YMMV / Pete's Dragon (2016)

• And You Thought It Would Fail: A remake of an obscure Disney musical film from 1977 that is considered Narm: The Movie and from a little known (albeit acclaimed) director. The film, however, made $143.7 million on a $43 million budget and was well liked by critics and audiences.
• Awesome Music: "Something Wild", with violin accompaniment by Lindsey Stirling.
• Broken Base: Elliot's design, which forgoes looking like a conventional dragon and more like what could be described as a furry half-dragon/half-polar bear hybrid. While a number of people think it looks nice, numerous others (especially fans of the original movie) were expecting something that looked more like...well...a dragon, and think 2016 Elliot's design strays just a bit too far from his design from the 1977 film. The director's justifications of the design amounting to "Reptilian dragons can't be cute and cuddly" aren't helping either, especially due to How to Train Your Dragon and its downright Ugly Cute portrayal of dragons.
• He Really Can Act: Many have noted how effective Bryce Dallas Howard was at playing a fundamentally decent adoptive mother figure.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Bryce Dallas Howard isn't new to dealing with big powerful creatures, though fortunately this time they don't try to eat her.
• Moment of Awesome: When Elliot uses his fire breath in the climax. It's both awesome and terrifying.
• Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: A lot of Natalie and Pete's interactions can give off some Puppy Love-esque romantic vibes, like for example there's Pete staring at her for a good long while in their first scene together, him feeling her hair after she falls out of the tree and a few times she appears to lock eyes with him. Then there's her admitting she doesn't want him to leave which catches his attention. Again, this was largely unintentional.
• Remade and Improved: This film is a remake of an obscure Disney musical film from 1977 that is considered both Narm: The Movie and So Okay, It's Average and was made by a little-known (albeit acclaimed) director. The remake, however, made $143.7 million on a $43 million budget and was well-liked by both critics and audiences, more so than the original.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: Elliot looks amazing. Then again, it is Weta Digital, what more would you expect? They used one of Smaug's original designs and modified it for Elliot.

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