It’s clearly no fun being an adult
Pete is an orphan and he has run away from his pseudo parents. They are horrible people who make poor Pete do all the work that they don’t want to do. Pete escapes with the help of his dragon, Elliot, who is loving and sometimes invisible. Pete and Elliot find themselves in the wonderful small port town of Passamaquoddy. Not sure if they belong in town, and running into a world of trouble, they some how through happenstance meet a strong hearted woman named Nora who wants to help Pete and Elliot find a new way of life. Regretfully, forgetting the past is easy, but having the past forget you is not.
Part musical and part family film, Pete’s Dragon tries so hard to be epic when it comes to finding a place amongst Disney greats. Regretfully, the musical portion of the film ruins the other part. The songs, while extremely creative are very much a hit and miss sort of situation. “Candle on the Water” is a great song; a song that was nominated for an Academy Award. The three consecutive songs in a row in the film really don’t give much time for the film to develop. For goodness sakes, this isn’t Chicago. This movie wasn’t based on a Broadway musical. Even The Sound of Music provided just enough consistent dialogue to develop a strong story. With music clearly outweighing everything else, the story seems to be second fiddle, which is regretful.
Now, as a kid I loved this film. Seeing 1977 special effects (half hand drawn animation interacting with human beings perfectly) like this was truly amazing. As a kid I loved dragons and well this was an innocent dragon that didn’t want to eat people (in fact, Elliot was super-duper cute; still is.), unlike the dragon in Dragonslayer (also by Disney), which gave me nightmares. I must have watched this film nearly forty times when I was young (on VHS no doubt). It still has that charm to it and that certain late 70s/early 80s innocence about it. It does tell a simple story of a child trying to find his way home. Home for Pete is anywhere and everywhere. It’s sad, but it’s triumphant a that end. This is what I remember about the film and what makes the film still special in my heart.
With that said, my kids didn’t take to this film at all. I’m not sure how well it will translate for kids today, as most people who might be excited about this are adults who grew up with Pete’s Dragon. The film has some great actors that only adults might appreciate. The list starts with Helen Reddy who simply has a gorgeous voice. She might not be the most gorgeous actress to play a leading lady in the film, but she makes up for it through presence. By the way, she is very pretty, but most actresses these days are chosen for looks before talent (very sad way to do things). Anyway, she commands the screen with her voice and her feelings for this young orphan; she is truly a mother figure. As for comedy, you get the mighty talents of Mickey Rooney who has impressed me in his older age more than his younger (see Night at the Museum for details). He plays a great role as the father figure for Helen Reddy’s Nora. Along side of him stands Red Buttons as Hoagy, the bumbling sidekick to Jim Dale’s Dr. Terminus (what a great name). Buttons is kicking on all cylinders with the comedy. Interesting fact about Jim Dale, did you know he did the voice-over work for the show Pushing Daisies? Yeah, neither did I. He plays a wonderful antagonist and fiend.
What makes this edition truly high-flying and worth your time are the features. Disney apparently made sure that what the movie lacked in the features made up for. Here’s what you’re getting in this edition of Pete’s Dragon:
• Brazzle Dazzle Effects: Disney’s Movie Magic
• Deleted Storyboard Sequence: “Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliot”
• Original Song Concept: “Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)”
• Original Demo Recordings (Audio Only)
• Promotional Record (Audio Only)
• “Where’s Elliot?” – The Disappearing Dragon Game
• Pete’s Dragon Art Galleries
• Publicity
• Trailers
• About Pete’s Dragon
• Disney Family Album
• The Plausible Impossible
• Lighthouse Keeping
These features have gone above and beyond what I could hope for when it comes to this film. Having a feature that explains how everything was done and how animation/real life was mixed together is very interesting. Also, having the promotional record at one’s disposal (I think I had that as a kid) is pretty darn cool. What makes these features even better is that they will get your kids involved more than the movie will. Simple, fun games that just will simply capture their attention. Truly an excellent example of how DVD features should work and come packaged.