By Travis Johnson
David Lowery’s remake of the 1977 Disney home video staple is definitely taking a less musical, more magical route. This just-released trailer is an absolute wonder vergin on downright Spielbergian.
Oakes Fegley is the titular Pete, a foundling who has been raised in the forest by a dragon, idiosyncratically named Elliot (presumably by Pete). Bryce Dallas Howard is kindly ranger who finds him, Robert Redford is her wise old man (and presumable Mickey Rooney analogue), while Karl Urban crops up as the bad guy, because there’s always a bad guy.
It’s pretty great how this trailer quite literally asks you to take a leap of faith and there’s something wonderfully childlike and beautiful about the whole thing. There are little touches that show a great deal of thought has one into this, like how Elliot looks like he’s literally grown out of woodland plants. Come to think of it, so does leathery old Redford these days, although he’s made of bark where the dragon is mossy.
here’s hoping the movie is as good as the trailer – we get to find out on September 15.