Every Modern Disney Live Action Remake (So Far) Ranked

The original Pete's Dragon is not too well-known to many modern audiences, and appropriately, if sadly, this adaptation of an older Disney property also flew under the radar when it came to brand-faithful Disney audiences.

Pete's Dragon feels very... eighties, in a strange way, with the young boy and his dragon friend feeling wilder and freer than any modern child has been in a while. The design of the dragon Elliott is unique in its cartoonish furriness, but it works for how soft and sentimental and fantastical the film feels, while retaining the very eighties melancholy mixed with wonder of childhood innocence.

There's a remarkable sadness and an equally remarkable hopefulness in this film that feels very different from most of Disney's blockbuster offerings, and it feels like this movie needs to be on an entirely separate list for how far its tone feels from the rest. Still - it's an excellent modern remake that deserves praise, even if it doesn't at all feel like its more mainstream siblings.