‘Pete’s Dragon’ Review: Full of heart and soul

Oggs Cruz

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‘Pete’s Dragon’ Review: Full of heart and soul
''Pete's Dragon' is very tender and disarmingly subtle, a fable whose delights aren’t reliant on convenient tricks and gimmicks but on a palpable spirit of goodness,' writes Oggs Cruz

Heart and soul are just some of the few things today’s spectacle-driven children’s movies sorely lack.

Tender and subtle

Nowadays, entertainment is measured in moments whose pleasures are obvious but fleeting, and movies, to be deemed as thoroughly entertaining, have to be brimming with empty noise and splendor. They mostly consist of sequences that abuse the ears and the eyes, in a concentrated effort to keep up with a world that refuses to keep steady. The result is a marketplace that is abundant with forgettable commodities that are nothing but soulless diversions.

Photo courtesy of Disney

David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon, thankfully, has both heart and soul in spades.

It is also very tender and disarmingly subtle, a fable whose delights aren’t reliant on convenient tricks and gimmicks but on a palpable spirit of goodness. The film’s most apparent special effect, a computer-generated dragon that has the physicality of an oversized mutt and the emotionality of a dear friend, is not in the business of parading its awesomeness through feats of awe-inducing acrobatics. It flies majestically, but it also lands with all the awkwardness of a toddler trying to walk. It purrs like a puss, plays like a puppy, and contemplates like a philosopher.

 

 

The prologue alone makes a strong case for the film’s pure intentions.

What essentially is a tragedy that could have been depicted as an obtuse, melodramatic entrance to the story of a boy and his dragon is lovingly molded by Lowery into a succession of tableaus, whose moods and gestures reveal an enchanting palette of more detailed emotions.

The first meeting between 5-year-old Pete (Levi Alexander) and the green furry dragon the boy names Elliott just like the lost puppy in his favorite storybook is quite a heartfelt portrait of empathy, with two strangers establishing a bond out of shared trauma and loneliness. 

Nuanced relationships

What ensues after Peter and Elliott’s first meet-up is more conventional, in a narrative sense.

Photo courtesy of Disney

Eleven year-old Pete (Oakes Fegley) has survived in the woods with Elliott as his sole companion. Their idyllic life together however is suddenly threatened when loggers from nearby Millhaven start cutting deeper into the forest, revealing Pete not only to compassionate park ranger Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard) who dotes on the mysterious orphan, but also the possibility of a prized dragon to overly ambitious Gavin (Karl Urban) who decides to roam the forest to catch the mythical creature.

The narrative grooves of Pete’s Dragon are familiar, reminiscent of classic children’s charmers like Steven Spielberg’s E. T. the Extraterrestial (1982) or Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant (1999), films that center on unlikely friendships between boys and beings that are initially perceived as monsters. However, Lowery’s methods pull the story out of certain obsolescence and into a territory that provides it further layers.

Bryce Dallas Howard is Grace in Disney's 'Pete's Dragon', the adventure of a boy named Pete and his best friend Elliot, who just happens to be a dragon. Photo courtesy of Disney

The relationships that pepper the film are much more nuanced. First and foremost, Pete and his dragon share compatible aches that make their separation heartbreaking without being too blunt. The delicate interactions between Grace and the father (Robert Redford), who insists on the existence of a dragon he once saw in the woods, is beautifully portrayed, especially during that elegant scene where Grace finally surrenders disbelief of his father’s tall tales.

Even Gavin, who can be seen as the villain in this film that stays as far away from evil as possible, is motivated not by greed, but by sibling rivalry, since his still beloved brother Jack (Wes Bentley) is far more successful than him.

Charming surprise

Photo courtesy of Disney

Pete’s Dragon is a charming surprise, considering that its 1977 predecessor is a silly song-and-dance romp that sloppily has live actors interact with a goofily conceived friendly dragon.

Lowery has crafted something that doesn’t need to peddle spectacle to promote the existence of magic, as probably what Disney has instructed the director of low-budget Western Ain’t Them Bodies Saint (2013) to do. In fact, the film’s most magical moments are not from when the humans come to acknowledge the existence of a dragon. They are from when they realize that the dragon, who has been portrayed in stories as intimidating and monstrous, has all the heart, soul and kindness of a human boy. – Rappler.com


Francis
 Joseph Cruz litigates for a living and writes about cinema for fun. The first Filipino movie he saw in the theaters was Carlo J. Caparas’ ‘Tirad Pass.’ Since then, he’s been on a mission to find better memories with Philippine cinema.











 

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