Race to Witch Mountain
By Karen WilsonMPAA Rating: PG for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements.
Genre: Action/Adventure
DVD Release Date: August 4, 2009
Theatrical Release Date: March 13, 2009
Running Time: 1 hour and 39 minutes
Plot Synopsis: Cranky Las Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno picks up a very unusual fare: two young kids with a wad of cash, who speak in formal tones and ask him to drive them out to the middle of the Nevada desert. But when they're chased by black SUVs and the kids show Jack Bruno the secret way into an underground jungle beneath an abandoned shack, he realizes Sarah and Seth are no ordinary teenagers. It is then that they reveal to Jack that they are aliens from across the galaxy sent to Earth to retrieve a special object which will save their home planet. Now, if only they can be reunited with their ship inside Witch Mountain…
Sex/Nudity: A relationship develops between Jack and the UFO scientist Dr. Alex when Sarah clues Jack in to Alex's attraction to him using her mind reading abilities.
Violence/Gore: Lots of hand-to-hand combat, explosions, car-crashes, flying bullets and a house fire. A very scary alien assassin from Sarah and Seth's home planet follows them to earth and chases them throughout the movie, though Jack finally dispatches with him by ripping off his mask and then throwing him off their space ship. The government agents are also quite creepy, chasing the siblings and when they finally catching them intending to do invasive experiments.
Profanity: None
Which Kids Will Like It?
Easily frightened elementary age children will probably find the chase sequences and the villains, both human and extraterrestrial, too intense. But slightly older kids will find the story engaging, though very complicated, and the characters quite likable.
Will Parents Like It?
Watching this remake will have adults fondly thinking back upon their rosy childhood memories of watching the original installments of the Witch Mountain franchise, Escape to Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain. They will probably appreciate the silly cameos by Garry Marshall and Cheech Marin, though these camp roles pale in comparison to Christopher Lee and Bette Davis from Return to Witch Mountain. Adults should also keep an eye out for brief performances by the kid actors from the 1970s versions. Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, now all grown up, appear as a helpful waitress and sheriff in a key escape scene.
Special Features: Both the Blu-ray and two-disc DVD editions of the film include deleted scenes and bloopers. The Blu-ray Combo Pack also features "Backstage Disney: Which Mountain?" featurette with director Andy Frickman revealing the film's hidden references to the two preceeding Witch Mountain films.
Kaboose Review: Disney entertainment has always been synonymous with animation and characters like Mickey Mouse, Bambi, and Tinkerbell but starting in the 1950s, the studio also began producing popular live action movies for families. Parents may recall fondly watching films like The Shaggy Dog, Pollyanna, The Parent Trap and Swiss Family Robinson in their childhoods. By the 1970s and 1980s, Disney was releasing many more live action movies than they were animated ones.
One such film was Escape to Witch Mountain, based on a book by Alexander H. Key about a pair of extraterrestrial siblings, which also spawned a sequel, Return to Witch Mountain. Now over 30 years later, Disney has redone this property, keeping with the alien brother and sister heroes but updating it with flashy special effects and a more complicated plot and renaming it Race to Witch Mountain. Featuring wrestler-turned-family-friendly actor Dwayne Johnson and a star-studded cast, Race to Witch Mountain may not be the instant classic of those earlier Disney projects but it's an exciting, entertaining little movie that the family can enjoy.
Johnson plays Jack Bruno, a cab driver in Las Vegas with ties to some shady characters. One morning he discovers two teenage siblings in the back of his taxi, Sarah (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory's AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) who ask Jack to drive them out to a remote part of the desert. Along the way the cab is chased by a bunch of black SUVs, which Jack thinks are his underworld connections but are actually government operatives led by menacing agent Burke (Ciaran Hinds). Sarah and Seth help Jack elude Burke with their fabulous powers--including Seth's ability to rearrange his molecular structure and Sarah's to move objects with her mind.
The kids explain to Jack they are actually extraterrestrial teens that have traveled to earth because their home planet is dying and they need to prevent their government from invading and taking over Earth. In order to do so, Sarah and Seth must retrieve an object left on earth by their scientist parents and then get back to their space ship, which been taken to a secret army base inside Witch Mountain. Together Jack and a friendly scientist who studies UFOs, Dr. Alex Friedman (Spy Kid's Carla Gugino) help Sarah and Seth get into the fortress in Witch Mountain, but not without many reversals, close-calls, and adventures along the way.
Race to Witch Mountain is big on the elaborate plot points; there are many more details to the story I've left out here. It's also chock full of flashy special effects and more fight scenes than are entirely necessary. The idea of alien kids having adventures on earth is cool enough, it's a shame the producers and screenwriters couldn't have told a more simple story.
Directed by: Andy Fickman
Cast: Dwayne Johnson (Jack Bruno), Carla Gugino (Dr. Alex Friedman), AnnaSophia Robb (Sarah), Alexander Ludwig (Seth), Ciaran Hinds (Burke), Tom Everett Scott (Matheson), Garry Marshall (Dr. Donald Harlan), Cheech Marin (Eddie)
Karen Wilson is a freelance writer living in New York City.
