Pete's Dragon (1977 film)

Plot

In the early 1900s, a young orphan named Pete flees his abusive hillbilly foster family, the Gogans, with help from a huge dragon called Elliott who can make himself invisible.

Pete and Elliott visit a small fishing town called Passamaquoddy, where the unseen Elliott's clumsiness causes Pete to be labeled a source of ill luck.

Lampie, the drunken old lighthouse keeper, stumbles out of a tavern and encounters Pete. Elliott makes himself visible and a terrified Lampie runs into the saloon to warn the townsfolk. In a seaside cave, Pete scolds Elliott for causing trouble. Just as they make up, Lampie's daughter Nora appears saying that due to the ongoing tides from the sea, it is unsafe for Pete to stay, then offers him food and shelter at the lighthouse, which Pete accepts.

Pete tells Nora of the abuse he suffers at the hands of the Gogans and, as Nora offers to let him stay the night at the lighthouse, they strike up a friendship. Pete learns the story of Nora's fiancé, Paul, whose ship was reported lost at sea the previous year. Pete promises to ask Elliott about Paul, and Nora accepts, believing Elliott to be an imaginary friend.

The next morning, Dr. Terminus, a quack/medicine showman, and his shill, Hoagy, arrive and win over the gullible townspeople who are initially angered by their return. The day after that, the local fishermen complain about the scarcity of fish and believe that Pete is the cause. Nora tells them the fishing grounds shift and that Pete should be welcomed in town. Nora takes him to school, where he is punished unfairly by Miss Taylor as a result of Elliott's antics. An enraged Elliott smashes into the schoolhouse leaving his shape in the wall as Pete runs off.

Convinced of Elliot's existence and knowing that dragon anatomy has medicinal uses, Dr. Terminus makes Pete an offer for Elliott which he refuses. Believing that he needs to stop running from the Gogans, Nora and Lampie offer to let Pete live with them permanently, which Pete accepts. When the Gogans arrive in town and demand Pete back, Nora refuses to hand him over. As the Gogans attempt to chase them in a small boat, Elliot "torpedoes" their boat, saving Pete.

Dr. Terminus teams up with the Gogans to capture both Pete and Elliott. Terminus also convinces the superstitious locals that helping him capture the dragon will solve their problems. That evening, a storm begins to blow.

At sea, a sailing ship is approaching Passamaquoddy with Paul on board. Dr. Terminus lures Pete to the boathouse, while Hoagy does the same to Elliott. Once there, the invisible Elliott is caught in a net, but he frees himself and saves Pete, then confronts the Gogans, who flee in their wagon. Lena Gogan waves her Bill of Sale at Elliott, who torches it.

Elliott then saves the Mayor, Miss Taylor, and the members of the Town Board from a falling utility pole, revealing himself to the grateful townsfolk. Back at the lighthouse, the lamp has been extinguished by a storm-driven rogue wave. Elliott returns and tries to light it with his own fire. As he does, Nora sees that he is real. The light is ignited and the ship is saved.

The next morning, the Mayor and the townsfolk praise Elliott for his help, and Nora reunites with Paul, who was the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Cape Hatteras and suffered amnesia. Now that Pete has a loving family, Elliott tells him that he must move on to help another kid in trouble, and is sad that the two must part. Pete comforts Elliott by telling him that if anyone can help him, than he can. He flies away as Pete and his new family wave good-bye to him. The film ends with Pete reminding Elliott once again that he is supposed to be invisible.

Cast

Al Checco, Henry Slate, and Jack Collins appear in the film as local fishermen. Robert Easton plays a store proprietor in Passamaquoddy, and Roger Price is seen as a man with a visor. Robert Foulk plays an old sea captain. Ben Wrigley is the egg vendor that Elliott accidentally knocks into the Mayor and Joe Ross plays the cement man whose cement was stepped in by Elliott. Dinah Anne Rogers has an uncredited role as one of the townspeople, as does Dennis Stewart, who plays a fisherman, and Debbie Fresh is also uncredited as a "Child/Dancer/Singer".

Musical numbers

1. "The Happiest Home in These Hills" – Lena, Merle, Grover, Willie
2. "Boo Bop Bop Bop Bop (I Love You, Too)" – Pete, Elliott
3. "I Saw a Dragon" – Lampie, Nora, Townsmen
4. "It's Not Easy" – Nora, Pete
5. "Passamaquoddy" – Dr. Terminus, Hoagy, Townsfolk
6. "Candle on the Water" – Nora
7. "There's Room for Everyone" – Nora, Pete, Children
8. "Every Little Piece" – Hoagy, Dr. Terminus
9. "Brazzle Dazzle Day" – Nora, Lampie, Pete
10. "Bill of Sale" – Nora, Lena, Merle, Grover, Willie
11. "I Saw a Dragon (Reprise)" – Townsmen
12. "Brazzle Dazzle Day (Reprise)" – Pete, Nora, Lampie, Paul

History

At the core of the film was an unpublished short story by Hollywood Golden Age writer Seton I. Miller and S. S. Field. The Disney studio acquired the rights to the story in the 1950s with the intent of using it on the Disneyland anthology program. Instead, it was given the full feature film treatment by writer Malcolm Marmorstein, in what remains his biggest undertaking to date. The production was directed by British filmmaker Don Chaffey, who had helmed two smaller films for Disney in the early 1960s in between larger fantasy adventures (Jason and the Argonauts, One Million Years B.C.) for others.

Locations

The lighthouse for the film was built on Point Buchon Trail located south of Los Osos, California, substituting for Maine. It was equipped with such a large beacon that Disney had to get special permission from the Coast Guard to operate it, since doing so during filming would have confused passing ships. Pacific Gas and Electric opened the Point Buchon Trail and allows hikers access to where filming took place.

Animation

The animators of the film opted to make Elliott look more like an oriental, rather than occidental, dragon because oriental dragons are usually associated with good. The film is the first involving animation in which none of the Nine Old Men — Disney's original team of animators — were involved. One technique used in the movie involved compositing with a Sodium vapor process, whereby up to three scenes might be composited together — for example, a live foreground, a live background, and an animated middle ground containing Elliott. Ken Anderson, who created Elliott, explained that he thought it would be appropriate to make Elliott "a little paunchy" and not always particularly graceful when it comes to flying. Don Hahn, who was assistant director to Don Bluth on this film, gained some experience working with a combination of live-action and animation before later going on to work on Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Home video

Pete's Dragon was released on VHS in early 1980. It was re-released on VHS on October 25, 1994 as a part of Masterpiece Collection. The film was released on DVD on January 16, 2001 in a Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection line-up. Some bonus features includes two animated shorts Lighthouse Keeping and Man, Monsters and Mysteries, two vintage excerpt episodes "Ken Anderson" from Disney Family Album and "The Plausible Impossible" from Disneyland, and both theatrical trailers for the film.

It was re-released in a "High-Flying Edition" DVD on August 18, 2009. This includes the original concept song "Boo Bop Bop Bop Bop (I Love You, Too)". It was released on the 35th anniversary edition Blu-ray on October 16, 2012.

Reception

In 1978, the film was ranked at seventeen on Variety's hit list. Thomas J. Harris, in Children’s Live-Action Musical Films: A Critical Survey and Filmography, heavily criticizes the story as well as the compositing of the animated Elliott; he also found the "Mary Poppinsish ending" to be "thoroughly unmotivated", because Pete's life before meeting Elliott is never fleshed out. In 2006, Elliott was ranked no. 5 on a top 10 list of movie dragons by Karl Heitmueller for MTV Movie News.

Critic Leonard Maltin observed that Disney made several attempts to recreate the appeal and success of Mary Poppins (1964), and that Pete's Dragon did not come close on that score. However, he added that it might please children, and that "the animated title character is so endearing that it almost compensates for the live actors' tiresome mugging."

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 50% approval score based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 4.8/10. The site's consensus states: "Boring and slow, this is a lesser Disney work, though the animation isn't without its charms."

Academy Awards

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards:

Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films Awards

The film was nominated for four Saturn Awards:

Golden Globes

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association nominated the film for one Golden Globe Award:

Alternative versions

Remake

In March 2013, Disney announced a remake of the film written by David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks, the director/writer and co-producer (respectively) of the Sundance hit Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013). It re-imagines a venerable Disney family and is presented as a straightforward drama rather than a musical. Principal photography commenced in January 2015 in New Zealand, with Lowery directing. It was released on 12 August 2016.