History Film / PetesDragon

''Pete's Dragon'' may refer to:

* ''[[Film/PetesDragon2016 Pete's Dragon]]'', the 2016 remake of the above movie.

If an internal link led you here, please change it to point to the specific article. Thanks!

''Pete’s Dragon'' may refer to:
* ''Film/PetesDragon1977'', 1977 Disney musical.
* ''Film/PetesDragon2016'', the 2016 remake of the above movie.

[[redirect:Main/PetesDragon]]

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/petes_dragon_4067.jpg]]

''Pete's Dragon'', a 1977 Creator/{{Disney}} film, is another SpiritualSuccessor to ''Film/MaryPoppins'', though not as direct a successor as ''Film/BedknobsAndBroomsticks'' was. It's a live-action musical that [[RogerRabbitEffect uses cel animation to bring its title character to life]].

It is the early 20th century, and HeartwarmingOrphan Pete is on the run from the cruel Gogans, a backwoods family that bought him to be their slave. He has but one friend - Elliot, a friendly dragon. Elliot doesn't speak English, but he can fly, breathe fire, and turn himself invisible; most of all, he's got Pete's back. Together they arrive in the town of Passamaquoddy, Maine.

No one here believes in dragons, of course, and because Elliot's usually invisible, his faithfully following Pete around causes a lot of problems for the kid - which are sometimes exacerbated when Elliot tries to protect him from unjust punishment. Still, Pete is taken in by Nora, a lighthouse keeper's daughter (her dad, Lampie, is the one person in town who has seen Elliot, but no one believes him), and Elliot hides out in a nearby cave.

Pete soon bonds with Nora and Lampie, and even tells Elliot about Nora's lost-at-sea fiance in hopes the dragon can find him. Alas, SnakeOilSalesman Doctor Terminus, played by Jim Dale, arrives in town and learns from his lackey Hoagy (whom Lampie takes to the cave to prove his claim) about Elliot. The parts of a dragon can be compounded into all kinds of medicines, so Terminus seeks to capture Elliot. Then the Gogans arrive, and the two evil parties meet and combine their forces. It all comes to a head on a stormy night that will be rife with rescues.

This was Disney's big holiday release for 1977, but while it was a modest hit, it does point up how out-of-touch the company had become when it came to appealing to families - ''Franchise/StarWars'' was where it was at for most kids that year, and they just didn't have time for a broad musical comedy like this (if you thought there were [[LargeHam large hams]] in the ''other'' Disney musicals...). It was the last live-action musical the company produced for many years, and, by some accounts, Creator/DonBluth's motivation for leaving the company.

Continuing Disney's trend of rebooting much of their fantasy catalog, a remake of ''Pete's Dragon'' was released in the summer of 2016. Now a CGI character, Elliott is a cryptozoological oddity of the Pacific Northwest being studied by Mr. Meacham (Creator/RobertRedford) and his park ranger daughter Grace (Creator/BryceDallasHoward). New evidence of the dragon's existence comes to light when a feral child named Pete (Oakes Fegley) emerges from the woods, having spent six years living with the beast.

----
!!Tropes:

* AwardBaitSong: "Candle on the Water", one of the earliest examples of the trope. Lost to "You Light Up My Life''.
* BerserkButton: The Gogans to Elliot, especially if they threaten Pete.
** In fact, anyone who threatens or even so much as kicks Pete is his Berserk Button.
* BigNo: Hoagy does this when Dr. Terminus told him to get the dragon.
* ABoyAndHisX: Pete (boy) and Elliot (dragon).
* BullyingADragon: ''Literally''. At the end, when everyone can see Elliot, the Gogans actually try to intimidate him using legalese. He responds by incinerating their bill of sale.
* ButNowIMustGo[=/=]BittersweetEnding: Elliot leaves Pete at the end specifically because another kid needs his help.
* CassandraTruth: Pete trying to tell his teacher that "It was Elliot!" who was doing all the crazy shenanigans that she was blaming and punishing him for.
* ChekhovsSkill: Many dragons breathe fire, of course, but Elliot's ability [[spoiler: turns out to be the one thing that can relight the lighthouse lamp in the climax.]]
* CoconutSuperpowers: Elliot's invisibility means that for long chunks of the runtime, we only see the effects of his presence. (In fact, as originally conceived, the audience was never going to see him ''at all''.)
* CorruptHick: The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nmV_QZxbuU Gogan family]].
* CowboyBeBopAtHisComputer: The back cover of the 35th Anniversary Blu-Ray lists the runtime as 88 minutes, instead of 128 minutes.
* CrowdSong: "I Saw a Dragon".
* {{Crunchtastic}}: The big EarWorm song, "Brazzle Dazzle Day"; in fact, the movie's TagLine was "Brazzle Dazzle Brilliance!"
* DastardlyWhiplash: Dr. Terminus, more or less.
* DunceCap: Pete gets one when he gets in trouble with his teacher on his first day of school for things that Elliot did. Of course, Elliot blows it off when he gets enraged enough.
* EasyAmnesia: [[spoiler:It turns out Nora's fiance Paul was in a shipwreck and suffered amnesia. When he returns to her at the end, he says he regained his memory when he fell out of a bed - an "accident" which was obviously Elliot's doing.]]
* TheFamilyForTheWholeFamily: The Gogan clan.
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
-->'''Doc:''' "The existence of a dragon would have an impact of gigantic proportions. Mythology and legend would become history and science. ''(to himself)'' One would make a quick buck with it."
* GentleGiant: Elliot.
* HappilyAdopted: Pete by the end.
* HappilyEverAfter
* HeartwarmingOrphan
* ImpactSilhouette: An invisible Elliot leaves a dragon-shaped hole in the school wall.
* InkSuitActor: Elliot's expressions are identical to Charlie Callas.
* InstantAwesomeJustAddDragons: Elliot.
* ItMakesSenseInContext: Dr. Terminus's "Landship," a sailboat on wheels.
* ItMustBeMine: Terminus wanting to capture Elliot.
* ItIsPronouncedTroPAY: Terminus keeps getting the town's name wrong. Hoagy would correct him.
* KarmaHoudini: What comeuppance does the Gogan clan get for everything they've done? Aside from a lot of public humiliation, not much. The only "punishment" they got, if you can call it that, is going through all this trouble to get Pete back and having to go home empty handed. And the brothers will have to "pick up the slack" on the chores now that they don't have Pete anymore to do most (if not all) of the work. Even that seems doubtful, since according to both of their songs they were going to kill him anyway.
* LargeHam: Most of the cast, [[EvilIsHammy especially the villains]].
* ListSong: "Passamaquoddy," Doc Terminus's cheerful recitation of the New England towns he's visited and illnesses he's cured ... a recitation that comes to a stammering halt when he tries to pronounce his current stop.
* MainliningTheMonster: Doctor Terminus wants to get his hands on Elliot (the titular dragon) to be made into medicines.
* MamaBear: Nora. She constantly interrupts the Gogan's second VillainSong with threats toward them if they even think of hurting Pete.
* MedicineShow
* MediumBlending
* MobileKiosk: Doctor Terminus' "Landship".
* MusicalChores: "Brazzle Dazzle Day".
* NeverTrustAHairTonic: When Dr. Terminus comes to town, the townspeople confront him about his various medicines that didn't work the last time he was there, including one man whose hair turned from gray to pink thanks to the doctor.
* NoSympathy: When an invisible Elliot begins playing with the school bell while Pete is in class, Pete runs out to stop him; he is followed by the teacher who then accuses ''Pete'' of ringing the bell -- despite the fact that Pete was sitting '''in the front row of the classroom''' when the bell began ringing. This is pretty much the teacher picking up the IdiotBall in order to press Elliot's BerserkButton.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Elliot.
* ObfuscatingDisability: Hoagy uses this to give Doctor Terminus and his tonics some ill-deserved credibility. First he plays an old and obviously deaf woman, and fakes gaining the ability to hear. Then he masquerades as a old man who hobbles on crutches and doesn't need them anymore once he's had some of Terminus's tonic.
* PaintingTheMedium: Closed captions (in the VHS-version anyway) had Elliot's dialogue, or at least mentions of his grunts, in green-colored font.
* PapaWolf: Elliot to Pete.
* PlotDrivenBreakdown: The climactic storm [[spoiler:extinguishes the lighthouse's lamp]] just as [[spoiler:a ship - carrying Nora's fiance, among others - is approaching, risking a wreck]]. Nora and Lampie can't [[spoiler:relight it]], so it's left to Elliot to do the job [[spoiler:with his fire breath. He does, and in the process, Nora sees him for the first time.]]
** In that same scene, it also applies to [[spoiler: Elliot's fire-breathing ability, in that he's wedged so tightly into the lighthouse's stairwell that he can't inhale]].
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Elliot, after hearing Hoagy's message that the Gogans got Pete.
* RousingSpeech: "Hoagy. We are all on this earth for a purpose, and the time for your purpose is now. I know that inside this pale, frail, pathetic shell of a man... there is a Vesuvius ready to erupt. Now, I've known you, man and beast, since, since you were nothing. But now, Hoagy, now, you're still nothing, but you could be something! You can be a somebody. A legend, Hoagy. A legend in your own lifetime, not a joke! The moment's here, Hoagy. Grab it. Grab it! Today the jester. Tomorrow the king!"
-->'''Hoagie:''' ''NOOOOOOOOOO!!!''\\
'''Terminus:''' ''[[GetOut GET OUUUTT!!!!]]''
* RuleOfThree: The mayor's cigar breaks in two.
* ShutUpHannibal: Nora does this ''repeatedly'' during the Gogan's second VillainSong; unfortunately, they ''won't'' shut up, requiring Elliot to deliver a far-more ''unsubtle'' one that capsizes their boat.
** He delivers a ''much'' more threatening one in the climax, incinerating their bill of sale when they try to threaten him with it, sending them fleeing out of town.
* SnakeOilSalesman: Dr. Terminus sells bogus cures and tonics.
* StockScream: Dr. Terminus lets out a Goofy holler.
* TemptingFate
-->'''Mayor:''' Gentlemen, I propose to say,...Passamaquoddy's a beautiful community...where the sun always rises and the sun always sets. It's a place of serenity and security, where the unexpected never happens. ''[Elliot kicks the eggman for kicking Pete, causing him to stumble towards the mayor]'' It seems to say, "Welcome!" ''[splattered with eggs]'' You-You absolute oaf. You-You idiot! ''[throws the egg baskets away]''
* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: There are ten songs and four reprises. Most of them do serve the story; others, such as "I Saw A Dragon" or "Brazzle Dazzle Day", are about rather banal things.
* ThereIsAnother: The reason Elliot must leave Pete is to help another kid.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: What Dr. Terminus wants to do to Elliot.
* TheUnintelligible: Elliot, who communicates with grunts, clicks and scatting, leaving Pete to translate for him when needed.
* VillainSong: "[[BlatantLies The Happiest Home in These Hills]]" and "We Got a Bill of Sale Right Here" for the Gogans, and "Passamaquoddy" and "Every Little Piece" for Dr. Terminus and Hoagy.
* VillainTeamUp: The Gogans team up with Dr. Terminus and Hoagy.
* VerbalTic: The school teacher's habit of repeating key words [[RuleOfThree three times]]. Lampshaded/Parodied very shortly after being introduced:
-->'''Teacher:''' No no no, this is irregular, irregular, irregular!\\
'''Nora:''' But he needs an education, education, education.
* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot, by way of him leaving footprints, [[ImpactSilhouette dragon-shaped holes in walls]], etc.
* WouldHurtAChild: The Gogans who sing about torturing and killing Pete in the beginning of the movie.
* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Pink Hair]]: One of Terminus' toxins gave a person pink hair.
** Elliot also has pink hair. Which makes him an [[HilariousInHindsight invisible pink-haired dragon]].

!!Tropes for the 2016 reboot:
* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.
** The town doctor and Grace are having a conversation about how Pete is and what to do with him. During this time he wakes up, figures out the window locks and escapes. Natalie is the only one who notices.
** Meacham is pro-Elliot and helps Pete and Natalie get him away from Gavin.
* AllAnimalsAreDogs: Being based on domestic mammals, Elliot acts very much like a dog or cat with wings and fire breath.
* AllMythsAreTrue: Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford's character) has for years told stories to children about a fire-breathing dragon who lives in the forest. Pete reveals that these stories are actually true.
* ArcWords: "The bravest boy I've ever met." These words are spoken to Pete [[RuleOfThree three times:]] Once by his birth mother, once by Grace, and once by her father who adds Pete to the tall tales he tells.
* BewareTheSillyOnes: While Elliot looks more realistic he still gives off an air of a goofball animal at times and is honestly perfectly harmless. [[BerserkButton Until you decide to become a threat to Pete]].
* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with parents driving on a winding road in the woods, with Pete in the back seat...and lovingly looking back at him (and Natalie in the closing scenes).
* BreathWeapon: Elliot's fire breath. It's given a slightly interesting treatment narratively; for most of the film we're led to think it's something Meacham invented to spice up the stories he tells the town kids, as the tale we hear paints Elliot as much more aggressive than he really is. Then we see during the climax that yes, he ''can'' breathe fire, and it's ''terrifyingly'' effective.
* BittersweetEnding: Pete and Elliot, after some discussion, sadly and reluctantly agree they have to separate for Elliot's safety. Their home was destroyed by Gavin's team capturing Elliot. And now the entire town knows the dragon exists. So Elliot leaves Pete with Grace's family and takes off... but sometime later, Jack and Grace have taken the folk song about dragons that everyone knows and treated the "go North" lyrics as instructions so the family, which now includes Pete, can find and visit Elliot [[spoiler: and the family he was separated from but has now reunited with]].
* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millhaven Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush home to tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.
* CoolOldGuy: Mr. Meacham. He's a woodcarver of some skill, and the children love the tall tales he spins. Even though he and his daughter don't agree on his fanciful stories, they obviously still love each other a lot.
* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.
** Gavin gets the example played straight, and is drenched from head to toe in viscous, wet dragon snot.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Averted hard. There are numerous serious crashes in the film, especially near the climax, and absolutely no vehicles catch fire or explode, even when they logically should like Jack's pick up being at or near ground zero for Elliot's breath weapon. Note that the fire is hot enough to ''burn asphalt.''
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The town where the human characters live is called Millhaven. It is the home of ...a lumber mill.
* FantasticSapientSpecies: Elliot. He is smart enough to understand English when spoken by Pete or other humans, and he's smart enough to communicate with humans through gestures, body language and the use of props.
* FieryRedhead: Played with. Gavin and his lumber crew imply to each other that Grace being a redhead is why Jack tends to side with her against him -- that his brother can't withstand her hot temper. The truth is though that Grace is a very level headed woman and even when emotional, tends to be very mild about how she shows it.
* FriendToAllChildren:
** Elliot doesn't bother with his invisibility when searching for Pete, so more than one child lays eyes on him. Not one seems remotely frightened. All of them smile and wave at him.
** When Natalie gets to meet Elliot, she immediately lays on hands and pets him like a giant puppy.
* HappilyAdopted: Shares this with the original.
* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millhaven.
* InkSuitActor: Inverted example. Two sheriff characters seen in the trailer bear an uncanny resemblance to Sheriff Blubbs and Deputy Durland from ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls''. [[https://twitter.com/charlestan/status/745138466829176832 See for yourself]].
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gavin. Even though he wants to get rich and famous at any cost, he leaps to protect children and is very devoted to his brother, even though they don't really get along.
* NiceJobBreakingItHero: On several occasions, but Pete and Elliot are at the top of the list. Elliot clues Gavin in by accidentally toppling a tree near the logging site, and although Pete's requests for Elliot to fly away were tactically sound, the fact that Elliot was pumped full of tranquilizers at the time only served to make the situation worse when his attempts to do just that failed.
* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Played with. When Natalie explains the concept of "imaginary friends" to Pete, he figures that Elliot isn't imaginary, so maybe Natalie is. She takes some offense to this logic. Then Grace sees the crayon drawing Pete did and finds it unsettlingly familiar to drawings done by her father of the Millhaven Dragon.
* OurDragonsAreDifferent: Unlike his original incarnation, the new Elliot's design is more based in the world of real mammals, including dogs and cats, with his scales swapped for green fur and his pink hair gone. Regardless, he can still fly and breathe fire. Also, his ability to turn invisible is reminiscent of camouflage.
* ParentalAbandonment:
** Pete suffers MissingMom and DisappearedDad in the first few minutes of the movie. TrailersAlwaysSpoil, so the fact that Pete was [[ConvenientlyAnOrphan alone in the woods for six years]] means that Mom and Dad had to be taken out of the picture early on.
** Natalie has a MissingMom. They don't even bother to imply why she's missing. Just that Jack is affianced to Grace now and she's on a FirstNameBasis with the stepmother-to-be.
** Grace herself also has a MissingMom. She apparently died at some point, but far enough back that she was about Pete's age when it happened.
* PluckyGirl:
** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.
** Natalie. She starts out as an obviously bookish child who is actually annoyed at being late for school. But once she sees Pete, she chases him into the forest and fearlessly climbs his tree, only going back to DistressedDamsel traits when the branches give way under her greater weight and she begins to fall.
* RaisedByWolves: Pete was verbal and literate when he got lost in the woods, and Elliot obviously understands English, so Pete could still be verbal when found multiple years later. But he howls when upset, and shows the rest of the typical "feral child" traits.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Subverted. Meacham mentions that the dragon he met had "eyes red as hellfire", but he was only embellishing to make the story more entertaining for kids. Elliot's eyes are actually more golden.
* SettingUpdate: While the original takes place during the early 1900s, the remake takes place in 1977, the release of the original film came out.
* ShownTheirWork: The developers worked to capture Elliot's clumsiness by watching "hours upon hours" of funny animal videos.
** Elliot's pink hair was removed in his redesign because it doesn't blend in with foliage of the movie's photorealistic environment.
* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.
* TenderTears: Anytime Pete or Grace is crying. It's implied near the end that Elliot is also capable of crying, but only in moments of great emotion.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: The reason Pete agrees to separate from Elliot and send him away: once Gavin has revealed Elliot's existence to the whole town. Humans would never stop looking for him even after he made his escape and proved himself dangerous to humans when provoked.
* TooDumbToLive: Granted Gavin was pumped up on adrenaline, and wasn't thinking clearly, but his plan to cut off Meecham was doomed to failure [[spoiler: even if the flatbed Meecham was driving still had its brakes.]]
* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness; perhaps spurred on by hurt feelings when his brother Jack didn't believe him. Gavin's main motivation is that he seems to believe he needs a claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.
* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.
* AWizardDidIt: How did Pete, who we only see eating mushrooms before he's re-introduced to human food, spend six years in the forest but show no signs of malnourishment? ''Magic''. It's handwaved by the fact that the audience knows Elliot can camouflage to the point of invisibility, and invoked by Meacham describing his encounter with Elliot as magic that changed the way he sees the world. There is also the fact that Pete is shown catching a rabbit by hand, so it's possible Pete got by hunting small game.
* YouDontLookLikeYou: Elliot's redesign is radical departure from his old look, but some aspects of that design, such as his big jaw, are still present.
----

* BreathWeapon: Elliot's fire breath.

* AWizardDidIt: How did Pete, who we only see eating mushrooms before he's re-introduced to human food, spend six years in the forest but show no signs of malnourishment? ''Magic''. It's handwaved by the fact that the audience knows Elliot can camouflage to the point of invisibility, and invoked by Meacham describing his encounter with Elliot as magic that changed the way he sees the world.

Continuing Disney's trend of rebooting much of their fantasy catalog, a remake of ''Pete's Dragon'' is set for release in summer of 2016. Now a CGI character, Elliott is a cryptozoological oddity of the Pacific Northwest being studied by Mr. Meacham (Creator/RobertRedford) and his park ranger daughter Grace (Creator/BryceDallasHoward). New evidence of the dragon's existence comes to light when a feral child named Pete (Oakes Fegley) emerges from the woods, having spent six years living with the beast.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush home to tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: The town where the human characters live is called Millwood. It is the home of ...a lumber mill.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

* NotSoImaginaryFriend: Played with. When Natalie explains the concept of "imaginary friends" to Pete, he figures that Elliot isn't imaginary, so maybe Natalie is. She takes some offense to this logic. Then Grace sees the crayon drawing Pete did and finds it unsettlingly familiar to drawings done by her father of the Millwood Dragon.

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Subverted. Meacham mentions that the dragon he met had "eyes red as hellfire", but he was only embellishing to make the story more entertaining for kids. Elliot's eyes are actually more golden.

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* BittersweetEnding: Pete and Elliot, after some discussion, sadly and reluctantly agree they have to separate for Elliot's safety. Their home was destroyed by Gavin's team capturing Elliot, but now the entire town knows the dragon exists. So Elliot leaves Pete with Grace's family and takes off... but sometime later, Jack and Grace have taken the folk song about dragons that everyone knows and treated the "go North" lyrics as instructions so the family, which now includes Pete, can find and visit Elliot [[spoiler: and the family he was separated from but has now reunited with]].

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* BittersweetEnding:
** Pete and Elliot, after some discussion, sadly and reluctantly agree they have to separate for Elliot's safety. Their home was destroyed by Gavin's team capturing Elliot, but now the entire town knows the dragon exists. So Elliot leaves Pete with Grace's family and takes off... but sometime later, Jack and Grace have taken the folk song about dragons that everyone knows and treated the "go North" lyrics as instructions so the family, which now includes Pete, can find and visit Elliot [[spoiler: and the family he was separated from but has now reunited with]].

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

** It's Pete who tells Elliot that they have to separate for Elliot's safety. Their home was destroyed by Gavin's team capturing Elliot, but now the entire town knows the dragon exists. So Elliot leaves Pete with Grace's family and takes off... but sometime later, Jack and Grace have taken the folk song about dragons that everyone knows and treated the "go North" lyrics as instructions so the family, which now includes Pete, can find and visit Elliot [[spoiler: and the family he was separated from but has now reunited with]].

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* FantasticSapientSpecies: Elliot.

* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness; perhaps he was spurred on by hurt feelings when his brother Jack didn't believe him. Gavin's main motivation is that he seems to believe he needs a claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.
* VisibleInvisibility: Elliot shows as more magically well camouflaged than truly invisible in many case.

* ButNowIMustGo[=/=]BittersweetEnding:
** It's Pete who tells Elliot that they have to separate for Elliot's safety. Their home was destroyed by Gavin's team capturing Elliot, but now the entire town knows the dragon exists. So Elliot leaves Pete with Grace's family and takes off...
** ... but sometime later, Jack and Grace have taken the folk song about dragons that everyone knows and treated the "go North" lyrics as instructions so they can find and visit Elliot [[spoiler: and the family he was separated from but has now reunited with]].

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* ArcWords: "The bravest boy I've ever met." These words are spoken to Pete [[RuleOfThree three times:]] Once by his birth mother, once by Grace, and once by her father who adds Pete to the tall tales he tells.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush home to tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness; perhaps he was spurred on by hurt feelings when his brother Jack didn't believe him. Gavin's main motivation is that he seems to believe he needs a claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush home to tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness; perhaps he was spurred on by hurt feelings when his brother Jack didn't believe him. Gavin's main motivation is that he seems to believe he needs a claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush home to tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness. He just seems to think he needs some claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically -- at least not until Elliot sneezes on him and bends his gun into uselessness. He just seems to think he needs some claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He doesn't hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically. He just seems to think he needs some claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Natalie has a MissingMom. They don't even bother to imply why she's missing. Just that Jack is affianced to Grace now and she's on a first name basis with the stepmother-to-be.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He doesn't hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically. He just seems to think he needs some claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Pete suffers MissingMom and DisappearedDad in the first few minutes of the movie. TrailersAlwaysSpoil, so the fact that Pete was alone in the woods for six years means they had to be taken out of the picture early on.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* VillainBall: Gavin is the villain because the movie needed conflict. He doesn't hold any ill will toward Elliot specifically. He just seems to think he needs some claim to fame to put the tiny mill town on the map. If cutting down the forest faster than is wise to encourage development won't do it, maybe catching the town's legendary dragon will.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* FieryRedhead: Played with. Gavin and his lumber crew imply to each other that Grace being a redhead is why Jack tends to side with her against him -- that his brother can't withstand her hot temper. The truth is though that Grace is a very level headed woman and even when emotional, tends to be very mild about how she shows it.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CassandraTruth: Meacham has been telling people about the Millwood Dragon for years, so long that it's a town legend. Gavin stumbles across Elliot and the first thing he does is to rush hom and tell his brother Jack that Meacham wasn't making it up.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.

* AdultsAreUseless: Played with.

* CoveredInGunge: Elliott's sneezes
** Pete gets a downplayed example. The dragon sneezes on him but it's a light mist. Pete still complains and playfully scolds Elliot.

* HeroesWantRedheads: A played with example. Pete bonds with Grace most out of all the people in Millwood.

** Grace. She is a little too strait-laced to really disrupt Gavin and the loggers' activities in the forest, even though they're cutting where they're not supposed to. So she fights back in small ways. She spray paints away their markings for which tress to cut when she finds endangered wildlife living there. She takes the keys out of the bulldozer and throws them a short distance away. Finally, she [[RuleOfThree takes Gavin's keys]] off him and throws them a short distance away.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: Surprisingly averted. The movie uses a very light touch with its pro-environmentalism messages.