Last year on October, I wrote a review of “Goosebumps the Movie”.
It was a perfect time to write a review about a horror movie–albeit a horror comedy one–but the horror aspect is not at all what draws me to the month of October.
Rather, it’s the magical quality.
In October, there’s magic in the warmth of the tree colors, in the cheerful lights of the jack o lanterns, in the fairy tale-esque creativity of black cats and witches decorations.
So, it’s only fitting that I just so happened to watch another fantasy movie around this time of the year: “Pete’s Dragon”. Released in Jakarta about one month after its world wide premier.
Overall I would say that “Pete’s Dragon” is an enjoyable movie.
The main charm point of this movie for me isn’t in Elliot, the Dragon, eventhough he does bring a refreshing picture of a dragon.
In my eyes it was more the scenery and the sound effect.
The portrayal of the forest where Elliot the Dragon and Pete his human friend, live, is magnificent. Vast and dense, with rows and rows of trees soaring meters to the sky, that you can’t seem to see the tops from the ground below. It is green and shadowy, but with plenty rays of sunlight coming through and open spaces to make it a pleasing playground for Pete and Elliot.
Visually, Elliot doesn’t look like any previous movie versions of dragon. He isn’t scaly and lizard-like, but fury and cuddly, with personality much like a friendly dog.
However, the sound editor apparently decided to give him sounds like dinosaurs, maybe because of his size. I’d say they have done a good job giving a CGI feeling of realness through these sounds. When Elliot moves around, it is as if I can feel him close by his heavy footsteps and deep snuffles.
The excellent CGI of course makes the visual flawless, but it was Elliot’s reverberating rumbles that convince me that the characters are indeed facing a dragon for the first time.
It was certainly exciting parts of the movie when Elliot spread his wings and soar, or gallop and take a dive with satisfying THUMP and WHOOOSH beyond stunning view of green hills and valleys.
And oh, you know what Elliot really reminds me of?
Yeah, that’s right. Elliot is maybe more guileless and much less grumpy–unless extremely agitated, but you cannot say his face doesn’t bear any resemblance to Shrek. Maybe they are a distant family? XD
The only part I consider a bit jarring is how readily Grace, the heroine of the story— accepts Pete to her family.
She has only been with Pete for few days. She might have felt compassion toward the orphan, or genuine care, but in this movie Grace seems to be poised to adopt Pete permanently just like that.
Oh well. Just because I can’t imagine my self doing that kind of thing, doesn’t mean anybody else can’t, either.
I don’t think “Pete’s Dragon” lives up to its acclaimed reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, but I would certainly recommend it over “The BFG” (which managed to stay fantastically truthful to the book, but heart-breakingly failed to bring the magic alive–BAAAAAWWWWL).
But I would certainly recommend “Pete’s Dragon” if you like fantasy adventure genre!
Score: 7 of 10
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