This Disney remake shares a title with the 1977 family adventure, however the story departs from that of the original. In this incarnation, which has shades of the boy/monster bonds of ET and The Iron Giant, Pete (Oakes Fegley) was orphaned as a five-year-old in a car crash and rescued from hungry wolves by an amiable, fluffy green dragon. Pete names him Elliot, and they live together undisturbed for five years. Then the lumber industry starts to encroach on their world and the friends experience the best and the worst of the local community. Although the pathos is ladled on a little over-generously, the handsome photography, the first-rate performances – Fegley has a lovely, unaffected freshness unusual in a child actor – and an endearing overgrown puppy of a dragon make this a strong alternative to animation for family audiences.
