This is family filmmaking of a sort we don't often see these days. Pete's Dragon won't scandalize anyone's sensibilities or insult anyone's intelligence. RECOMMENDED FOR: All but the youngest, most sensitive audience members. Violence/Frightening/Intense: A car accident is shown in slow-motion, with the final crash heard off-screen a flipped car is seen, with the death of the adult passengers implied but not explicitly shown a growling animal is heard a pack of wolves surround a young boy, but they are chased off a man on a gurney is dropped Pete attempts to escape from those watching over him guns are loaded and a man says, “Let’s go hunting” a dragon is tranquilized and tied down peril on a bridge involves cars, mayhem and fire-breathing.Language/Profanity: Lord's name taken in vain.MPAA Rating: PG for action, peril and brief language.Far from mere technical wizardry, the effective melding of human actors with the dragon generates real pathos, especially during a moving finale. The unhurried pacing of the story is refreshing, rewarding patience even as the story goes to familiar places, while the integration of the CGI Elliot with the human actors is a special effects triumph. The only advocate Pete has fully in his corner is Grace's dad, Meacham ( Robert Redford), who has reasons to believe Pete's dragon stories aren't merely flights of fancy. Skeptics include Natalie's dad, Jack ( Wes Bentley), whose brother Gavin ( Karl Urban) sees in Elliot a ticket to fame. But hospitals and suburbia are no match for the bond between Pete and Elliot, even though Pete can’t convince anyone that dragons are real. Years later, 11-year-old Natalie ( Oona Laurence) and forest ranger Grace ( Bryce Dallas Howard) spot Pete and return him to civilization, where they help piece together Pete’s past.
But Pete has someone-or some thing-looking out for him: a giant dragon he dubs Elliot. This retelling of the animated/live-action hybrid Disney film from 1977 is an oasis for families during a summer of Suicide Squad s, Bad Moms and the umpteenth frantic Ice Age installment. A very young Pete and his parents are bound on an adventure when tragedy strikes, leaving Pete alone in the woods, where the child is helpless against predators. Pete's Dragon is, if not exactly fresh, then at least far from frenetic. When was the last time you sat back and let a movie gently take you where it wanted, without feeling worried that something objectionable was just around the corner? It was probably a Disney movie from a long time ago.