a5c7b9f00b Pete, is a curious but lost boy who has survived in the forest for 6 years but he&#39;s not alone. He forms a friendship with a kind and warmhearted dragon and the people town try to figure out the secrets of Elliot and try to find Pete&#39;s family. Pete, a boy is found in a forest. Apparently he&#39;s been living there for six years after an accident took his parents. A ranger named Grace decides to take him in and when she asks him how he survived all by himself, he says he had a friend, Elliot, with him. He draws a picture of Elliot and it&#39;s a picture of a dragon. Grace takes the picture to her father who claims that years ago, he encountered a dragon in the forest. Grace takes Pete back to the forest and he shows them where he lives and Elliot. A man saw Elliot and when he tells about his experience and is not believed, he sets out to prove it by capturing the dragon. For a family with kids or a safe watch with the parents (which is why I ended up watching it) its pretty good. It&#39;s a simple tale, predictable and yes a little clichéd. But it&#39;s fun and heart felt.<br/><br/>The opening scenes did pull me into the story but the next big chunk of the story lost my interest a bit and for that reason felt longer than it really was and a bit dull. As the characters all begin to converge and the plot starts moving along there are glimmers of emotion and excitement. These are also not sustained long enough. Despite all that the last act of the movie picks up again and has the emotion and excitement needed to tie everything back together and provide a satisfying end.<br/><br/>This is typical live action kids movie scripting, characterization, and acting. That said, it&#39;s not bad at all and can be fun if you are with family and can&#39;t decide on what to watch. Pete (Oakes Fegley) was going on an adventure in the forest with his mother and father when they got in a terrible car accident. Letf alone in the middle of nowhere Pete went into the forest where he encountered Elliot, the dragon. Without any reasons not to accept the kindness the dragon was showing him, Pete decided to go with him, this marked the start of a long friendship. Six years later we find Pete and Elliot living peacefully in the deep of the forest, only to discover that humans are about to reach their home.<br/><br/>Without ever having been a fan of the original and actually actively hating the filma kid, 2016&#39;s &quot;Pete&#39;s Dragon&quot; proves to be one of the most surprising films of the year, a story with murky potential is turned into a modern fairy tale, full of sensibility and emotion which touched me in a way I was not expecting even if the coating might occasionally be too sugary.<br/><br/>David Lowery really shocked me with this feature. I did not know his work previously, but I am sure to go back to it now that I have seen this wonderful vision of his. Whilst there are sporadically moments of too many people hugging and melodrama emerging, Lowery has crafted a picture of small moments and deep emotions, all encapsulated into a film visually breathtaking both in its big moments and, especially, in its more contained ones.<br/><br/>The relationship he manages to build between Pete and Elliot through solely visuals is truly touching. Yet, his great sensibility doesn&#39;t stop there: he crafts a fantastic visual piece throughout the whole duration. There are great moments made so by very simple, but incredibly effective editing. The visual grammar the film establishes is never broken and combines storytelling a beauty seamlessly, bringing to life a world that I got truly immersed in despite its bare setting.<br/><br/>Yet, the great world building doesn&#39;t stop here, the filmmakers apply it to everything and the character work is justbrilliant. I have no ideas where Disney finds these child actors, but it seems they are casting one after the other just trying to surpass themselves and every time I find myself saying there will be no way Raffey Cassidy in &quot;Tomorrowland&quot; could ever be beaten. Then Neel Sethi comes in and leaves us all mouth open. Finally, here comes Oakes Fegley playing Pete and standing up if not surpassing his counterparts. We are going to need to start talking about getting underage actors their own Oscar category becauseit stands right now they are squeezing the space for the main categories. I mean this is a great performance on its own not even considering he is a child. It&#39;s incredible, there are no other ways to say it. You are absolutely convinced of hima character and his co-star Oona Laurence is justgoodhim.<br/><br/>The whole cast however has to be taken in to consideration. Karl Urban, Wes Bentely and Robert Redford all make the good writing they are served justice and don&#39;t end up feeling like the flat characters they might have been, all having a worthy three dimensional dynamic in place. Bryce Dallas Howard unfortunately, whilst great in her moments, does end up feeling slightly two dimensional and positive of a figure for the film&#39;s own good.<br/><br/>I keep coming back to Lowery, but his vision is so complete and coherent, he really left me with something to think about. from the way the dragon is used, to the way Pete moves, everything rings so true to the story world. By the way, the effects on Elliot were cutting edge, I mean the weight they managed to convey on the creature was incredible, showing once again that CGI is not a problem, the way it is used is the real challenge and the filmmakers might have just given us an ultimate example on the correct ways to do so.<br/><br/>As I said the movie can get a little too pushy with the emotions, but those moments are really overshadowed by the amazing moving moments that ring true and gut wrenching and give the film a depth and a thematic value that I really was not anticipating. &quot;Pete&#39;s Dragon&quot; is one the best films of the year, a new beautiful fairy tale of our time. Lowery’s visual world essentially translates the movie’s message, that magic is everywhere if you allow yourself to see it. It may be a cliché and sappy sentiment, and one we’ve seen again and again in movies, but when done right it can be a beautiful one.
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