Trying to protect it is Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard), a ranger whose father, Mr. Pete’s idyllic life, playing with Elliot and jumping through the trees, is challenged when a logging company impinges on the pristine woods.
Lowery wanted to give “Pete’s Dragon” a fairy-tale feel. The film, which was shot in New Zealand, is set in the Pacific Northwest sometime in the 1980s before cellphones and easy communication. Having survived a car accident in a remote area of the woods, the orphaned title character - played by Oakes Fegley - has happily adjusted to life with his friend, Elliot, a sweet dragon of local legend. (“One of the year’s most delightful moviegoing surprises,” according to Variety.) The story begins with a familiar Disney trope, a child’s loss of his parents, but quickly jumps forward to years later. “I wish that I had the same sense of wonder, curiosity and optimism I had as a kid.”Īs critics are noting, the new “Pete’s Dragon” far outshines the original 1977 film. I don’t think I have matured beyond the age of 7,” says the 36-year-old director, only slightly joking.
So he wouldn’t seem an obvious choice to helm a children’s adventure. Old-fashioned movie magic is a large part of the appeal of the film, which is directed by David Lowery, who’s known for the gritty and dark “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” (2013). “The word magic is a wonderful part of film vocabulary, and I think it should be kept alive,” says Robert Redford, one of the stars of the newly reimagined version of Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon.”
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