‘Pete’s Dragon’ is sweet-natured but plodding

There’s a boy named Pete. He has a dragon. And that’s pretty much where the similarities between this weekend’s “Pete’s Dragon” and the 1977 original begin and end.

That’s likely for the best, as it means no hillbillies singing about how they bought young Pete as a slave for $50 and are going to “saw him in half” and “eat him for dessert.” No singing snake-oil salesman who wants to slice up the dragon, Elliot, to use in a variety of potions. No lighthouse overseen by a daytime drunk. And, best of all, no mention — in song or dialogue — about the uptight town of Passamaquoddy.

The new “Pete’s Dragon,” sweet-natured but plodding, isn’t anything special. But it flies circles around the nearly unwatchable original.

This time around, Pete (Oakes Fegley) is orphaned as a 4-year-old when his parents are killed in a car crash near a wooded area in the Pacific Northwest. He’s immediately taken in by a giant, furry dragon named Elliot, who spends the next six years raising him.

The two best friends fly high above the trees and down into the valleys, “The NeverEnding Story”-style, while no one ever notices. That includes forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) who claims to know every inch of those woods.

One day, though, loggers led by her boyfriend, Jack (Wes Bentley) — she’s a forest ranger, he’s a logger, what a wacky pair! — get too close to the cave Pete and Elliot call home. Pete, curious about these strangers, comes out to take a look and is spotted by Natalie (Oona Laurence), Jack’s 11-year-old daughter. She’s nearly as surprised to see him as he is her, owing to the fact that this forest is so rarely visited, no one’s ever noticed a giant dragon living in it.

By this point, Pete is practically feral — part Tarzan, part Mowgli — so Grace and Jack bring him home to live with them. Because, Disney.

When Jack’s brother, Gavin (Karl Urban), learns of the existence of Elliot, he immediately sets out to capture him. So it’s up to Pete, Natalie, Jack, Grace and Grace’s dad, amateur dragonologist Mr. Meacham (Robert Redford), to save Elliot.

Directed and co-written by David Lowery, with his “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints” collaborator Toby Halbrooks, “Pete’s Dragon” is genial and family friendly. But there’s entirely too much setup, precious little action, not much magic, and even at 103 minutes it feels at least 20 too long.

Unfortunately, this “Dragon” is draggin’.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch