--- title: Pete's Dragon Review: What TIME Said About the Original description: The original was released in time for Christmas of 1977. The remake flies into theaters on Aug. 12, 2016 canonical: https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-11T16:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T23:46:38.785Z article:section: History og:title: The Original Pete's Dragon Was 'Gorgeous, in a Ghastly Sort of Way' og:description: The remake flies into theaters on Aug. 12 og:url: https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6efd90506972b/6988a1315f570f6a64b22170/petes.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pete's Dragon og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Original Pete's Dragon Was 'Gorgeous, in a Ghastly Sort of Way' twitter:description: The remake flies into theaters on Aug. 12 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6efd90506972b/6988a1315f570f6a64b22170/petes.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Original _Pete's Dragon_ Was 'Gorgeous, in a Ghastly Sort of Way'  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 11, 2016 4:00 PM UTC  The Pete's Dragon poster from 1977 The Pete's Dragon poster from 1977GAB Archive / Redferns / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 11, 2016 4:00 PM UTC The new Disney version of _Pete’s Dragon_ is [hardly a remake](http://time.com/4368906/petes-dragon-trailer/) of the plot of the 1977 film with which it shares its name: it still has a [dragon](http://time.com/4294397/game-of-thrones-history-dragons/) and a kid named Pete, but the [live-action-plus-CGI ](http://time.com/4308042/disney-pipeline-live-action-fairy-tales/)drama promises fewer goofy pratfalls and songs, and more modern angst and sweeping orchestral scoring. The ’70s version was, as TIME [described](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-12-05/page/137/) upon its release, the story of an orphan boy “so appealing that you want to strangle him” and his dragon friend, as they make an impression on the denizens of a 19th-century Maine town. And, though its songs were dismissed as “a good opportunity to line up for more popcorn,” the overall impression was charming enough that perhaps it should be no surprise the title is being reused. As TIME critic John Skow wrote, the live-with-cartoons romp was fun, largely due to the help of said dragon: --- > “” --- [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) And, Skow noted, it arrived at an apt moment. Speaking of the “in the nick of time” nature of a major plot point, he noted that “nicks are another reason that the 1890s are good for story writing; modern times don’t seem to have nicks, only a lot of existential despair” and that some adult viewers of the film would likely feel a wistful yen for a dragon of their own, to “scare a little appreciation and respect from an uncaring world.” Nearly 40 years later, surely plenty of adults could still appreciate that desire. **_Read the full review, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Scaly Tale](http://time.com/vault/issue/1977-12-05/page/137/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/"},"headline":"The Original Pete's Dragon Was 'Gorgeous, in a Ghastly Sort of Way'","datePublished":"2016-08-11T16:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T23:46:38.785Z","description":"The remake flies into theaters on Aug. 12","url":"https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/","keywords":["movies"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6efd90506972b/6988a1315f570f6a64b22170/petes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt27f6efd90506972b/6988a1315f570f6a64b22170/petes.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pete's Dragon","caption":"Photo of FILM POSTERS","creditText":"GAB Archive / Redferns / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/movies/","name":"movies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4439056/petes-dragon-1977-review/","name":"The Original Pete's Dragon Was 'Gorgeous, in a Ghastly Sort of Way'"}}]}] ```