In the late 1970s, and following a fatal road accident, a five-year-old boy called Pete is left helpless and alone within the woods, with nothing more than the current clothes he's in and his backpack. And when young Pete looks to be captured by a pack of hungry wolves, he's saved by a giant invisible creature – which reveals itself to being a giant green furry dragon. Six years later, and the older Pete (Oakes Fegley) and his friend Elliot are perfectly satisfied with living in the grand woods, with a large cave and a treehouse to call their own. But when Pete catches sight of civilisation in the form of a group of lumberjacks and Park Ranger Grace Meacham (Bryce Dallas Howard), he finds himself captured and whisked away to the local town; where no one believes that he could have been living in the woods for so long and where there's so much different about the world. As Pete struggles to deal with reality and not being able to return home, Elliot becomes worried for his human companion and attempts to find him, only to be seen by lumberjack/hunter Gavin (Karl Urban), who decides that he needs to capture and potentially kill the beast. With Meacham and her family (which includes fiancée Wes Bentley, his daughter Oona Laurence and father/fellow dragon-spotter Robert Redford) slowly starting to believe Pete, the question remains about whether or not he should return to his adopted habitat, or if Elliot truly exists.
With a story that drifts far away from its source material, screenwriters Lowery and Toby Halbrooks instead opts for a generic tale of a boy and his dragon that would have perhaps benefited from not being released during the same year as The Jungle Book. Whilst there's plenty of whimsy and magic to be had, the story, unfortunately, is let down for just how plain and simple it is; even more disappointing following a strong start and with the factor that the titular dragon refrains from speaking English, it hits all the basic notes that a children's film of this kind needs to meet and has a minor environmental message about preserving nature (Urban goes against the ruling of his brother and cuts further into the forest alongside his tirade against the green beast). However, that doesn't mean that it isn't any good – if anything, it's done so safely that it feels rather generic and plain in execution, right down to its big finale and possibly tear-jerking finale.
Lowery does at least present some visual beauty, as flight sequences will likely amaze those who go for the full 3D/IMAX treatment and the early crash sequence is a stunning set of images. He manages to present the forest in whatever fashion he deems appropriate for the scene taking place (homely, scary, etc.) and pushes the actors the right way. And for someone who's never worked with massive special effects, he does an outstanding job with the dragon (big props to the visual effects guys too). Bojan Bazelli presents some great cinematography; the New Zealand landscapes work really well, and Daniel Hart's score is passable.
As protagonist Pete, Oakes Fegley is easily a great part of this film. While he's arguably not as good as The Jungle Book's Neel Sethi or The BFG's Ruby Barnhill, he presents a fine alternative to Mowgli as a forest-bound child who's exploration of the human world is close to that of Jacob Tremblay's work in Room, and whether he's teamed up with a non-existent mythical creature or the likes of Laurence and Howard he brings a great performance. Bryce Dallas Howard as a mother figure could have easily been played out as a B-plot about joining a family and coping with becoming a mother to her fiance's daughter, but instead it's more about being a kid again herself and believing in what isn't there, which Howard does good enough at; Oona Laurence works really well at being a balance for Fegley's feral form, whilst father Wes Bentley is mostly forgettable in his role. Karl Urban as the film's version of a villain is a tad on the pantomime side but he's at least given a fine conclusion, whilst Robert Redford does his all in what's really a limited role.
In creating a brand new version of the often forgotten 70s "classic", this iteration of Pete's Dragon does still fall under the lines of being a bit slow and dull, but it's at least much more timeless and whimsical in its approach to the original source material. A film that's barely different to the countless stories similar to it, it can at least be appreciated for being an alright addition to the remake collection – which, when you consider the likes of Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent, isn't that bad a remark. 6/10.
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