Pete's Dragon (1977)

Though it has the words "Walt Disney's Classic" above the title on most of its video incarnations, this charming story of a boy and his pet dragon gets overlooked more often than not when lists are made about people's favorite Disney films. And though it's always on mine - I can understand why.

A. It's too long and slow. At over two hours, the movie is paced like an elephant moving through a vat of mud. Long sections drag - 30 minutes could have been cut and no one would really notice.

B. Technical merits are dire. Though everyone in it speaks English and the film is in English, it appears some post production work has been done as the voices and mouths don't always match up completely, and foley noise is overemphasized. Also, the mixture of live action and animation is pretty rough - though technically good for the time, one can see the strings and seams showing almost always, and there is no doubt the actors are reacting to air.

C. Speaking of actors - the acting is terrible. The cast overacts with glee, and Sean Marshall, as young Pete, has the dubious distinction of being a poor actor AND singer. Not a good thing when he is given most of the major songs.

But all this aside, I LOVE this movie. I remember when VHS was new and we used to rent this movie every weekend and I would watch it four or five times. The songs never fail to touch me or move me to sing along even today. "Candle on the Water," "Brazzle Dazzle Day" and the rest get me every time, and I will often slip this movie in as a pick me up.

It's one of my most treasured DVDs. And in this high tech era of family filmmaking, if you haven't seen this film - rent it, and return to a time when "kids films" were about the story, the songs, and imagination.