“As I’m sitting here at my beloved VO2 cafe in Cambridge, the movers have left just over an hour ago with the majority of my worldly possessions en route to California. This past Saturday was my going away festivities. The main event was a movie night in the evening, with a selection of films voted on from a list of past movie night faves. Zombieland, 21 Jump Street, and Cabin in the Woods won. Less official, but still a part of it was dinner at a nostalgic MIT hangout. Even less official was my usual pair of Saturday movies, albeit slightly later than usual, to better accommodate the evening schedule. I was on my own for the first, which was totally fine (that much easier to get completely lost in the movie), but I did have a faithful movie companion join me for the second. While it was a perfectly fine and enjoyable movie, it may not have been the best choice for a farewell party.
I don’t really wanna spoil it, but basically it comes down to the film being rather emotionally manipulative, combined with my being particularly vulnerable given that I’m within a week of saying goodbye to Boston (you’re my home), and the last 10 min just felt like a metaphor for the whole deal. Thus, it got a far stronger reaction out of me than it deserved.
Now I’m sure I must have seen the original classic Disney film when I was little. I would have either rented it or caught it during one of the Disney channel previews we’d get (a childhood highlight). But if I saw it, I don’t remember it at all. Basically, my strongest memory of Pete and his dragon is their part of the electric parade at Disney World.
I don’t feel like being very coherent right now. Here’s some quick thoughts I had during the movie:
-The plot was way too simplistic
-I never thought I’d hate Karl Urban. By which I mean I hated his character and my general esteem for the actor couldn’t overcome it.
-Of all the fantastical and implausible elements (uhh disappearing dragon, anyone?) the one disbelief I could not suspend was that a five year old could be cut off from all human contact and still maintain his language effectively.
-The graphics for the dragon looked fantastic.
-No really why am I so emotional over such a thin film?
-Oona Lawrence is the coolest kid ever.
-Also, the dragon shares his name with one of my favorite yoga teachers, who I’d just said goodbye to the day before, so lots of mixed feels.
-No really, the dragon is so pretty.
What it all comes down to, it was an okay movie. Better than a lot of what we subject the kids to nowadays, but not good enough to appreciate the adults in the audience as well.
Pete’s Dragon – \m/ \m/ \m/”