Disney's been doing live-action reinventions of a bunch of its films lately - mostly the better-known ones (along the lines of Jungle Book, Cindarella and Malificent). But "Pete's Dragon" falls more into the obscure line of Disney's back catalogue - the original is a pretty mixed bag, with a delightful animated dragon but an overstuffed plot with two sets of villains competing for screentime in a film that never quite settles on a consistent tone. This redo throws out the villains and the 1900s setting and brings it back to basics - a boy, a dragon, and what happens when the boy finds himself back in the world outside.
David Lowery's direction exactly captures the tone of gentle wonder - his Pete (Oakes Fegley) is a reserved, confused kid whose enjoyment of his wilderness lifestyle is contagious, and whose curiosity when he bumps up against other people again is palpable. Bryce Dallas Howard has all the warmth she failed to get in "Jurassic World", and Robert Redford in a smallish role gets the exposition about dragons and a sense of wonder and security that makes this one of the best things I've seen him in too. The closest the film gets to a bad guy is Karl Urban, but even here the film isn't quite prepared to demonise him so much as make him a little misguided.
In short, this is as sweet and fun without being sentimental gludge as a kids film can be. Well worth catching.
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