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Race to Witch Mountain – Review

by Jane Boursaw on March 14th, 2009

A bit of history first: There were two original Witch Mountain movies - "Escape to Witch Mountain" in 1975 and "Return from Witch Mountain" in 1978, along with a couple of TV movies in 1982 and 1995. So the franchise has a long history and a following among audiences who’ve seen those earlier movies.

"Race to Witch Mountain" isn’t so much a remake as it is a movie built around the concept of the early movies. In the first 1975 film, two alien kids land on Earth and fall into the clutches of an evil millionaire who wants to exploit them.

The new movie revolves around Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson), an ex-con cab driver in Las Vegas who finds two teens in the back of his cab one morning. Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) are odd little people, talking in a robotic way and asking "Jack Bruno" – as they call him after seeing his name on his dashboard – to drop them off at a remote place in the desert.

Once there, some very odd things happen. The kids disappear into a rundown shack and Jack follows them, only to find some bizarre goings on. He eventually learns that they’re aliens from another planet, who’ve come to Earth with a specific task to complete.

Meanwhile, Jack knows just the person to help them: Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) a UFOlogist who’s at a convention in Vegas. Jack seeks out her help to learn what’s going on, figure out who’s been chasing them, and get the kids back to their spaceship which is now being held at a secret facility known as … Witch Mountain.

"Race to Witch Mountain" isn’t the best movie you’ll see this year, but it’s entertaining, has some pretty cool special effects, and is a fun family movie. In the trailer, you’ll see one of the coolest fx, in which Seth is able to go through objects and stop moving vehicles with his body.

Dwayne Johnson as the ex-con cabbie is a good person for this role. He’s able to play the tough guy with a heart of gold, and I really like him in these funny, loveable roles, similar to what he played in "The Game Plan." There are plenty of action stars out there, but not so many tough guys (he’s a former wrestler) who can slide into these family movies so easily. He’s a character that movie kids can trust.

It was weird seeing Carla Gugino as the skeptical scientist, because I just saw her as an edgy broad in the R-rated "The Watchmen." But it shows that she’s a good actress who can play a variety of roles.

And the kids: AnnaSophia Robb has a huge fan base (a lot of kids in India, for some reason), and after doing some heavy-duty emotional movies ("Bridge to Terabithia" and "Sleepwalking," to name two), maybe she needed a more lighthearted movie like this one. This role didn’t seem to take much effort from her. 

Alexander Ludwig doesn’t have a huge resume (he was last seen in 2007’s "The Seeker: The Dark is Rising,") but as with Robb, he’s fine in this role as the stunned alien kid trying to find his way back home.

Ciaran Hinds plays a tough federal agent who pursues the group with his army of camo’d artillery guys. He’s another actor who’s done some heavy roles, not the least of which was playing Julius Caesar in HBO’s "Rome."

There were also a few throw-away roles for some actors who should be toplining their own movies: Tom Everett Scott plays one of the agents, Cheech Marin plays a mechanic who fixes the cab, and Garry Marshall plays a big-wig UFO guy at the conference. I hope these folks didn’t do this movie because had no other roles coming their way. I hope they did it to be a part of Witch Mountain history.

Overall, this is a nice adventure movie that contains no sexual innuendos or language issues, which also makes it a fine family movie for kids 7 and older. If you’re familiar with the original movies, keep an eye out for the sheriff (Ike Eisenmann) and the waitress (Kim Richards) in the town of Stony Creek. They played the kids in the original movie!

Images: Ron Phillips © 2008 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved

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