Pete's DragonReleased: November 3rd, 1977
There are literally 3 good people in this film: Elliott, Pete, and Nora. Three and a half because Lampie has his good moments. This is a movie about a bunch of jerky, drunk people who are either trying to scam a small town or abuse children.
They didn't spend enough time with Elliott visible. He's darling and I love him. Given that I hate almost everyone else in this film, I want more Elliot time.
The right message is there in the end, honestly, but my patience is very thin for how much terribleness is mixed in. I'll give them 40+ minutes of true wholesomeness at the beginning (after the Gogans' first song), but the movie could have done with like...2 less groups of villains. The town, the teacher, the Gogans, the traveling scam artist. I need a break from everyone who's awful.
| Rank | Title | Year | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Melody Time | 1948 | B |
| 26 | Pete's Dragon | 1977 | C |
| 27 | Lady and the Tramp | 1955 | C |
Me, as soon as the credits start rolling: "Red Buttons?! Oh my god! Shelley Winters?! Oh my god!" I had no idea Shelley Winters was in this; I know her as the lady in The Poseidon Adventure, and tbh I didn't recognize her in this and had to look it up at the end. But apparently I missed that my narrator husband Jim Dale plays Doctor Terminus the scam artist. Love. Delightfully, Jeff Conaway (Kenickie from the Grease movie) is one of the kids, and that makes me so happy.
Notable Grossness
The Gogans' sing, "We'll slave while you rest..." - ick.
Appalachians would recognize the stereotypes that the Gogans are; I definitely don't like it.
Nora gets grappled by a lot of guys in a tavern.
There's a moment of potential fat shaming from the lady in Doc Terminus' traveling show - "I took your tonic for weight loss and now I'm a blob." But then he says, "there's more of you to love," and she looks pleased, so like.........I'm conflicted?
Doc Terminus is essentially just gross, and the racial makeup of the town is..........not great, but at least the Black folks seem to be mixing in with the rest of the town and not being portrayed in a stereotypical way (of course, they have no lines, so....no bonus points here).
Potential homophobia:
Lampie: "You know anything about dragons?" The scam artist: "Of course I do, you see them in all the big cities, with that funny little walk, wearing bright colors, fluttering about..."
Then he follows it up with, "I have an appointment with a young lady. Who wants to pursue.........nursing." GOD EW.
"Do you want to be stupid when you grow up?" - boooooo Nora, boooooooooo
A teacher literally beating Pete over the knuckles and putting him in the corner with a dunce cap. They don't show you his hands while it's happening though, so "off screen"? Thankfully, Elliot stops the teacher before she can hit Pete on the butt. I don't care what era this is, hell with you, evil teacher. You deserved to have your school room busted by a dragon.
An hour and a half into the movie the Gogans show up to claim a human child with a bill of sale, and sexually threaten Nora. Great. Great. Love it.
Lots of references to making Pete a slave, which is really thoughtless. Also - as much as I love watching child traffickers take a dunk in the river (inlet?), WHY ARE THERE CHILD TRAFFICKERS IN THIS MOVIE.
Yeesh, that's a lot of grossness.
The only things I actively remembered about this movie before starting it were: "Candle on the Water" is a great song, Pete's dragon is invisible, and there's a lighthouse. That's it. I do remember loving this movie a long time ago but I remembered no details.
Pete comes floating in like he's riding an invisible broom. I don't feel like that looks like a dragon, y'all. Also, I 100% forgot that Figment, the Disney dragon, is NOT Pete's Dragon, who is named Elliott.
Essentially these bad guys are the Appalachian version of the Fratellis from Goonies. I'm also not sure why they're trying to get Pete back (they purchased him, I guess?) and then threatening to kill him once they get him. Seems like a bad return on investment. Also; WHO IS SELLING CHILDREN?! Is this a common thing about the 1910s that I just didn't know about? Why is Disney making a movie about child traffickers? I guess it's the same-ish in The Rescuers, so 🤷🏼♀️. I just find it weird. Okay, but even with this foolishness about literally hanging a child, "The Happiest Home in These Hills" is a pretty good traditional musical song.
Once Elliott started his mumbling grumbling noises I remembered that's how he sounds. He's the cutest boy. The ways he's posed sometimes remind me of The Reluctant Dragon, from about 36 years earlier - curious if that was an influence in the animation; he also looks a little like Sir Hiss from Robin Hood, which is also part of Don Bluth's era of Disney. Some of his movements remind me of Madam Mim in The Sword in the Stone, which is interesting because Pete's Dragon was 14 years after that movie, and it was outside of the Don Bluth era. The animators really did an excellent job with Elliott's scale and realism; he fits into the scenery seamlessly from the beginning.
These songs are so goddamn adorable. When Pete and Elliott sang "Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)," I melted. I feel compelled to link a YouTube video of this song - if this doesn't make you happy, get out of my house.
Elliot's destruction as they go into Passamaquoddy is hysterical, great practical effects; I actually want to know how they did the footprints in the cement. With a name like Passamaquoddy this place has to be in Massachusetts right? (I looked it up later and all the towns the shoddy snake oil salesman mentions are in Massachusetts, so yes.)
Bad guy tally:
- The Gogans who are child traffickers
- The teacher, who is like, "CALL THE COPS ON THIS CHILD, I HAVEN'T SEEN HIM BEFORE."
- This mayor, who probably ended up as the mayor from Jaws. Pete's been in town 11 seconds and they already sent the lynch mob after him, dang.
I don't like it when Pete chastises Elliott. "DARN YOU ELLIOTT" :(
The tavern scene is pretty ridiculous, and the start of basically everyone in the movie being drunk. More than 75% of the town is in the tavern drinking in the morning, I think. Hey Lampie, all the dudes in this town are grappling your daughter, you might wanna see to that. I'm choosing to read Nora's behavior as passive aggressive, as I, too, would have kicked all the beer glasses out of everyone's hands after the entire tavern grabbed me like that. The dance number does remind me of the chimney sweeps in Mary Poppins. Nora looks way too happy for being soaked in beer at what seems to be 8am (I'm assuming it's that early because the egg delivery guy was out but what the hell do I know about 1910).
It's 27 mins into this film, and we've already had 3 songs, and about 1% of plot.
Look Pete; you deserve to be angry at Elliott for making a mess in Passamaquoddy. But also, how dare you be angry at Elliott. Look at how much he loves you, you monster. He just wanted you to be happy. In fairness, this 8-year-old basically is taking care of an invisible toddler, so........... nobody's at their best right now.
Happily, this is one of those rare films where kids get to have their emotions, and express them well. "I didn't mean that, Elliott, it's just that I don't know what to do and I'm scared." Like..........yes. That is how feelings work, and it is okay for you to have those feelings, Pete.
Nora says the word chowder with an R in it so I feel like someone should remind her she's in Massachusetts. "I'm already married to this lighthouse." #mood
This little boy is constantly talking about how much he loves this dragon, and I am HERE FOR IT. Have sweet feelings, little boy. And Nora is just encouraging him, and not gaslighting him. The message here so far is: you gotta work at your friendships and give equally, and sometimes it's okay to trust new people even when you've been wrecked before.
This film has no plot, genuinely, 40 minutes in. But then, Doc Terminus strikes. Man, these people can't manage to build a fence or lay a sidewalk or light a cigar to save their lives. Passamaquoddy might actually be my dream home because they're like, "oh this guy's a fuckin' quack," the minute Doc Terminus shows up. THIS MAN SAYS HIS SPECIALITIES INCLUDE EMBRYOLOGY. This fuckin' dude is like, "let's talk about embryos." Nah, spoiler alert, the eventually fall for his shenanigans.
YOU GUYS IT'S CANDLE ON THE WATER TIME - this song. This. Song. Right. Here. I sang this at the piano with my fellow theatre/music nerds in high school probably a million times. I mean. I wasn't GOOD AT IT.
Pete: "Remember this guy's face, and try to find him." Elliott: *staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaares* Oh I will FIND this dude.
Holy shit, Doc Terminus is really like, "these fuckers in this town I can't pronounce deserve to suffer." He also tells the worst joke in history. "You don't think they call me doc because they drive their boats into me."
Unfortunately, now we're far enough into this film that the lack of plot is starting to bother me. This plot went from "no plot" to "everyone is drunk or talking about people being drunk."
"There's room in everyone in this world, if everyone makes some room." Oh my god, my fucking heart. I didn't remember this song, but damn. I thought Candle in the Water got me in the feels, but this one is wrecking me.
Very weird that the quack is asking, "Do you think the kid would consent to us chopping up his best friend?" Like........he said consent, so. Points? No. No points. Songs about "how many pieces of dragon can you chop up for money?" intermingled with "there's room for everyone in the world." My goodness this is is a movie of extremes.
Musically it reminds me a little bit of Oliver! and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (which makes sense since it's a contemporary-ish film). The beginning of the film doesn't feel "obviously 70s" to me but the longer it goes on the more obvious it is that it was made in the 70s. Scenes and songs drag on too long, and costumes are over-simplified or stereotypical. We spend about 5 mins washing the windows of the lighthouse. If that was the only/first time we'd seen the "family" of Lampie, Nora and Pete coming together, it'd make sense, but they've been building it the whole movie, so I didn't need a "the Bradys do Sunshine Day but set it in the 1910s" vibe.
CHOICE USE OF THE GOOFY SCREAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was mad about it in The Rescuers but apparently I'm okay with it now. I'm not a reliable narrator, folks. Okay so Elliott basically saves everyone, but when saving the town council from electrocution he just pushes the electrical pole.............up and out of frame? Guess that's how gravity works, just push it back up and it'll settle?
This man just said Elliott can blow a flame across to Bar Harbor - I play Fallout games, a lot, and Fallout 4 is set in Boston, and there's DLC in Bar Harbor, Maine. It's 281 miles to Bar Harbor from Boston. Is there some cultural thing about Bar Harbor that they talk about it in Boston a lot? Just curious.
OMG why are we adding a memory loss storyline in the last 4 mins of this film. It's also very sweet that Elliott is going to find another kid. I guess good news, Pete has a "real" family now, a mom and a dad and a grandpa. He really feels Charlie Bucket-ish to me.
This movie should be about half the length it is and half the plot it is (and spread more evenly). After the first 40 minutes, there's a lot of action, but also the kind of action where nothing actually happens. The actors do a great job as compared to other movies I'd consider "kids' movies". But in the end, there's too much going on and not enough going on at the same time. The standouts here are blending Elliott into the real world with animation and practical effects, and the songs.
