Customer Reviews

Pete's Dragon

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After being out of print for years, Disney has finally brought back the soundtrack to Pete's Dragon, a personal favorite from their vaults. Since this was its first release on CD, I was anxious to get it.

For the most part, this CD holds up to my expectations. I've always loved the music because the songs have incredibly catchy melodies and fun words. This is great if I get such songs as "Candle on the Water," "There's Room for Everyone," or "Brazzle Dazzle Day" stuck in my head. On the flip side, I also run the risk of getting "Happiest Home," "Every Little Piece," or "Bill of Sale" stuck in my head. On more then one occasion, I have found myself singing these songs in public; it's a little embarrassing out of context. Still, it's worth it since over all the songs are so great.

So what's the problem? The songs appear on the CD in random order. While each song is represented, they are in no logical order, which is a little distracting. Also, some of them have been cut down from the movie. The edits are rather poor and there are a couple times when it's a little jarring on first listen.

It's a shame that Disney didn't take the little extra time and effort it would have required to make this release perfect. Keeping in mind its flaws, it's still definitely worth getting. I'm certainly enjoying my copy.

Although the songs on this CD are highly entertainling and sure to get stuck in your head once you've heard them, the CD is poorly produced. As others have noted the songs are not presented in the order they apear in the film. Worse, some have been edited. Below is the odrer in which they appear in the film (edited songs are marked with an asterisk).

1. Main Title
* 2. The Happiest Home In These Hills
3. Boo Bop Bopbop Bop (I Love You, Too)
4. I Saw a Dragon
5. It's Not Easy
* 6. Passamasholddy
7. Candle on the Water
8. There's Room for Everyone
9. Every Little Piece
* 10. Brazzle Dazzle Day
11. Bill of Sale
12. Candle on the Water (reprise)

Unfortunately, the reprise of "I Saw a Dragon" is not even on the CD. On the plus side, the booklet includes all the lyrics for each song and the digital remastering has produced a very clear and vibrant sound. It's unlikely this CD will be released again, so if you're a fan of Pete's Dragon or just want to hear some good, fun music, you'll have to deal with shortened versions and a confusing track listing.

When I learned that Walt Disney Records planned to release the soundtrack to Pete's Dragon on CD, I was very excited. However, my excitement was destroyed when I discovered that they have released a heavily abridged version of the score, exactly the same way that Capitol Records released it on vinyl back in 1977 (one track from that set, however, has been omitted; Helen Reddy's single 45 version of "Candle on the Water," which is available on Razor & Tie Record's Helen Reddy compilation).

Several of the film's songs are heavily abridged here, and none of the background score has been presented. Three songs have dance sequences in the film which are nowhere to be found here; the song "The Happiest Home in These Hills" has its opening verse removed, and the line "I'll collect," from "Passamashloddy," is inexplicably missing. Irwin Kostal's arrangements of the Al Kasha/Joel Hirschhorn score earned him an Oscar nomination; the late arranger, an Oscar winner for his song score arrangements on West Side Story and The Sound of Music, with additional nominations for Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, did a fine job here and his work deserves to be presented on CD as it was in the film. Worst of all, the songs are in an arbitrary order, rather than that in which they appeared in the film.

In 1996 and 1997, Disney released a number of film soundtracks with complete songs and score; they have recently been reissued after being out-of-print for a couple of years. The necessary elements for this film most likely still exist, as the studio historically keeps these materials around instead of throwing them out.

Disney should treat all films in their "Original Soundtracks" series equally and not just rehash the LPs which were abridged for space issues rendered irrelevant by compact disc. If you agree with me, call and write to Disney and ask them to revisit the soundtrack to Pete's Dragon as a complete song-and-score disc and not an LP rehash.

At least they bothered to clean up the audio for CD. It sounds good, but that's about all the nice things I can say about this soundtrack. This is a good film and its soundtrack deserves a much better treatment than it got.

Everyone has their own opinion about music, so I'll spare you mine. Mostly just wanted to say that this remastered recording is clear as a bell! Its sounds so good, I'd be convinced if you told me they had recorded it yesterday. Buy with confidence.

Even though there is room for improvement, the soundtrack to Disney's "Pete's Dragon" has never sounded better. The film may have its detractors, but it's hard to argue with these bouncy, catchy songs and the talented performers who sing them. Among the highlights are Helen Reddy's beautiful reading of "Candle on the Water," which more than makes up for her wooden acting in the film, and the brilliant Jim Dale's duet with the loveable Red Buttons. Unfortunately, this CD release pretty much mirrors the original LP, differing only in the absence of "Candle on the Water's" commercial single.. For some mysterious reason the songs do not appear in their on-screen order, a tremendous annoyance to any one who knows the story. Apparently, Red Button's line in "Passamashloddy" was recorded live on the set and is not on the soundtrack master, but it certainly should have been added to the mix as the song's rhyme scheme and momentum are greatly harmed by its absence. Some of the songs have also been abridged. But, since this is the best release of this score to date, I have to say that it will keep kids and their parents humming.

Mary Poppins ... blah! :) This is a marvelous movie with a marvelous soundtrack! Helen Reddy fans, enjoy her! Disney fance, enjoy this! A fun soundtrack with marvelous memories from the movie. "Candle on the Water," a great ballad! I love this movie, however was a bit nervous and unsure about the soundtrack. However, this soundtrack does a great job capturing the magic and wonderful and sublime innocence of the film.

Disney's 1977 masterpiece "Pete's Dragon" has been one of my favorite movies since childhood! I had been wanting the soundtrack ever since then, and was totaly surprised when it was finally released on CD!

My favorite songs on the disc are "Brazzle Dazzle Day", "It's Not Easy", "There's Room for Everyone", and "Candle on the Water". Helen Reddy sings lead on them and sounds great! I was introduced to her thanks to the movie, and have been a big fan of her ever since!

This is a great CD! If you love the movie, you should definately get the soundtrack!

I can't believe it took so long for Disney to release this soundtrack on CD! First of all, it sounds wonderful and it's actually quite an interesting cd. All of the songs are here, but not exactly as they were performed in the film. The overture sounds wonderful. Some of the songs have verses that were not used in the film, such as in Mickey Rooney and Helen Reddy's "I saw a Dragon" and it seems that "Bill of Sale" is a bit extended. I think the chorus was repeated. Helen Reddy's "Candle on the Water" is the highlight of the soundtrack. Here's the one problem I have with the CD release:
On the original soundtrack lp, there are two versions of "Candle on the Water." One was the film version which is on the cd, and another was more of a pop version, with background vocals and everything. That version is not included on this cd. In it's place is a "Candle on the Water" reprise. Only half the song is there, starting with "A cold and friendless tide has found you..." It's the last track on the cd and is actually quite pretty, but the other version should have been included. It would have also been interesting to include the full Pete's Dragon score. None of it is included on this cd. But then again, none of the score was on the original soundtrack lp either. So I guess it preserves more of the originality of the original soundtrack lp. I am very happy Disney decided to FINALLY release this on CD. Overall, it's WONDERFUL. ...

Pete's Dragon has a truly wondeful soundtrack, it's one of those that is very cleverly written, with wondefully creative musical themes, which unfortunately doesn't always get the celebration it deserves.

Now Disney have provided all the songs from opening score from the film. The tone of the music, has a calm feeling to it, even though there are upbeat numbers they are not 'razzle dazzle' and stay close to the almost sombre feeling of the film.

One reason why I did not give this 5 stars is because the songs are not identical to the versions in the film, the running times for the songs on the CD are in most cases shorter than you'll find on the DVD, with mostly the instrumental parts of the songs being omitted, although there is some difference in lyrics for a couple of tunes.

But all in all Pete's Dragon is a stunning soundtrack.

I have the Original soundtrack on LP off of e bay. I will have to get a listen to it when it arrives.. The abridged versons are on the LP too... I think that it gives the listener a different view of how the songs could have been in the movie... I might get the greatest hits of helen Reddy here in the future for the pop verson of "Candle on the Water".
Either way, I am going to enjoy this new CD... Should be interesting to hear what Jim Dale sounds like on CD... At least it is FINALLY being released under the Disney Label... Thanks again Amazon.com for bringing the music of Pete's Dragon Back to the forfront again...