6.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
An orphan is befriended by a dragon, invisible to all but him, who helps him find a home with a lighthouse keeper and his daughter, even as they are pursued by the boy's corrupt foster family and a charlatan medicine man out to destroy the dragon for his own greedy purposes.
Starring: Helen Reddy, Mickey Rooney, Shelley Winters, Jim Dale, Red ButtonsFamily | 100% |
Fantasy | 43% |
Musical | 41% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.67:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There are rare moments, however brief, when I curse this job -- curse the heavens curse -- and this is one of them. I'll spare you the autobiographic acrobatics as best I can. As a child, there were four VHS tapes in constant circulation at my house: Return of the Jedi, The Secret of NIMH, The NeverEnding Story and, you guessed it, Pete's Dragon. There were other movies scattered about as well. Some beloved, some not-so-beloved. But none were worn more ragged, none were more treasured, none more committed to memory than those four. In the years since, I've kept tabs on all but one. Return of the Jedi is still a personal Star Wars favorite, geekdom be damned. The Secret of NIMH is a dark delight as haunting, exhilarating and artfully crafted as it was in 1982. And The NeverEnding Story remains a wondrous and absorbing fantasy, even some twenty-eight years after Bastian first soared over Fantasia. But Pete's Dragon? I'm pretty sure the Berlin Wall was still standing the last time I imagined sharing an apple with Elliott the Dragon. Oh, I have fond memories of Pete and Elliott's adventure, I do. Vivid memories. But I've walked this road before; revisiting a long lost favorite only to have my fragile, childlike affection dashed. And that's exactly what happened. Nostalgia can only weather so many storms, especially when it hasn't been properly maintained.
Pete's Dragon has been granted new life courtesy of Disney's polished and proficient 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer. While the film slogs through bouts of softness, some more glaring than others, most eyesores trace back to cinematographer Frank Phillips' photography. Nothing more. Yes, the image has been subjected to some judicious filtering, but it doesn't take a remotely substantial toll. Fine textures are showcased again and again, closeups are striking, edges are surprisingly crisp and clean on the whole, and grain is both present and pleasant, even though it appears to have been normalized a bit by way of non-invasive restoration or remastering techniques. Color and contrast are lovely as well, with bright, bounding colors, vivid primaries, and deep black levels. Skintones run a touch pink, darker scenes tend to be murky and oppressive, and Elliott and other composited elements are grainier than the backgrounds onto which they've been placed, but again, most, if not all of these slight distractions are source-based. I didn't notice any troubling artifacting, banding, aliasing or other such oddities, and I came away from my time with the film wondering what, if anything, Disney could have done to significantly (emphasis on significantly) improve the presentation further.
Disney's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track isn't so much a commanding audio presentation as it is a commendable one. The rear speakers are used very sparingly, as is the full force of the LFE channel, and voices are sometimes thin, muffled or accompanied by a low-lying hiss. Even so, it's important to remember that Pete's Dragon is celebrating its 35th Anniversary. This is the film's original sound design given the opportunity to sink or swim, and it does both on different occasions. Thankfully, dialogue is typically clear, intelligible and capably prioritized, dynamics are decent, pans are scattered but smooth, and Al Kasha, Joel Hirschhorn and Irwin Kostal's songs and musical score sound quite good all things considered. Disney's lossless track isn't going to turn heads, but it does right by Pete, Elliott and the film's original sound design.
Pete's Dragon will work its magic on anyone nostalgic enough to be susceptible to its tricks, but as a Disney classic, a kids film or even a family musical, it's too bloated and ungainly for its own good. My inner child came out to play; my cranky critic kept glancing at his watch. Disney's Blu-ray release defies the film's thirty-five years, though, thanks to an excellent video transfer and a solid DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track. Now if only it lived up to its 35th Anniversary moniker and offered new celebratory special features. High definition retrospective anyone?
Special Edition
1971
50th Anniversary Edition
1964
2016
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2009
1971
The Signature Collection
1940
Special Edition
1996
Diamond Edition
1950
2016
80th Anniversary Edition
1939
Peter Pan 2 | Special Edition
2002
2018
Anniversary Edition | The Signature Collection
1953
50th Anniversary Edition | DVD Packaging
1963
2019
2014
2007
Limited Edition Collector's Set
1986
2020
2017