Meacham’s grown daughter Grace (a spot-on Bryce Dallas Howard) thinks she knows better. Meacham (a surprising Robert Redford) takes time out from his wood carving to entertain local kids with his stories of seeing a real-life dragon in the deepest part of the deep woods just outside of town. It’s the kind of place where grizzled oldster Mr. “Pete’s Dragon” cuts to six years later, and the cheerful hamlet of Millhaven, a bucolic locale (shot in Tapanui, New Zealand, not the Pacific Northwest) that’s set by design in what Lowery calls a “just yesterday” era where everything looks familiar but modern devices like cell phones and computers have yet to appear. And wouldn’t you know it, he and Pete, who names the beast Elliot after the character in the book, take an immediately shine to each other. Yes, it’s that enormous dragon, looking more like an overgrown puppy than anything else. An accident happens and suddenly Pete is alone in the woods, surrounded by unfriendly wolves, when heavy, earth-shaking footfalls cause the beasts to scatter. No sooner does Pete’s mom call him “the bravest boy I’ve ever met” than circumstances conspire to put that notion to the test. “Dragon” starts with cute 5-year-old Pete in the backseat of the family car, reading a picture book called “Elliot Gets Lost” about a lost dog as his vacationing parents motor through the Pacific Northwest.
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