Delayed Reaction: Pete's Dragon

The Pitch: We [Disney] are on such a hot streak right now, we might as well.

Pete's Dragon is a pretty simple movie and that works. It's not flashy. It has the lowest profile of any of Disney's recent batch of live-action remakes, so the modest box office numbers are fitting. Pete's Dragon is tucked away in the Disney catalog, just like the logging community in the movie is in a quiet corner of the country. That's where Disney gets you though. People immediately think of the big movies when they think of Disney, but the reason the brand is what it is is the movies that are the next tier down: the Meet the Robinsons and Enchanteds. These are movies with heart that people forget about too often.

The original Pete's Dragon isn't very good, but it had a good idea behind it. That's the best kind of movie to remake, because there's room for improvement. This updated version looks great. It has a great cast, but no one is sucking up all the air (i.e. "It's a movie with Robert Redford. It's not a Robert Redford movie."). The end hits all the right notes. It's hard to find much bad to say about the movie, except that maybe it's a little too quiet. Looking back, I don't know how this managed to fill 102 minutes. However, while watching it, it didn't drag. It doesn't seem like it should be possible to be slow without dragging.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend