The story goes like this. In Pete’s Dragon (2016, out now on DVD) a boy named Pete and his mother and father have an accident on the way to a forest park. The boy survives and a dragon rescues him.

Pete calls the dragon Elliot, a name taken from a picture book. For the next six years, Pete stays with Elliot in the deep of the forest.

Then, the park ranger finds Pete and takes him to the ranger’s residence, but Pete longs to be back with Elliot. Pete’s journey is finding out if he will belong with his newly found human family or with Elliot. This is a difficult journey to undergo because he loves Elliot.

Reality and fantasy

There are a few moments in Pete’s Dragon that we may question.

After Pete had a devastating accident on a deserted road, I thought a dragon rescuing Pete makes light of Pete’s predicament. How could a dragon really save a boy who has just lost his parents in an accident? Dragons are fantasy, aren’t they?  I couldn’t and maybe you wouldn’t reconcile reality with fantasy.

Then the movie slipped under my guard and drew me into the story.

I may not believe in dragons, but I engaged with the theme of believing or not believing and knowing or not knowing, which has wider implications in life.

The theme of belief and non-belief

In Pete’s Dragon, the aging Meacham (Robert Redford) says he has seen and heard a dragon, but not many believe him. Meacham certainly believes, but what someone says is true is a sincerely held belief according to others. While Meacham tells them he knows, others don’t believe. We know the feeling when someone does not believe us but we know the facts. Argh! What is seen and heard isn’t always accepted by others, but according to Pete’s Dragon there is more out there and is not a venomous giant about to attack.