Pete's Dragon

Pete's Dragon is currently streaming in Australia on Disney Plus, and in the US on Disney Plus, and it earns its premise rather than just borrowing genre trappings. The length is exactly right for the story it is telling — nothing rushed, nothing dragged out. 2,339 people have weighed in on TMDB, and the verdict leans heavily positive. Oakes Fegley sets the tone, and the world-building does the rest. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Disney Plus.

Pete's Dragon arrived without much fanfare and built its audience the hard way — through word of mouth. The world-building is meticulous, but it is the characters who carry Pete's Dragon through its more ambitious moments. For years, old wood carver Mr. Meacham has delighted local children with his tales of the fierce dragon that resides deep in the woods of the Pacific Northwest. To his daughter, Grace, who works as a forest ranger, these stories are little more than tall tales... Oakes Fegley and Bryce Dallas Howard lead a cast that brings real weight to the material. It was released in 2016. What separates Pete's Dragon from lesser genre entertainment is a willingness to let the concept cost the characters something. It knows exactly what it is, and does not try to be anything else.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give Pete's Dragon a chance. It has built its own audience without needing a direct comparison. A contained runtime means every scene is doing real work. Oakes Fegley's performance is the anchor the more ambitious moments need. The world-building pays off in ways you will not anticipate on a first watch.