A Brilliant Conflict

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

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.

This takes you back to the era of invisible friends, kids who talked to Martians through their lunch boxes, and pure imagination where we had to create our own games rather than turn on a switch or pick up a remote control. Yes, this is typical Disney silliness, but there's a lot to enjoy in it in spite of all that goody-goody happiness.Sean Marshall is Pete, the troublesome adolescent who is truly lonely and finds a friend in an animated dragon who sings, although not very well. He's run away from his foster family (Ma Shelley Winters has the bill of sale to prove it), and ends up living with the eccentric Mickey Rooney and his sweet daughter (Helen Reddy). One of the top singers of the 1970's, Reddy was a very charming actress, and her solo, "Candle on the Water", is one of the sweetest movie songs ever written. When Marshall, Rooney and Reddy break down and declare, "It's a Brazzle, Dazzle Day!", you're back in movie musical heaven, reminding you that Rooney was once the Sean Marshall of his era, singing and dancing with Judy Garland and conducting an orchestra where the members and their instruments were pieces of fruit or a huge slice of cake.Jim Dale takes over the villainy here as the carny man who wants to get his hands on Pete, and when he joins up with the over-the-top Winters and her brood, it's a mud-flying moment of fun with Elliott the Dragon being just as mischievous as Pete when confronting his new best friend's foes. Other professionals like Red Buttons and Jim Backus add to the fun here, with a musical score that threatens to top both "Mary Poppins" and "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" in originality and some spot on choreography that may have you applauding.This was Disney's last live action/partially animated musical, a bit past their golden era, but showing that they were concerned about the state of film as America transfered from one turbulent era into another. Some critics might call it dated, and it even may be slightly similar in theme to "Finian's Rainbow" (a dragon instead of a leprechaun), but it's still a ton of fun and filled with magical entertainment that pretty much everybody can enjoy.

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.

Pete is a small boy running away from slavery with an abusive hillbilly family who have "bought" him. He falls in with an invisible dragon and a lighthouse keeper and his daughter, and assorted good and bad things happen.This Disney offering is one of the more forgotten live action movies despite the fact that it has quite a lot going for it. It is colourful, daft, has a good moral heart, some excellent villains, decent songs, and decent effects (both physical effects and traditional animation).The performances are all good, with Helen Reddy doing well in her only movie lead role, and young Sean Marshall's sincerity outweighing his winsome cuteness.This is still a good family film.