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Pete's Dragon (Restored Edition)

Pete's Dragon (Restored Edition)

List Price: $29.99
Your Price: $23.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What do the critics know!
Review: Pete's Dragon is a wonderfully heart-warming story that I have grown up watching, and loved all my life. It has a touching story, incredible music, and a perfect cast. The critics may say otherwise, but anyone who has seen this movie will fall in love with it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great Film! Verry Underrated!!!!
Review: I love Pete's Dragon! I thought that the story was wonderful! It is about a young boy trying to escape the abuse of the Gogans... Elliot was a riot! I thought this film should have been treated better... I found it much more entertaining then Roger Rabbit. I thought that it was really cool on how the boy was able to work with something that wasn't even there. I like it the most out of all Disney films... This is a must have...

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is a great video for kids of all ages.
Review: For anyone who has ever needed a special friend to help them out, it is nice to believe in Elliot. This is a film that will truly warm your heart. Disney mixes animation and live characters like no one else can. We need more video like this one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: wonderful
Review: I am not a movie collector, there are only a few movies which I own. Pete's Dragon is the first movie ever bought on video. It is my favorite and I always want to share it with my friends .. oh and their children too. The music is wonderful, the characters are rich. I love the feel of the old fishing village, much like the one where I grew up. (Except we didn't where such great clothes.)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great movie that is a timeless disney classic
Review: This is a magical movie that shows an unlikely friendship between a boy and a dragon. It shows us that imagination is essential no matter what your age. The performances of Helen Reddy and Mickey Rooney are wonderful and the songs will delight children of all ages for years to come. The only negative thing about this movie is that the soundtrack is not available, hopefully that will change with it's re-release.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: hellen reddy makes the film
Review: If you can appreciate the talent of Helen Reddy, then you can appreciate the beauty of this film. It's hard not to be drawn in and eventually captivated by those beautiful melodies and Ms. Reddy's lush vocals.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Disney finally does DVD right; the reviewers don't get it...
Review: May I agree to disagree with the editorial review and the Maltin review?

Okay then.

I have always found "Pete's Dragon" to be an engaging family film. Though it pales in comparison to Disney's last musical effort, "Bedknobs and Broomsticks," it scores points with an entertaining song score (anchored by the Oscar-nominated "Candle on the Water") and some delightful voice work by Charlie Callas as the voice of Elliott the Dragon. Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, Jim Dale, Helen Reddy (in all fairness to negative reviews about her performance, the role of Nora is pretty lightweight to begin with) and Shelley Winters make an endearing ensemble. Of course, it is Elliott who is the film's greatest delight.

This DVD has excellent picture and sound quality. The colors are sharp and grain is minimal (save for the process shots that mix the animated dragon with the live-action scenes), and the sound is pretty clear. The supplements include a re-issue trailer from 1984, pieces with background information on the myth of dragons and other such creatures, and more. Disney has given this film the proper DVD treatment the first time around; all I'd do differently was attempt to restore the film to its original length of 135 minutes.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good movie for a Disney musical
Review: I remember this movie from my childhood, so I bought it for my toddler. He loves it. My son points at the DVD case and grunts. He watches it everyday (for 2 weeks now). It must be the music and singing because the storyline is lackluster. Everytime he sees the dragon or hears a song he starts chattering away with his gibberish pre-talk. My preferred character is Doc Terminus - the con man / man of science. I give it 4 stars because I have watched it so many times the melodies are stuck in my head. I hope he gets a new "favorite" movie soon :)

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: I gave it a chance and I hated everything about this film.
Review: I hated the haphazard story, the constant overacting, the forgettable songs, and the cookie cutter villain. I'd always heard that this film was no "Mary Poppins" but I figured that it would have it's moments. Nope, no moments. It has no moments. I think there's a reason that no one ever cast Helen Reddy as a leading lady after this travesty. Granted, the woman has a beautiful voice, but she's not Julie Andrews.
I think one reason that this film turned me off so much is that it reminded me of H.R. Pufnstuf. The boy, the dragon, the villains in their wacky mode of transportation...It's like Timmy, Pufnstuf and Witchiepoo all over again. I never did like Pufnstuf. The villains actually were part Sid & Marty Krofft and part Jack Lemmon in "The Great Race". At least "The Great Race" was a good movie.
I did like the bonus short about the Loch Ness monster narrated by Sebastian Cabot though.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Family Favourite
Review: If Mary Poppins is a five star film (and it is) and Bedknobs and Broomsticks is a four star film (and it is) then that makes this film, the third in the sort-of trilogy, a three star film. Each are connected vaguely by the fact that they're Disney live action musicals that incorporate pertial animation at some point in the story. In the case of Pete's Dragon, as opposed to the other two where the animation is confined to one sequence, the animation is limited to one character who (literally) pops up during the film's entire running time.
Elliot, the title character, is a wonderful creation from a Disney who, at that time, were very troubled especially in animation. His intergration with the real world may not be Jurassic Park but it doesn't take long to accept his existance. That he spends a lot of his screen time invisible is actually a nice plot point instead of a lazy way to get of animating him much. The special effects involving the invisible Elliot are as impressive as the visible one.
The film itself can easily accused of being twee and cliched. The fishing village in which the action takes place is one you would only ever find in a movie and the plot is a little predictable and plodding in places. Thank goodness then for the larger than life characters that inhabit this town! Standout by a mile is Jim Dale as Doc. Terminus, a flim-flamming quack with a bottle of coloured water to cure every ill. Red Buttons as his side-kick Hoagy is a great support and their scenes (and songs)are by far the most entertaining. Shelley Winters as Ma Gogan, Pete's 'legal' guardian, is also a barn-storming performance. With the rest of the Gogan clan they represent the kind of foul-smelling comic villain that Disney does so well. Helen Reddy and Micky Rooney are lumbered with the 'good guy' roles, Reddy's acting leaves a lot to be desired and Rooney could have been used more (his one good number I Swear I Saw a Dragon is a belter but then he seems to be almost forgotten).
The score is uneven with the good songs include Every Little Piece (Dale and Buttons), Bill of Sale (Shelley et al.) and Candle in the Water (Reddy). Then you have trite tosh like Brazzle Dazzle Day. The choreography by Onna White (The Music Man) is almost non-existant - a real shame.
A minor gripe would be that the animators can't quite seem to decide on Eliott's exact size. One minute he's towering over Pete and the next he's barely 9 feet tall. This is knit-picking though - on the whole this a great family move with something for everyone. It was one of my favourites growing up and, once you've seen Poppins and Bedknobs, is definately worth a look.


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