Pete's Dragon

Movie / Show Details

Get ready for a magical adventure, filled with friendship, fun and heartwarming songs, including the 1977 Academy Award(R) Best Song nominee “Candle on the Water,” in the new High-Flying Edition DVD of Walt Disney’s classic family film PETE’S DRAGON — now with dazzling new bonus features! It’s a “Brazzle Dazzle Day” when an orphan named Pete and his best friend, Elliott — an invisible dragon! — wander into the seaside village of Passamaquoddy. Although Pete befriends the lighthouse keeper Nora (Helen Reddy) and her salty old father (Mickey Rooney), the townspeople think he is behind the hilarious “accidents” that keep happening. But after a daring rescue, everyone believes in Pete’s fire-breathing buddy. Featuring an all-star cast (Shelley Winters, Red Buttons, Jim Backus and Jeff Conaway), PETE’S DRAGON is a timeless classic every member of your family will love. Plus, the new High-Flying Edition includes an all-new behind-the-scenes look at the film’s magical mix of live-action and animation, never-before-heard original demo recordings and much more!|The original story called for Elliott the dragon to remain invisible throughout the entire film.|Animators opted for an oriental, rather than occidental, dragon, because oriental dragons are usually associated with good.|One of the movie’s special effects involved compositing, whereby up to three scenes might be composited together — for example, a live foreground, a live background, and an animated middle ground containing Elliott.|The film is the first involving animation in which none of the Nine Old Men — Disney’s original team of animators — was involved.|The town square and wharf area for the film’s setting of Passamaquoddy, a Maine fishing village, were constructed on the Disney Burbank Studio lot partly from an old western set.|The lighthouse the studio built for the film in Morro Bay, California, had such a powerful beacon, they had to get special permission from the Coast Guard to operate it. Sadly, it was torn down at the conclusion of filming.|The song, “Candle On The Water,” by Al Kasha and Joel Hirschorn, received an Academy Award(R) nomination for Best Song, along with tunes from two other Disney films — THE RESCUERS and THE SLIPPER AND THE ROSE — THE STORY OF CINDERELLA. The Oscar went to “You Light Up My Life,” from the film of the same name.|Singer Helen Reddy, famous for the feminist anthem, “I Am Woman,” makes her second big-screen appearance as Nora, while screen veteran Mickey Rooney plays her father, Lampie.