Pete's Dragon

A heartwarming tale of a boy and his pet, Pete's Dragon remakes an eccentric piece of Disney canon into a fresh and modern live-action family flick. Despite the story being somewhat predictable and relying on classic tropes from similar stories, Pete's Dragon amplifies the connections felt between humans and their pets into the realm of fantasy, while also staying somewhat grounded with a realistic, modern complication.

Young boy Pete (Oakes Fegley) finds himself orphaned and alone in the forest after a tragic motor accident kills his parents, until he finds and befriends a fluffy green dragon, whom he names Elliott. Years later, forest ranger Grace (Bryce Dallas Howard) discovers Pete as she looks to protect the forest's animals and their habitats from deforestation. Soon after, Grace and her future daughter-in-law Natalie (Oona Laurence) discover Pete's secret companion, and look to protect him after locals discover his existence and look to hunt him down.

Pete's Dragon starts surprisingly dark, displaying the car accident which kills Pete's mother and father and leaves him stranded and alone deep in the forest. Through this scene setting, audiences instantly grow deeply sympathetic and compassionate for Pete, and his amiable bond with his dragon buddy becomes justified. Though this quickly peters into a somewhat trademark story of the hunting and protection of an actually harmless beast, this ingrained value of a boy's connection with his pet carries the story forwards and tugs at the heartstrings.

The CGI design of Elliott is stunning, with realistic and believable movement and detailed body design. Oakes Fegley's surprisingly solid acting in cohesion with the CGI dragon lets us closely understand the supposed bond between the two and easily forget that it's simply a child actor interacting with what is probably just a guy in a motion capture suit. Bryce Dallas Howard fits the classic lead of a young, beautiful woman with a unique job perfectly, using her inherent skill in showing emotion to identifiably connect with the deeper themes of love apparent between Pete and his dragon.

Overall, Pete's Dragon is a great example of one of those "Come for the CGI, stay for the story" flicks, with a strong amount of family enjoyment to be had. Adults and children alike can understand Pete's bond with his dragon, just as many people connect with their own pets, and this integral love and affection becomes the driving force for the film's complications. Despite the use of perhaps one too many cinematic tropes, Pete's Dragon is sure to pleasantly satisfy audiences of all ages.

Star Trek Beyond

After the darkness that was the last Star Trek movie, the franchise has taken a much lighter turn. This can only be expected when you team up Justin Lin, director of the Fast & Furious movies, and Simon Pegg, who wrote the script. This tongue in cheek approach is a much needed thing in the current Hollywood climate, but is also a step away from the general nature of Star Trek which might upset long time fans.

The crew of the Enterprise are more than halfway through their five-year voyage through space and have stopped at deep space station Yorktown for some much needed respite. James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) is questioning his place as captain and applies to be the Vice Admiral of Yorktown. But that process is stalled when an escape pod drifts into the Yorktown space and the survivor on board claims that her ship was attacked in a nebula and are being held on a remote planet. Kirk and his crew go to the planet only to be attacked themselves. It turns out that the alien Krall (Idris Elba) was after a part of a superweapon that Kirk has. Luckily, another alien prisoner Jaylah (Sofia Boutella) is able to help figure out how to save the day.

What made this movie really work for me was the simplicity of the plot. It's a very basic rescue mission/escape movie. Pegg has written a script that really allows for focusing on the characters rather than getting bogged down in a story that is steeped in Star Trek lore. This also means that we get to see characters grow in and develop in this new universe. Simon Pegg also infuses the movie with plenty of humour that pleases both fans Pegg and these movies. One such example is when they use the Beastie Boys 'Sabotage' to save the day and refer to it as classical music. Justin Lin is also very adept at filming action and there is a lot more on the ground action than spaceship fighting, but that's what he does so well.

Due to Pegg's familiarity with his castmates, he has written a script that definitely plays to their strengths. One of these recipients is Karl Urban, which is good because Bones is definitely my favourite character. Also the character of Sulu is padded out a little more, as he given a husband and a daughter. While there has been an outcry against this, it doesn't harm the story at all and actually made me feel more a character who has been relegated to the background in the other two movies. There was a point where I was listening to Krall speak, and I wondered whether it was Idris Elba. No, I thought, he's not in this. Turns out he is, but still his performance isn't up there with some of the ones he's given in the past. Newcomer Sophia Boutella makes the character Jaylah very likeable.

In our current world of gritty reboots, Star Trek Beyond is a fun, bubbly adventure. Sure, it is part of a series that historically has taken itself very seriously, but this time round it's just a lot of fun to watch Captain Kirk and his pals wisecrack their way through the action. Also, the massive inside out planet that is Yorktown is really a wonder to see.

Star Trek Into Darkness

One of my best friends brought up a good point during the last Star Trek movie, why are they always setting their phasers to stun. He argued that they must be set to kill just in case and only set them to stun when the threat level isn't that big. Well in Star Trek Into Darkness, the crew of the Enterprise rarely set them to stun.

When we pick up the story, James Kirk (Chris Pine) has been Captain of the Enterprise for some time. After a botched expedition, Kirk is demoted to Commander and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto) is reassigned.

Meanwhile, there has been a terrorist attack on a London Starfleet post, masterminded by the mysterious John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch). The leaders of Starfleet decide to declare a manhunt to track him down. After an attack on Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco, Kirk and the Enterprise are charged with taking him down.

I found that although this movie was action packed, I found it to predictable at parts and too much of a carbon copy of the last movie. There are also elements from The Wrath of Khan, but only Trek fans will pick up on them. There are action cues, emotional cues and comedic cues which are hit at the right times. It's almost as if J. J. Abrams was making this movie with a formula that he has perfected.

The only really good acting of note came from two of the British cast members. Benedict Cumberbatch is cold and calculating as Harrison and I really felt like he was capable of killing without remorse. Simon Pegg is hilarious as Scotty, but that is a given as he is one of the comedic relief characters and considering his relationship with Star Trek (he did a whole comedy series called Spaced), he definitely has the chops to pull it off. I felt as though the third British cast member didn't really have anything to offer. Alice Eve plays Dr. Carol Marcus, a Starfleet doctor who sneaks aboard the Enterprise. I felt as though she was just a damsel for Kirk to save.

The other comedic element comes in the form of Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), or more properly, Kirk's interaction with him. McCoy is always there giving Kirk advice in the form of elaborate metaphors or pointing that he is a doctor, not a bricklayer, rocket scientist, gym teacher, etc. There are also some humourous lines when Kirk makes reference to the fact that Spock is, in fact, a Vulcan.

Verdict: It was chock full of action sequences and lens flare, but ultimately this is just another voyage of the starship Enterprise.