Not your father's 'Pete's Dragon' trailer

Posted Monday, February 22, 2016 at 2:11 PM Central

by John Couture

I admit it, I was a fan of the original Pete's Dragon. I mean, how could I not be? I was three when it came out so I was in Disney's wheelhouse in terms of target demographic for the live-action and animation mashup.

So, I was particularly excited when they announced a remake (and we all know that I don't get excited by them often) coming out later this year. I mean, this will be a chance to pass along something from my childhood to my kids at roughly the same age.

The only problem is that someone at Disney didn't get the memo about my intended desire to bond with my children over this film. The film looks to be completely different in tone than the original one and that's not a bad thing, it's just not what I expected.

In fact, the film looks more along the lines of Tarzan: The Early Years meets Big Foot than whimsical childish fun, but that's OK. I'm just not sure if there's enough here to keep my young kids entertained, and if Disney loses that demographic, then I'm not sure Pete's Dragon will make up for it by going a bit older.

Of course, this is just a teaser, so there's plenty of time to get the right tone in place ahead of its August 12 opening. What do you think?