Watch Pete's Dragon For Free

I love this movie so much

Overrated and overhyped

One of my all time favorites.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

When it comes to being considered "agreeable" entertainment for children - 1977's "Pete's Dragon" made its first big mistake (and definitely not its last) by having an almost unendurable running time of 129 minutes.... Sheesh!Another real problem here was the animated (and clearly mentally-challenged) dragon named Elliot. I mean, he was such a babbling, incoherent, and clueless doofus that I found myself looking forward to the times when he wasn't on screen.Anyway - From an adult's perspective - "Pete's Dragon" had very little charm or appeal to it. This badly-staged Disney production had "Made-For-TV-Movie" written all over it.Yep. I should've known better than to have watched this silly nonsense.

Full disclosure. I likely have a skewed perspective on this film because as a child I saw this in the theater and owned a storybook record version that I obsessively listened to, so even though it's probably been about 30 years since I last saw this film, it felt very familiar. Set in Disney's familiar "Pollyanna" turn-of-the-century setting, Pete is a redheaded orphan who escapes an evil hillbilly family, the Gogans, who keep Pete as a slave, and is taken in by kindly lighthouse keeper Helen Ready. Pete also has an invisible dragon friend that only he can see, which leads to lots of unfunny comic situations that are mostly frustrating since Pete continues to gets in trouble because of his dragon's mischief who won't reveal himself. The main conflict in the story is that the Gogans want Pete back and team up with a medicine show huckster who wants Pete's dragon to make medicines out of. It's a boring story, it's not very funny, and outside of Ready, all of the performances are painfully overacted. However, in the plus column for the film, it does feature some catchy songs (which may not be catchy for others, but are for me because they are burned into my brain after listening to them hundreds to times on my record player as a child), and the animated dragon was done my famed Disney animator Don Bluth before he went off on his own to make "The Secret of NIHM" and "An American Tail." Overall, kids will probably enjoy this film, but adults will find it mostly annoying. Also, this was the original full 134-minute version of the film, not the re-cut version.

Pete's Dragon (1977): Dir: Don Chaffey / Cast: Helen Reddy, Mickey Rooney, Jim Dale, Red Buttons, Sean Marshall: Live animation musical about a boy named Pete whose friend is a dragon named Elliott. It is an intriguing family film about control and the overuse of the imagination. He spirits Pete away from nasty relatives. They enter a small town where Elliott is sighted by a drunken old man whose daughter provides shelter. Elliott can render himself invisible and when he walks through a school house he is targeted by con men seeking profit. Plot is complex in dealing with the need for adult role models as well as presenting an array of colorful musical numbers. Directed by Don Chaffey who previously made Jason and the Argonauts. Imaginative film with engaging performances by Helen Reddy as a young woman who begins with an energetic bar room dance segment then she locks into possible adoption of Pete before saving him from certain danger. Mickey Rooney plays her drunken father who goes hysterical upon seeing Elliott, then assists Reddy in dealing with Pete. Jim Dale, and Red Buttons play the scheming con men who attempt to capture Elliott at any cost . Sean Marshall plays Pete, the orphan running from abusive relatives, and could align with a brand new start. Message of friendship underlined with an engaging animated character. Score: 9 / 10

What a surprise! Much better than I remembered it. Great songs and cast with great performances by Red Buttons and Mickey Rooney. Shelly Winters plays a wonderfully-horrible villain with "blackout" teeth. A simple story about a magical dragon that only Pete can see (at first) and clever dragon mechanical effects: Pete riding Elliott, toasting apples, dragon footprints, his "outline" on the schoolhouse wall, thrashing around inside a whale-sized net. The dragon animation by Don Bluth is fanciful, which is good because this is a children's' movie. Some technical glitches, as the "yellowscreen" (sodium vapor) process renders Elliott the Dragon somewhat prone to minor color-"timing" shifts. But this is not something that kids care about anyway. Some of the songs are way too long or are there just too many songs? When shown on "broadcast" TV it was often abridged. Like "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" it attempted to become the next "Mary Poppins" and we will have to see how that works out when its upcoming sequel appears. My two favorite segments are Helen Reddy rolling around on exploding beer barrels (ridiculously fun!) in the town pub, and the "Professor's 3-part musical "rant" "using every little piece" of Elliott the Dragon in potions and powders Although "Candle on the Water" is the Oscar-nominated song, Red Buttons and Mickey Rooney round out a great cast I bet your kids start humming "Brazzle-Dazzle Day" as the movie ends! Remade in 2016 with a friendly, furry, green (CGI) dragon.