Ever since Alice in Wonderland came out in 2010, Disney has found great financial and critical success in remaking classic films.

Last year saw the release of Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella, a live action remake of the 1950 Disney treasure. Cinderella kept the spirit of the original, while updating the outdated conventions the 1950 film held.

Earlier this year, Jon Favreau’s remake of The Jungle Book raised the bar for visual effects, as Favreau and his crew created the most photorealistic environment since Avatar, and brought Pandora to life.

Just a few months after The Jungle Book, Disney has once again released a remake of a classic property, Pete’s Dragon. A remake of the 1977 live action-animated hybrid musical, this new adaptation takes shape as an artistic independent film that has elements of country.

The story follows a young boy, Pete, who is orphaned in a car accident, leaving him alone in the Pacific Northwest wilderness. Pete is soon adopted by a giant, green, furry dragon who is eventually named Eliot.  Unlike Smaug or King Ghidorah, Eliot is a cute, innocent, and protective creature who cares for Pete just as much as Pete cares for Eliot, much like a boy and his dog.  

Living in isolated from human society for several years, Eliot grows from an infant to a young boy. Essentially a feral child, eventually park rangers wonder upon Pete. Eliot has the ability to turn invincible, which is deemed as fantasy movie logic, and is left in the woods as Pete is brought into child services and foster care.  From that point, the film follows Pete’s journey readapting to human society after years of absence, as well as Eliot’s struggles and loneliness. Pete is then taken in by a couple played by Bryce Dallas Howard and Wes Bentley. While Howard comes to love Pete as a son, Wes Bentley’s brother, played by Karl Urban, sights Eliot and pursues the dragon in the woods. This all climaxes in a thrilling, yet PG rated pursuit that is full of Disney conventions, otherwise absent from the film.

Pete’s Dragon is one of the few examples where the remake is actually better than the original. The 2016 version benefits from the gorgeous cinematography of landscapes in the New Zealand wilderness. It’s no wonder Peter Jackson chose exclusively New Zealand for shots of Middle Earth. In Pete’s Dragon, the vast and lush green forests invoke the beauty of nature, which adds onto the environmentalism themes. The CGI for Eliot is also top notch, with the digitally created dragon looking tangible in screen as if one could touch it. This is also enhanced by the 3D, which also is benefited from this film.  Eliot’s growling keeps him more animalistic, yet they are enunciated to convey meaning and emotion without words.

The performances, especially Oakes Fregley as young Pete, are exceptional. Karl Urban seems a bit misplaced as the villain figure, yet his likability shines through the thinly written lines. Bryce Dallas Howard and Wes Bentley give decent roles, and Robert Redford has a small part as an old man who once had an encounter with Eliot as a child.

While not as epic as the The Jungle Book, Pete’s Dragon is absolutely a solid film.  Not particularly deep or intellectual, Pete’s Dragon is a restrained, cute romp through a fantasy world, which everything ends happy – though, that could be dictated by Disney producing the film.

Only out for a few more weeks, check out Pete’s Dragon on discount days, as it will leave one smiling after a fairly disappointing summer.