Race to Witch Mountain

[Agent Richard07]

At the end of December, I saw Escape to Witch Mountain (which I remember bits of from when I was younger) and Return from Witch Mountain back to back and very much enjoyed the first movie, but not so much the second. Anyway, seeing those movies made me a little more excited about seeing this new one, Race to Witch Mountain come March.

Now the movie is finally here and I saw it. It's a remake, not a continuation, and as expected, it's pretty much a Dwayne Johnson vehicle more than it is a story about some alien kids. And though it has violence, it's pretty family friendly. It's also not nearly as good as Escape to Witch Mountain. That movie was about a pair of kids with special powers on a journey to find out who they are and where they came from. This new one on the other hand has some alien kids here on a mission with Johnson's character, a taxi driver, caught up in helping them out. Throw in Disney's style, Carla Gugino, and some bad guys in pursuit, both alien and human, the latter of which is of the U.S. Miliatary variety and you've got yourself a pretty basic movie. It's not bad, but it's not great either. I'll admit though that it is fun and exciting in places, and I did like Carla Gugino in this movie more than I did in last week's Watchmen. She plays a washed up astrophysicist who's trying to peddle her UFO research at sci fi conventions in case you're wondering. I was also happy to see the actors who played the original kids make cameo appearances. If you've seen the original and enjoyed it, I suppose this one is worth checking out just to see what's been done with the franchise.

Anyone else see Race to Witch Mountain?

IMDb Entry
Trailers

One more thing I have to add... There was a scene with a reporter and I thought to myself... That's Natty Gann! I of course recognized her as the actress who played the title character in the 1985 movie, The Journey of Natty Gann. Then the reporter finished her piece by saying "This is Natalie Gann reporting for XXXX News" or something to that effect. I thought that was a nice touch.

[Thrall]

I love The Rock. He's a very talented guy. Check out "Be Cool" if you don't believe me. But this little kiddie crap has to stop.

This is too...Spy Kidsish. In the original they didn't reveal the kids were aliens until the end of the film. Made for a much more interesting movie.

[Trippy]

My son and I enjoyed it. Yes, it was more of an action movie. We still liked though (and the SciFi convention scenes were hilarious!)

I loved the Witch Mountain movies as a kid, but they are so dated now. But it was a remake with different characters (Not Tony and Tia...who were they in the movie?). With pretty good kid actors (girl from Bridge to Teribethia and boy from The Seeker).

out of 4.

[cb31]

I'm glad to see this getting somewhat better reviews than scifiwire gave it! I loved the first movie as a kid and the second wasn't bad but I'll probably wait until dvd to watch this version.

[Agent Richard07]

Race to Witch Mountain was #1 this weekend, bringing in $25 million.

Box Office Mojo

[Thrall]

Go Rocky go. Say what you will, but the guy's always in hits. I still think The Rundown is the most underrated movie of all time.

[Captain Craig]

I saw it at and thought it was a decent enough movie. Its for sure family friendly and no doubt most young kids/tweens should like it fairly well.

My grade: B/B-

For what its worth Dwayne Johnson dropped the moniker "The Rock" either cause he's moved on or it was property of WWE. Either way just pointing it out.

[Admiral_Young]

I saw it with my brother and a couple of friends and thought it was an alright flick. I would give it about 2.5/5 stars. The kids were okay, it was mainly a Dwayne Johnston vehicle as Agent Richard stated...one of the reasons I finally broke down to see it, when the first trailer came out I resisted because of my fondness for Escape to Witch Mountain. It was good to see Ceasar from Rome in the show as the villan, and Gary Marshall as a Richard C. Hougland type character, and Whitney Striebler makes a cameo appearence as Carla Guliglio zips past him she quirps "not now whitney"! Being a Coast To Coast AM fan I was glad to see him! They should have invited either Art Bell or George Noory to be a part of this as well...even if not many people know who they are in the mainstream. The score was great IMO, but this was mainly a predictable visual effects affair.

[nevermore]

Captain Craig wrote:

---

For what its worth Dwayne Johnson dropped the moniker "The Rock" either cause he's moved on or it was property of WWE. Either way just pointing it out.

And I'm not more inclined to respect that than I am to stop calling Mark Wahlberg Marky Mark.

Anyway, I will probably check this out eventually, out of respect for the original, but I don't have high hopes.

[TGTheodore]

No one has mentioned the cameos by the original Witch Mountain kids: Kim Richards and Ike Eisenman. They played the waitress and sheriff who helped the main characters escape from the bar/diner. Ike (also Peter Preston in STII), looked just the same, only older. Kim has had a very hard life and is only now trying to get back into acting.

The current movie? Eh .. Although Dwayne Johnson is getting better with each film. Definitely a long way to go, but he's heading the right direction.

--Ted

[Praetor]

Thrall wrote:

---

I love The Rock. He's a very talented guy. Check out "Be Cool" if you don't believe me. But this little kiddie crap has to stop.

Exactly. The man could be a real action star/superstar if he steers himself bac in the right direction.

This is too...Spy Kidsish. In the original they didn't reveal the kids were aliens until the end of the film. Made for a much more interesting movie.

Agreed. This seems to undermine the intrigue of the original.

[T'Ressa Dax]

Haven't seen it yet. But I did see Escape to Wich Mountain and Return from Withc Mountain and liked them well enough.

[Kira Nerys]

When remakes are made of originals they are never as good as the originals .

[Greg Cox]

Kira Nerys wrote:

---

When remakes are made of originals they are never as good as the originals .

Not always. Look at:

The Maltese Falcon. (The third version is the classic one.)
Ben-Hur.
The Ten Commandments.
Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1932)
The Horror of Dracula (1958)
The Fly
The Thing
Richard Lester's "The Three Musketeers."
Superman: The Motion Picture
Batman Begins
The Scarlet Pimpernel (the 80's version is the best)
I Am Legend

The list goes on . . . .