Pete's Dragon

[Lord]

So I just got back from watching the film Petes Dragon, and I gotta say that the Directors obviously had no idea who the main character was. Neither Pete, nor the Dragon, nor the Family he meets can be considered the main character because they don’t make any decisions. They are entirely passive, waiting for the plot to come to them. No the real protagonist of the story is the Evil Brother who tries to capture the Dragon. Why?
Because he is the plot. Where other characters are content to stare in vapid wonder at everything and everyone in sight, Evil Brother Dude drives it forward at breakneck pace. When he sees a strange creature like nothing he’s ever seen before, he pursues it into the woods. When he and his friends have a close call with said creature that reveals it as a dragon, he doesn’t just run back home and be defeated. Literally overnight he gets his hands on a couple of Elephant Tranquilizer Guns, grabs some rope and successfully convinces his buddies who just nearly got eaten to go back out into the woods, and capture that freaking Dragon. And you know what, he succeeds, and proceeds to drag the creature on a truck, in chains before truly awed passerbys. He did not do it for money, he didn’t do it for pride, it was purely for the glory of the hunt.
The dude is badass. And yet despite all this he gets by far the least screen time of any of the leads, despite being a three dimensional character with far more personality than anyone else in the picture. He rarely gets a scene more than a minute long, and yet his personal arc resonates far more strongly than anyone else in the movie.
In a film chock full of boring characters played by actors phoning it in, Evil Brother Dude stands head and shoulders above the rest. He is a magnificent superman in a cast of inferior specimens. We should all strive to be more like him.

So yeah, the Film was okay. Feel free to discuss Pete’s Dragon to your hearts content.

[Rockphed]

So, it isn't a faithful adaptation and update of the classic? That is sad. Sure, the movie from the 60s is pretty campy but I liked it. The songs are, mostly, pretty awesome, and it ends in a nice place. Without seeing the trainwreck you describe the new movie as, I cannot tell how I would have differently updated it.

[Forum Explorer]

So I just got back from watching the film Petes Dragon, and I gotta say that the Directors obviously had no idea who the main character was. Neither Pete, nor the Dragon, nor the Family he meets can be considered the main character because they don’t make any decisions. They are entirely passive, waiting for the plot to come to them. No the real protagonist of the story is the Evil Brother who tries to capture the Dragon. Why?
Because he is the plot. Where other characters are content to stare in vapid wonder at everything and everyone in sight, Evil Brother Dude drives it forward at breakneck pace. When he sees a strange creature like nothing he’s ever seen before, he pursues it into the woods. When he and his friends have a close call with said creature that reveals it as a dragon, he doesn’t just run back home and be defeated. Literally overnight he gets his hands on a couple of Elephant Tranquilizer Guns, grabs some rope and successfully convinces his buddies who just nearly got eaten to go back out into the woods, and capture that freaking Dragon. And you know what, he succeeds, and proceeds to drag the creature on a truck, in chains before truly awed passerbys. He did not do it for money, he didn’t do it for pride, it was purely for the glory of the hunt.
The dude is badass. And yet despite all this he gets by far the least screen time of any of the leads, despite being a three dimensional character with far more personality than anyone else in the picture. He rarely gets a scene more than a minute long, and yet his personal arc resonates far more strongly than anyone else in the movie.
In a film chock full of boring characters played by actors phoning it in, Evil Brother Dude stands head and shoulders above the rest. He is a magnificent superman in a cast of inferior specimens. We should all strive to be more like him.

So yeah, the Film was okay. Feel free to discuss Pete’s Dragon to your hearts content.

I'll argue that point. I'd say that protagonists, in fantasy stories at least, very much tend to be reactionary to what the antagonist is doing. You see it all the time, and if they try to change the plot, well that usually results in their family getting killed by Stormtroopers.

As for the evil brother, what he did was impressive, right up until you realize the dragon was sparing him the whole time. First fight has the dragon deliberately bend his gun, drop it in front of him, and then sneeze on him, before letting him drive away in the car it had held still seconds before.

So then he wins a fight via suckerpunch where the dragon is again going out of it's way to not hurt anyone and captures it. Great. Then when it escapes, the dragon finally loses it's temper and reveals that hey, it can breath fire. Fire hot enough to melt through steel girders and asphalt.

Continually fighting something that can kill you in a heartbeat, but is sparing you instead, doesn't make you brave, just an *******. :smallamused:

[Lord]

I'll argue that point. I'd say that protagonists, in fantasy stories at least, very much tend to be reactionary to what the antagonist is doing. You see it all the time, and if they try to change the plot, well that usually results in their family getting killed by Stormtroopers.

As for the evil brother, what he did was impressive, right up until you realize the dragon was sparing him the whole time. First fight has the dragon deliberately bend his gun, drop it in front of him, and then sneeze on him, before letting him drive away in the car it had held still seconds before.

So then he wins a fight via suckerpunch where the dragon is again going out of it's way to not hurt anyone and captures it. Great. Then when it escapes, the dragon finally loses it's temper and reveals that hey, it can breath fire. Fire hot enough to melt through steel girders and asphalt.

Continually fighting something that can kill you in a heartbeat, but is sparing you instead, doesn't make you brave, just an *******. :smallamused:

Granted the first fight the Dragon spared him. But the second fight the Brother succeeded in taking it by surprise and defeating it with no casualties, even as it did everything in its power to escape. Granted it probably could have fried him with fire, but its still more impressive than the rest of the cast who don't do anything. The evil brother is the only thing in the movie which made it something other than a complete snooze fest for me. Until he showed up, I was seriously considering walking out of the theater.

Oh and by the way, I was being at least a bit sarcastic in my opening post.

[enderlord99]

Oh and by the way, I was being at least a bit sarcastic in my opening post.

Does that make us idiots?

[Forum Explorer]

Granted the first fight the Dragon spared him. But the second fight the Brother succeeded in taking it by surprise and defeating it with no casualties, even as it did everything in its power to escape. Granted it probably could have fried him with fire, but its still more impressive than the rest of the cast who don't do anything. The evil brother is the only thing in the movie which made it something other than a complete snooze fest for me. Until he showed up, I was seriously considering walking out of the theater.

Oh and by the way, I was being at least a bit sarcastic in my opening post.

No one is ever impressed with being open minded and reasonable. :smalltongue:

Boredom wise, sure I guess. Other then the Brother, it was very much a Slice of Life story, and I went into it expecting that, so my action expectations were quite low. And as an antagonist the Brother was pretty good. A nice take on what is actually a really common personality type.

Sure, but if I didn't take you literally we'd have nothing to talk about. :smallwink: