DVD review: "Pete's Dragon: High Flying Edition"

The Movie

Disney is obviously known for it's animation, but it's easy to forget the company's numerous live action productions.  Released in 1976, Pete's Dragon continued Disney's penchant for mixing live action with animation in a delightful musical comedy aimed squarely at the younger audience.

Little Pete has a world of troubles.  He's an orphan, bought by a dastardly family of hillbillies who want only to subject Pete to a life of labor and toil.  Think of him as a male Cinderella.  Luckily for him, he's rescued by Elliott, an invisible dragon.  After escaping from his captors, Pete and Elliott find their way to the coastal town of..., well, it's the town with the name no one can seem to pronounce. 

Elliott is constanly getting Pete into trouble, until he's befriended by Nora and Lampie, the keepers of the lighthouse.  Slowly, Pete begins to settle in to life amongst the townspeople, when the unscrupulous Dr. Terminus makes his way to town.  When the no-good charlatan discovers Elliott's existance, he plots to carve up the dragon for use in his healing elixers and tonics.

At over two hours, Pete's Dragon is a long film, but it never gets boring.  It's filled with Disney's trademarked musical numbers and features a lot of comedy from the all-star cast.  Veterans Mickey Rooney, Shelley Winters, Red Buttons and Jim Backus all turn in memorable performances and they are joined by Broadway actor Jim Dale and pop singer Helen Reddy.

The film is notable mostly for long musical numbers and slapstick.  After quickly introducing the villanous Gogan family, the film veers away from conflict for a long stretch until Terminus appears.  The leisurely pace and lack of conflict may be a bit troublesome for older viewers, but there's a lot of fun here for the kiddies, as long as they don't mind a lot of singing and dancing.

Pete's Dragon is therefore highly recommended for younger viewers and Disney afficionados.  Older viewers, more accustomed to "modern" entertainment might not be as enthralled.

3.5 out of 5

Pete's Dragon

Rated G

The DVD

Once again, Disney has done a very nice job with this DVD package.  The movie itself, mostly looks good and is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio.  Viewers might not be completely satisfied with how the film looks in the effects sequences, but that's more likely due to the technological limitations of the time period as opposed to Disney's DVD authoring.

As always, Disney has jammed a ton of bonus features onto the disc and all true Disney fans will have plenty to be excited about.

"Brazzle, Dazzle Effects: Behind Disney's Movie Magic" (25 minutes) - Hosted by Sean Marshall (Pete), this documentary takes a look at the sodium vapor process used to combine live action elements with animation.  It's also a very good overview of the technological innovations produced by Disney over the years.

"Deleted Storyboard Sequence: Terminus & Hoagy Hunt Elliott" (2:27)

"Original Song Concept: Be Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You Too)"

"Original Demo Recordings" - Alternate versions of three songs

"Promotional Record" - Pop versions of four songs, released as a 7" single

"Where's Elliott?: The Disappearing Dragon Game" - This simple game leads to additional film trivia

Art Galleries

Trailers

"About Pete's Dragon" - 5 pages of text trivia

"Disney Family Album (Excerpt)" (2:22) - a brief look at Ken Anderson, the conceptual artist for Elliott

"The Plausible Impossible (Expert)" - (3:37) - Walt Disney discusses the theories behind the great creatures of mythology

"Lighthouse Keeping" (6:42) - A Donald Duck animated short

Bonus Feature rating

5 out of 5