Pete’s Dragon is from a period when the Disney Studios seemed to have lost its way. The film doesn’t seem to have the same magic as when Uncle Walt was in charge but it does have its charms.
Pete (Sean Marshall) is an orphan “adopted,” with a bill of sale, into the vile Gogan family, Ma (Shelly Winters), Pa (Charles Tyner), and their dull sons (Gary Morgan and Jeff Conaway). The Gogans keep Pete as a slave, but Pete’s made a friend who gets him away from his servitude.
His friend just happens to be an invisible dragon named Elliott (voiced by comedian Charlie Callas but animated by Don Bluth). Pete and his dragon set out on the run from the Gogans and end up in the seaside Maine village of Passamaquoddy. There he meets lighthouse keeper Nora (Helen Reddy) and her drunken father Lampey (Mickey Rooney). Nora takes a shine to the homeless boy and takes him into their home.
Traveling huckster Dr. Terminus (Jim Dale) and his assistant Hoagie (Red Buttons) also cruise into town to sell their snake oil. At first, the invisible Elliott’s clumsiness makes things hard for Pete as he’s blamed for it all. Nora does try to get Pete into a normal life in Passamaquoddy but because of the earlier event the townsfolk see him as an albatross. Things get even worse when the Gogans arrive and want to take Pete away.
When a drunken Hoagie is shown the dragon by Lampey, he takes the information back to Doc Terminus who doesn’t believe it. However, when he’s convinced that the dragon is real he knows he can make all sorts of cures out of bits of the beastie so he recruits the Gogans to capture and kill the flame breathing medicine factory.
To sum it all up, Pete’s Dragon is never really anywhere near “classic Disney” but it is a fun picture – even if it seems to go on a bit long. The film really didn’t do much at the box office and this led to it being cut several times, the shortest being a 94 minute cut.
This DVD edition offers the lengthier 129 minute cut (a 134 minute cut appears to be original running time, but it was a limited run at this length), but I would’ve liked to have seen what that 94 or 104 minute cut played like. I recall enjoying the film and the musical numbers, but his time around I thought it could’ve used some trimming.
The performances are great, with kudos going to Jim Dale, Buttons, and Rooney in their comedic bits. Reddy is also good as the mother figure. It’s hard to image that the voice of “I am Woman” appearing in a Disney flick, but there she is. Sean Marshall is all pluck and lovability in the role of Pete with Callas hooting and clicking charmingly as Elliott.
Pete’s Dragon is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.66:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the 25-minute “Brazzle Dazzle Effects” about the history of live action and animation combos at Disney. It’s also narrated by a grown up Sean Marshall (hey why no commentary??). Next is a 2 minute storyboarded deleted scene with Doc Terminus and Hoagie.
The 2 minute “Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You)” is an original song concept. Next are 7 minutes of demo recordings and 12 minutes of “pop” versions of the songs that were released on a promotional single.
There are also galleries, 2 minutes of trailers, a text section detailing the production of the film, a 2 minute excerpt from “Disney Family Album” about animator Ken Anderson talking about Elliott, a 3 minute excerpt from “The Plausible Impossible” about dragons, and the 6 minute “Lighthouse Keeping” Donald Duck cartoon.
Pete’s Dragon might not have aged well, but it still is a fun film. I don’t know if the kids can sit still for over two hours, but I enjoyed seeing it again. Though I still could see bits that could’ve been cut out to tighten things up I’d have to be the one to decide what to cut and what to keep. If I did a big green dragon might come and get me.
Pete’s Dragon (High-Flying Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for this version of the DVD in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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