That being the case, I went into this remake a bit blind and not knowing what to expect. I found myself pleasantly surprised by how much the film appealed to me. I do take in family and kid- friendly movies now and again, despite my not having kids of my own, and having seen several films in this genre in recent months ("The Jungle Book"; "The Legend of Tarzan"; etc), I found "Pete's Dragon" to have a charm that few such movies have exhibited this summer. The tale was intriguing, the acting above average, and the overall production quality top notch.
I think the thing that really sold me on this movie, though, was Elliot the Dragon. What a fantastic bit of special effects! He totally won me over and made me care about him as a character, as did Pete and others. Robert Redford, Karl Urban, and Bryce Dallas Howard all offer good performances in their respective roles as well, and in the end it just comes together in a way that makes for a great family friendly movie