Ranking All 22 Major Summer 2016 Blockbusters From Worst To Best
6. Pete's Dragon
When Disney were looking through their back catalogue for films to give the live action treatment to, few people could have guessed that they'd go with Pete's Dragon third - and before the likes of Beauty And The Beast and The Little Mermaid even.
The story of one boy and his "imaginary" companion who turns out not to be imaginary was always ripe for reinvention, actually: a slightly more adult take on the trauma behind the relationship and a family aspect bringing Pete into a new home made for comfortable drama.
And while some may sneer at the weird dog/dragon hybrid that Elliott has become, the effects work that went into animating him, and the expressiveness of the character made it feel like the right move. The dragon is warm and comforting - it represents home to the homeless Pete - and that probably couldn't have been achieved quite so well with a scaly reptilian design.
More than anything, Pete's Dragon feels like it belongs in a simpler time: it's very much a 1970s-like live action Disney, and that is in no way a criticism.