• Is it age appropriate?

  About our ratings

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  Not age appropriate for kids under 4, age appropriate for kids over 7; suggested age 7.

• Is it any good?

  3.0

• Common Sense says

  Offbeat live-action/animation mix with lots of drinking.

Why We Rated This for Ages 7 and Up

The good stuff

• Messages:

  Though the heavy drinking does seem to put a weird stagger on the material, most of this is Disney-safe, with the message about holding out hope and maintaining childlike innocence and optimism. Expectedly, most grownups, except the villains, don't believe that Pete actually has a dragon, and adult-authority figures tend to be buffoons.
• Role models:

  Pete is a nice, honest orphan kid, though kind of one-note in that he’s mostly either being chased or chastising Elliott to behave. Pete never endorses Elliott using his strength or flaming breath against antagonists, and Elliott saves a bunch of townspeople in the end. On the other hand, a schoolteacher is depicted as a particularly nasty and negative character. Pete’s evil-but-dumb adoptive family, the rustic Gogans, are stereotyped hillbillies.

What to watch out for

• Violence & scariness:

  Comical roughhousing, as Elliott (sometimes visible, sometimes not), knocks villains around -- usually into the water -- with his tail, or the bad guys get caught up in their own snares. A few "comical" songs in which the villains sing about either cutting up Elliott for medicinal ingredients or abusing/killing young Pete (roasting the boy "gently" on a BBQ, for instance).
• Sexy stuff:

  Not an issue.
• Language:

  Not an issue.
• Consumerism:

  Not an issue.
• Drinking, drugs, & smoking:

  Was the sequel called Pete’s Alcoholics Anonymous Meetings? Extravagant drinking imagery pervades, with Mickey Rooney’s grandfatherly character as the town drunk. Other characters are repeatedly shown drinking or talking about drinking. Elliott the dragon himself imbibes of a flask. One guy, when he says he’s witnessed a dragon, is accused of being drunk -- and advised to have a drink and get over it (!?). Raucous musical number in a saloon featuring rolling barrels and a final shower of beer suds (predicting the "foam parties" that would be popular with youth decades later).

What Parents Need to Know

About Pete's Dragon

Families Can Talk About