Curator Watchlist
A charmingly odd Disney fantasy with a strong heart, but also a baggy runtime, uneven songs, and a very 1970s variety-show energy that won’t work for everyone. Its practical effects and playful invisible-dragon gags are still the main draw.
Where to watch: Buy
Thu · 2h 8m
Director: Don Chaffey
Starring: Sean Marshall, Helen Reddy, Jim Dale
Pete, a young orphan, runs away to a Maine fishing town with his best friend a lovable, sometimes invisible dragon named Elliott! When they are taken in by a kind lighthouse keeper, Nora, and her father, Elliott's prank playing lands them in big trouble. Then, when crooked salesmen try to capture Elliott for their own gain, Pete must attempt a daring rescue.
Don Chaffey
Sean Marshall, Helen Reddy, Jim Dale
A charmingly odd Disney fantasy with a strong heart, but also a baggy runtime, uneven songs, and a very 1970s variety-show energy that won’t work for everyone. Its practical effects and playful invisible-dragon gags are still the main draw.
Pete’s Dragon is one of those Disney films that feels less like a machine-built classic and more like a strange, affectionate artifact. The story is simple and sentimental, but the movie gets a lot of mileage out of the bond between Pete and Elliott, plus the goofy, handmade charm of the dragon effects and the coastal New England setting.
What makes it memorable is also what makes it uneven: the tone wanders, the songs are hit-or-miss, and the film can feel overlong. Still, there’s a real looseness and eccentricity here that gives it personality, especially in the comic supporting turns and the invisible-dragon set pieces.
If you’re open to a family fantasy that’s more oddball than streamlined, it has enough warmth and visual invention to win you over. If you want a clean, brisk Disney favorite, this may feel more like a curiosity than a must-see.
whitemandancing (4★) · 165 likes
I have watched this movie every day for the last two weeks. Sometimes twice. I don't know if it's a good movie. I don't know if it's a bad movie. It has Mickey Rooney. It has Red Buttons. It has Jim Backus. Charley Callas makes a bunch of sounds. There are songs. One of them won the Oscar, so Helen Reddy has that in common with Three Six Mafia and Adele. I don't know where I am anymore. Oh, Four Stars, because Shelley Winters falls in what are clearly feces more than once. In the movie.
Rafael "Mister Movie" Jovine (2.5★) · 157 likes
JUNIMATION III: REVENGE OF THE GOOFY GOOBERS Don Bluth mention jumspcare! So I knew about this movie because of the remake, which I saw when it premiered and remember liking it and even being moved by it. So I came into this film with some form of expectations, though at the same time the tone would not be the same and whatnot. And why didn't anyone tell me this was a musical? Absolutely didn’t see that coming. The songs were… more
Eliza (4★) · 104 likes
PLOT HOLE! Mickey Rooney says that Government Regulation 302 says that no dragons are permitted on the premises of United States Lighthouses, but that's a fucking lie! In the 1918 Regulations for the Lighthouse Service, the 302nd regulation states as follows: "Receipting for larger sums than are paid.--Whoever, being an officer, clerk, agent, employee, or any other person charged with the payment of any appropriation made by Congress, shall pay to any clerk or other employee of the United States… more
Eclipse__ST (1.5★) · 75 likes
How in the love of god is this TWO HOURS LONG???
Sally Jane Black · 72 likes
Watched this with some queer friends, one of whom held this in a special place in their heart from childhood and was able to - and outraged to - point out the differences between what's available on Amazon Prime and what they recalled from VHS tape. Notably, several songs and dance sequences are missing. A cursory search online comes up with no reasoning, just a lot of information on which versions were released where. It's unclear from the content as
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orphanhood, found family, friendship with a magical creature, small-town coastal setting, good vs greed, childhood wonder, comic villainy, practical effects
family fantasy, Disney, 1970s, musical, coastal town, practical effects, whimsical, oddball, orphan story, kids adventure