/A; Adventure-fantasy
Director: David Lowery
Cast: Bryce Dallas Howard, Oakes Fegley, Robert Redford, Wes Bentley, Karl Urban, Oona Laurence
Rating: 
'Pete's Dragon' is David Lowery’s remake of the 1977 Walt Disney animated musical about a boy and his best friend: a dragon who can turn invisible. That original story has, of course, been reworked a bit by Lowery and Halbrooks for this newfangled reboot that prefers to go old school to tell its story and generate attachment thereof.
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Watch the trailer of 'Pete's Dragon'
The film opens with a car crash and the kid reading a book ‘Elliot gets Lost’ seated in the back, who is the only survivor, wanders further into the forest. Soon enough, he finds himself surrounded by wolves before a mammoth creature springs up from almost nowhere and scares them away. The boy, Pete (Levi Alexander), looks into the almost dog-like eyes of the creature and asks heartbreakingly, “Are you going to eat me now?” By then, you are already hooked to this tenderly mounted, subtly rendered fable about a young orphaned boy, Pete (Oakes Fegley) who, after his parents are killed in a car accident, finds an unlikely caregiver in the form of a dragon living in a forest in the Pacific Northwest.
Years later, a lumbering business run by two brothers Jack & Gavin (Wes Bentley and Karl Urban) renders insecure the forest range that was the romping ground of the little kid and his pet dragon. A forest ranger, Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) whose father (Robert Redford) used to tell her stories about his encounter with the dragon (which she thoroughly disbelieves), suddenly encounters the little boy when her fiancé daughter Natalie (Oona Lawrence) runs into the forest on a lark. And then comes the discovery that he could not have been alive for so many years alone in the forest. Gavin, who is already into biting off more than he can chew, has been cutting into the forest indiscriminately and on locating the hideout of the dragon, decides to encash on his discovery by darting him unconscious and putting him in chains. No prizes for guessing what follows next.
Despite the predictability, this is a film that has its heart in the right place. It’s made with a certain innocence and charm that distinguished Steven Spielberg’s earlier work (ET especially). Lowery’s treatment, in fact, references many of the best films made with children in mind, of the ’80s and quite cannily makes the story happen around that period too. The book that Pete was reading happened to be about a lost puppy and promptly names the dragon, Elliot. The allusion to the book being Pete’s favourite is clear enough and so is Pete’s guileless acceptance of the love and protection showered on him by the gentle though fearsome dragon whose fury gets unleashed only when he is vexed beyond measure. The natural sounds from the forest are a joy to hear.
The rhythm of Pete and Elliot’s bonding is dealt with beautifully. They are shown as communicating and the idyllic wonder of that is thrown asunder only when an adult starts polluting the forest with his greed. That’s what makes it wrenching. Lowery doesn’t pump up the volume or the hysteria. Instead, he very sedately fine tunes the sounds and imagery in such fashion as to make you feel transported into Pete and Elliot’s home turf. So, when Gavin’s violation gets the enraged dragon to breathe fire, you feel just as incensed. The sequence where Gavin and his team attack the Dragon with darts and render him helpless, you actually feel your heart in your mouth and when the rescue mission is pulled off in ‘Free Willy’ fashion you just cheer the conspirators on, hoping that Elliot will get back to his haunt and the little boy could maybe have a family at last.
This film, in fact, has the power to affect you more than most of the made-for-children movies in the recent past. Elliot’s design work is excellent. There’s a giant furry dog feel to him that increases believability and attachment. The attention to details is what makes this film stand out as an experience. You actually feel the emotional co-dependence between the young boy and his pet dragon, and that stays with you all through the movie. Even the unhurried editing, mellow folk encrusted background score from Daniel Hart and welcoming cinematography from Bojan Bazelli allows for greater contemplation and immersion.
With its old school story-telling charm, uncluttered plotting, magical CGI and restrained performances, this film comes as fantastically alive as is possible for a fantasy to get.
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