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Showing posts with the label pete's dragon

OKJA - REVIEW

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After getting some positive buzz in festivals, South Korean and American co-production Okja finally got a Netflix release last month. The cast includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Tilda Swinton, Steven Yeun, Paul Dano and, so far, the film has received praise from critics and audiences alike. You wouldn't necessarily think that a Korean film about a giant CGI pig would gather this much interest yet director Joon-ho Bong ( Snowpiercer , The Host ) turned an odd concept into an unlikely hit and it's quite probable we'll see him tackle a major Hollywood film very soon. On paper, Okja sounds like little more than a Pete's Dragon -style kids' movie where a cute, oversized, weird-looking animal befriends a youngster and they both get into goofy adventures as others try and break them apart. Indeed, this is very much a Pete's Dragon for this generation, much more so even than the actual Disney remake from 2016, but there is an edge to this one that you might not be expectin

PETE'S DRAGON - VLOG 16/08/16

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I talk about Disney's latest remake Pete's Dragon .

PETE'S DRAGON (2016) - REVIEW

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Another month, another Disney remake... An update on the 1977 musical, Pete's Dragon sees a young child named Pete wander into the woods after his parents perish in a car crash and a friendly green dragon he calls Elliot takes him under its wing: years later, the inhabitants of a nearby town finally find Pete. Not that they were looking... The original Pete's Dragon may not have enjoyed quite as much praise as, say, Mary Poppins over the years but it remains one of Disney's most charming live-action films to date so a remake would certainly need to get Pete and his dragon right. Fortunately, the film achieves just that as young Oakes Fegley gives an appropriately wild performance as Pete and Elliot, while looking hairier and more dog-like, is still pretty adorable. Their friendship is once again the heart of the story and it still works. The big difference with this remake, however, is that Elliot isn't so much Pete's dragon as he is just a random

PETE'S DRAGON (1977) - VIDEO REVIEW

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Here's the video version of my Pete's Dragon review.

PETE'S DRAGON (1977) - REVIEW

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As Disney puts the final touches on its upcoming remake of Pete's Dragon , it's about time I look back at a film I really enjoyed as a kid but did not get the chance to revisit... until now. This is certainly one of Disney's more dated live-action films: it's a pretty stagy Mary Poppins -style musical with an extremely earnest main character and most of the others hamming it up big time. It's also one of the Mouse House's most adorable movies ever and Elliott the dragon (animated by Don Bluth) is quite simply a joy from start to finish and even if the rest of the film is not your cup of tea it's likely you'll still fall in love with this endearing animated creation. I should point out it was ambitious of Disney to mix live-action and animation back in 1977 and, while it doesn't always merge that well, Elliott is so likeable that it doesn't matter how smooth that mix is plus younger viewers won't care, I sure didn't. By essentially