Pete's Dragon

First trailer just dropped online:

Thoughts? I haven't seen the original, so I don't know what to expect...

For a moment, I thought it was the trailer to The Jungle Book.

edited 21st Feb '16 8:13:15 PM by KnownUnknown

Disney's remaking fucking everything these days, aren't they?

How's about a remake of The Apple Dumpling Gang, Disney? Or The Barefoot Executive? Maybe a remake of the 101 Dalmatians remake?

Disney keep making remakes because people still go and see them, buy the dvd, buy the blu-ray, buy the merchandise and take their kids, or if they're really not giving a damn, go to the themeparks on their own. Until any or all of that changes they'll keep on truckin'.

Or it's unofficial title: "How To Ruin Your Dragon."

Finally, the gritty live-action Gravity Falls movie nobody asked for.

Interesting, a modern retelling of the classical Disney movie. Though I wonder why they choose this 70s classic of all Disney movies? And what are they going to do with the abusive family of hillbillies and the sneaky Snake Oil Salesman and his bumbling sidekick? As well as the songs associated with Pete's Dragon.

Having watched the trailer (I was on my phone when I posted the first time, and trailers lose something in a smaller format), I kind of want to see this now.

Redford's in it, and it's not a MCU film, so I actually like his work. I dunno...

The original wasn't a classic, just a decent to middling kids movie. This one, may be more?

Disney missed the point why the first movie was so successful. It was not because of the sappy story or the mostly mediocre performances (the villains are great, though), it was because of the DRAGON! And I mean everything about Eliot, his charming design, his voice, the expressions he had. Turning him into realistic CGI is effectively ruining him.

The dragon's design was dire. I mean, really, compared to Maleficent in full-on-flying lizard mode it was pathetic. I didn't think so at the time but I was young then, and I've seen it since and made comparisons that I didn't make then.

The acting was good, I'll grant you that, but the creature design was crap even for late-era Disney hand-drawn stuff, and we all know how low that could go.

He was not supposed to look terrifying, he was supposed to look cuddly and charming.

The dragon didn't look realistic to me. It looked like a cross between cartoony and realistic leaning more towards cartoony.

Though we didn't get a good enough look at the dragon.

He kind of looked cuddly.

edited 22nd Feb '16 7:02:07 AM by Halberdier17

Maybe a remake of the 101 Dalmatians remake?

They already have the Cruella De Vil movie, which is even worse as a concept.

The original wasn't "so successful." It did make a profit, and a respectable one, but it was hardly a blockbuster. I doubt most people even remember it. The films remembered best from this era for Disney are probably Robin Hood and the Rescuers (possibly The Black Hole, too, but that one's mostly remembered for being a flop). Disney's hardly let Pete's Dragon out of the vault in the last 20 years or so, possibly longer.

As far as how much it's like the original: from the look of it, it's not. It has the same basic premise, which is a kid with a dragon, but otherwise it doesn't look much like it at all. The original was set on the coast of North Carolina in the early 1900's, this one seems to be set in a present day National Forest or something. Perhaps nutball survivalists will take the place of the hillbillies in the original (from people I know who've worked in the National Forest Service, nutball survivalists are a problem...and actually, quite a bit like hillbillies).

I liked the original, as I recall. It veritably dripped Americana, which a number of other Disney films at the time did as well (remember how, with only a few exceptions, most of the peasentry in Robin Hood talked like back country or small town Americans? Hell, it had Roger Williams singing most of it's songs...) It's not the sort of story you get much anymore, or the sort of setting or characters. This new version is decidedly different, but that doesn't mean it'll suck. It looks like it could be interesting.

edited 22nd Feb '16 9:11:06 AM by Robbery

The best known Disney live action movie from that era (and possibly in general) is Bedknobs And Broomsticks.

Pete's Dragon stands out to me as one of the cheesiest things Disney's ever made (though not anywhere near the silliest - that honor goes to Mr. Boogedy), though that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's bright and peppy and Tastes Like Diabetes even for Disney, but most of the movie's charm comes from it.

I love Doc Terminus, but I think Word of God said most of the characters from the old one wouldn't be in this one (and even if so, he probably wouldn't be likable for the same reasons with the tone), so I guess that doesn't matter.

edited 22nd Feb '16 9:43:11 AM by KnownUnknown

Wasn't the original one of the movies that led to Don Bluth and other animators leaving Disney and starting their own company?

Probably. Bluth was the animation director on Pete's Dragon, and it was the first film that Disney did with any kind of animation in it that didn't have any of the Nine Old Men working on it.

It's funny, or perhaps not.... Disney post-Walt but before, say, Mickey's Christmas Carol, is exactly what most of Bluth's solo films feel like

In general? No, it doesn't even touch Mary Poppins or even The Love Bug.

Well, I meant "so successful" in a sense that those who like the movie still remember it, even though it can be considered a "classic movie" at this point. And while it is not a blockbuster like Mary Poppins or as critically acclaimed as Who framed Roger Rabbit or as well-remembered as Bedknobs and Broomstick or as controversial as Song of the South, it does have a solid fanbase, unlike some other of those old Disney movies.

Not sure how Disney handled the movie over in the US, but here in Germany, Pete's Dragon was along with Robin Hood one of the few movies NOT in the Disney Vault in the 1970th and 1980th. Instead it was shown fairly regularly on TV, which helped to keep it alive.

In any case, the fun thing about the movie always was that Eliot could make himself invisible, and how he tried to act on Pete's behalf, but making his situation even worse most of the time - unless it involved getting rid of the Gogans.

here in Germany, Pete's Dragon was along with Robin Hood one of the few movies NOT in the Disney Vault in the 1970th and 1980th. Instead it was shown fairly regularly on TV, which helped to keep it alive.

In Venezuela, it was Pete's Dragon, Mary Poppins and Alice in Wonderland. And Dumbo, a few years later into my youth.

So, from what I can tell, the premise of this movie is kind of like a small US town version of The Jungle Book (seriously, young boy surviving in the woods), but with a dragon.

Sounds actually pretty cool.

edited 22nd Feb '16 1:15:49 PM by higherbrainpattern

And, btw, the movie was successful enough that Pete and his dragon were part of the light parade for years!

But, that doesn't sound like much of what was from the original. Or, as far as I recall, it has been a few years.

Maybe it might end up being a stealth sequel.

However, I thought the trailer might have been a bit over dramatic for such a camp movie. Or, what was originally a campy kind of movie.

Kinda struck me as over-dramatic as well.

Aside from that, this looks like it'll be an interesting take on the old movie. I freeze-framed Elliot when he flew by at the end of the trailer, and he doesn't look extremely different from how he did in the original movie. (I will admit that Elliot's design in the original is far and away more endearing looking.) Hopefully we'll see his full look soon.

I kinda hope that Elliot's personality here is more like it was in the original film. It was one of the best things about that movie.

Yeah. I have nothing against the personality or the acting chops of the guy who did the voice for the dragon in the first movie. He rocked, ok? I just want a better looking dragon to go with the other stuff.

As long as its not what some of us irreverent folks call Bendydick Cumberbum (Benedict Cumberbatch) - he did Smaug, and that's enough.