Meu Amigo, o Dragão

I watched the original movie when I was kid, and my brothers and I still consider it one of our fav children movies ever. You can imagine my excitement and also my apprehension when I learned that this film was being filmed.

This is a very enjoyable family film that has lovely moments of tenderness, wonderful special effects (the design of Elliot, flying scenes, etc.), it has fun and plenty of action, and Redford and Howard are good in their roles and seem to believe in magic because I thought they were the best thing in the film.

However, the movie lack the most important thing to me -- magic. All the characters keep speaking about magic, but the actors playing them don't believe in magic, the film does not create magic, so it feels a lovely fantasy film not a magic children's film. I didn't feel it in my heart. And that being the case, the film is not memorable to me.

This updated version wasn't quite what I was expecting, though surprisingly good. The dominant theme is friendship and family and they explore this through a rather subtle tension. Pete loves Elliot, but he also needs a family (which he finds in surrogate form through Bryce Dallas-Howard, her fiancé and his young daughter).

The threat feels shoehorned in, as Karl Urban's inexplicably vengeful logger decides to hunt down the dragon and do...well, he hasn't really thought that one through. It's a weak plot device that sells the story a little short, but is ultimately forgivable. I had a sizeable lump in my throat at several points in the film, and I'm not one for sentimentality. Director Lowery handles the emotion well, particularly through an inspired folksy soundtrack.

There are distinct shades of ET here, as a boy comes to terms with the impossibility of a critical friendship. Not a lot really happens in this movie, but what you get is well paced and thoughtful.

Well worth a watch.

Love, Just a one syllable four letter word. So simple yet so powerful. Hatred, a two syllable word, complex but powerful. Both the words are powerful enough in their ways. Both resides on us, but it's us, humans, who have to decide which side we will take, on which word we will act on! Animals are primitive, ferocious, vicious and wild, but it's ours, men's point of view. May be they think of us the vice-versa. We fail to see the beauty of them, beauty of this planet. It's because we look upon them with our greedy eyes and filthy souls. But what of a child, who looked in a different way, . He saw them kind, naive and innocent. He could see the goods in them because he acted on the first word, Love! The message was great. To talk about the direction, it's overall an average, sometimes down to the marks direction! The boy is a brilliant actor, with some help of a good director, he can deliver the goods.

5 year old Pete is in a car accident that killed his parents. He is saved by a magical dragon named Elliot. Six years later, a crew of lumberjacks is closing in on their home. Pete is taken with Natalie. She's the young daughter of forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) and lumber company owner Jack (Wes Bentley). Grace has been told many times about a dragon by her father Meacham (Robert Redford). Grace and Natalie find the young boy Pete in the woods and take him in. Meanwhile, Jack's brother Gavin (Karl Urban) goes hunting for the mysterious creature in the forest.

I like the story, the characters, and the dragon. I can't help but think that the movie could be much better. It could improve with less money and holding back on showing the dragon. There is a natural questioning of Elliot as a figment of Pete's imagination that is missing from the audience. By showing the dragon from the start, Elliot is never in doubt. Heck, the dragon is often invisible. It would be more logical for it to be almost entirely invisible and the audience can wonder whether it's real, imagined, or a projection of Pete's imagination. The reveal would be infinitely more powerful. I like Bryce and the kids. Karl Urban is a little too broad. Robert Redford is odd in his role. He's too big of a movie star. The role should go to an elderly character actor from the retirement home. I have no problem with the look of Elliot but it would be more compelling to reveal him much later in the movie.

7/10. This is a remake of Disney's 1977 classic, in which a lost little boy (Pete) finds friendship with a dinosaur called Elliot. Now I must say up front that I really was never a fan of the original, I found it dull and boring. It is not a big classic like a lot of other Disney films, but it still has a big following of people that love it. However I am very glad that they went back 39 years later and remade it, I really liked this film and thought it was a great film for the whole family, with heartfelt moments, funny moments and also action scenes that were good fun for adults and children. I have heard criticism of the way this film starts off, with Pete losing his parents, but honestly this is not a put off for young children and is made in a way that is not sad. My two young kids were not afraid in this film at all, and absolutely loved it. Director David Lowery does a fantastic job in this remake for families. Oakes Fegley who plays Pete really does a great job for a young boy, I think he might be one to watch in the future. Pete's Dragon #petesdragon https://m.facebook.com/Aussiemoviereview/