Product description Clam Shell Shows wear. .com Disney loved to mix live action with animation (Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks), but this 1977 effort falls on its face. The turn-of-the-century story concerns an orphaned boy whose only friend is a cartoon monster. While the latter is entertainingly rendered, the rest of the film strains to be enchanting and the cast overreaches in a big way. Not for anybody over the age of ten. --Tom Keogh
T**
Best movie
Awesome
C**R
Great movie
Great DVD but can only play on computer due to coming from the UK.
N**E
Throwback
I don’t remember watching this when i was a child. But Patrick Cowley mentioned a character, Dr Terminus, in one of his songs. So I had to watch it to see what it’s about.
L**D
Pretty good film.
I was 12 years old when this came out.from what I remember it did pretty well when this came out December 1977.so I can't remember if it undermarketed at the time this was released in theaters December 1977 a few weeks later we got the blizzard of 1978.my mother and I had to go deliver papers for the plain dealer in it.
K**R
One of my favorite childhood movies ever, the last GREAT Disney cartoon/reality mix
I just received my blu-ray copy and watched it. Very good picture and sound. I was in kindergarten when this was a new movie and I loved it. Kind of felt that it was made just for me! Saw it in the theater new back then. My young nephews love it too, and they are used to movies like "Bolt" and "Cars". It's been many years since I had seen it and I was surprised that I didn't remember a single scene or plot in the movie while watching it recently, except maybe a brief memory of the lighthouse. Remarkably, I think it affected me more now than it did back then. I cried secretly when Elliot left at the end and wished I could have had a dragon. Pretty scary how much re-watching it took me right back to being a kid, though I don't remember being so affected by it back then, I just remembered I liked it a lot. Great incidental instrumental music too, I didn't watch or listen to this movie for the songs that were sung. The song "Candle On The Water" won the 1977 Academy Award for best movie song, but I didn't think it was that great. I did like the song "It's A Razzle Brazzle Day", however. I wish they would add this to their Legacy collection of full soundtracks. You can go to the Disney website and they have a feedback email address that is easily found where they are encouraging feedback on their new soundtrack releases.Blu-ray 35th edition includes two trailers, a couple of other bonus features, and a little overview of the making of the film, narrated by the kid who played Pete! Some have said that this was a little heavy for a kid's movie. Well, we didn't think so when I was a preschooler and in grade school. Many Disney movies have a lesson presented at some time during the movie. I still liked "Rascal" even though it was also about family responsibility. I still liked "Thomasina" even though the cat dies at one point, there are others too, but the point is there are sometimes lessons to be learned like all good things come to an end (as in Pete's Dragon), or life will be life and is not always what you hope for or expected. I have reaffirmed this as my favorite Disney movie, just based on how it affected me in more than just a nostalgic way. It really resonated for some reason. Probably number two is "The Black Hole". Anyway, check it out, your kids will love it and you probably will too even if you weren't fortunate to have been born during the golden age of Disney. I at least was at the tail end of it. They never made another one like this again. Now to get that expanded full soundtrack...
K**Z
Another Disney Classic!
I am a lifelong Disney fan! One of my favorite movies from when I was younger was Pete's Dragon. I have a VHS copy, but I watched it so much as a kid that it has not worked correctly for quite some time. So I was thrilled when I found it on Amazon recently. I ordered it right away and finally watched it last night!Now as an adult, the movie is absolutely adorable! I even found myself still getting emotional near the end. There are many funny moments especially between Lampie (Mickey Rooney) and Hoagie (Red Buttons). As in most Disney musicals, the musical numbers were very entertaining. It's amazing how much of a film you forget when you haven't seen it for a while. For example, I had forgotten how evil the Gogans, the family who "adopted" Pete, actually were. If you listen to the words in the two songs they perform, nowadays it would not be accepted, lol.Compared to now, of course the special effects & animation is not as high-tech, but I'm from the old school where I preferred the hand drawn animation where it took someone with immense artistic talent a lot of time to draw as well as paint a character in order to bring it to life. Having a computer degree was not a requirement. The special features were pretty good. There was a short featurette about how they made the movie. There were also several additional storyboard ideas, musical numbers, and a short Donald Duck cartoon.Overall, it is definitely a must have for all Disney movie fans!
Y**E
This is the one I remember
Before I ordered this movie I did a bit of research. I saw "Pete's Dragon" in a theater shortly after it was released. I don't remember those details, but I do remember the videotape version I bought long ago. I know a lot of people got sliced and diced versions. I checked the running times on the photos of the backs of the dvd cases and chose the "high flying version." The photos are blurry enough to make it hard to read, but it is possible. The version I bought is full length. Look for 129 or 128 minutes. Let's send Disney a loud protest by refusing to buy the ripoff versions.
