Pete’s Dragon: High-Flying Edition
DISNEY
MOVIE B-
SPECIAL FEATURES B-
DVD GEEK FACTOR 5.75
(OUT OF 10)
I loved this movie when I was a kid. Alas, I must now watch
it and judge it as an adult. Admittedly, it isn’t the colossal work of
art I saw it as when I was 9. Still, I can’t help but dig it, even with
its flaws.
At the time, this mixture of animation and live actors was the apex
of cinema technology. Child actor Sean Marshall, as Pete, still looks
pretty good riding around on Elliott, the cartoon (and sometimes
invisible) dragon. I did spot some suspension wires on Marshall, but
you have to look pretty hard to find them. I missed them when I was a
kid.
The movie is a musical, and the songs range from dreadful to quite
catchy. Even the bad ones are pulled off, to some extent, because the
cast camps it up quite well. I especially like Shelley Winters as
matriarch of the evil Gogans, a backwoods family that adopted Elliott
to use him for slave labor. She absolutely murders the song “Bill of
Sale,” but it’s so bad, it’s funny.
The music sounds better when it’s being delivered by master showman
Jim Dale as Dr. Terminus, a traveling salesman and a pusher of fake
potions and lotions. Red Buttons is also good as his sidekick; the two
make “Every Little Piece” the musical highlight of the movie. The
Academy Award-nominated “Candle on the Water” gets a gooey rendition
from Helen Reddy in her lead actress debut.
The best part of the movie is Elliott the dragon, and Marshall does
a nice job playing to a blue screen. Their first musical number, “Boo
Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You Too)” is a real charmer.
Of course, the immortal Mickey Rooney gets to do his drunk routine
as Lampie, a role that many probably thought would be one of his last.
Fat chance—the guy is still making movies 32 years later. He
can’t be stopped!
SPECIAL FEATURES: An adult Marshall narrates a look back at
the film and its technology. You also get storyboards for a deleted
scene and some original demo versions of the songs. But there’s no
Mickey Rooney commentary, so that’s a bummer.
Big Trouble in Little China (Blu-Ray)
20TH CENTURY FOX
MOVIE C
SPECIAL FEATURES C+
DVD GEEK FACTOR 4.5
(OUT OF 5)
Here’s a movie that hasn’t aged well. John Carpenter’s bizarre
martial-arts adventure got critically panned upon its release, but has
since developed a cult following. Looking at it now, Kurt Russell’s
offbeat performance still shines, but Kim Cattrall is a bore as the
female lead, and some of the creature effects are downright awful.
Russell plays Jack Burton, a truck driver who gets himself involved
in a crazy mystical martial-arts war somewhere in Chinatown after a
raucous game of dominoes. A very old man named Lo Pan (James Hong) is
looking for a green-eyed bride to give him youth and save his life, or
something like that. Two women, including Cattrall, find themselves in
his evil clutches, and Jack must save them.
The movie’s fight scenes have their moments, and Russell gets some
great laughs with his attitude-laden performance. But Carpenter bit off
a little more than he could chew in the special-effects department, and
the plot gets confusing at times. I suppose this was Carpenter’s
attempt at a new franchise, but the adventures of Jack Burton stopped
with this film.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Carpenter and Russell deliver a fun
commentary, and that’s the best special feature the disc has to offer.
An extended ending and deleted scenes are not worth your time.
Tyson
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
MOVIE A-
SPECIAL FEATURES B
DVD GEEK FACTOR 8
(OUT OF 10)
So far, this is one of the year’s best films, and its best
documentary. Tyson sits down for director James Toback, and the guy has
plenty of things to say. He also has a tendency to be completely
frightening as he says them.
Toback doesn’t shy away from any of the Tyson pressure points. He
asks him about his Desiree Washington rape conviction, his time in jail
and his colossal loss to Buster Douglas. Tyson holds back nothing, and
his candor almost melts the TV screen.
This guy is as crazy as they come, and I guess he figures he had to
be to do the job he was doing. It’s a strange thing to watch him
sitting on couches, talking quietly about the things that happened in
his career. Here is a guy who could lift huge men off the canvas with
his fist—and he’s saying how scared he was during his fighting
days. It’s a riveting performance.
SPECIAL FEATURES: While the theatrical feature was certainly
focused on Tyson, the DVD is all about Toback. He offers up a
commentary and multiple features of him discussing the film. It gets a
little redundant at times, but it is interesting.
This article appears in Aug 13-19, 2009.
