It looks like Disney is kicking it old school with the release of Race to Witch Mountain. Race to Witch mountain is a revamp of two movies that were released the late 70s about supernatural twins Tony and Tia. Tony had a harmonica that when he played it he could make objects move and Tia could talk to Tony telepathically, communicate with animals, had premonitions. The first film was based on the book with the same name, Escape to Witch Mountain. The book was written by Alexander Key in the late 1960s. The second film was entitled Return to Witch Mountain and did not come straight from the novel.
In the original movie Escape to Witch Mountain Tony and Tia were orphans living in an orphanage. During the course of the first film Tony and Tia figure out that they are extraterrestrials that came to Earth several years earlier with their Uncle Bene because their planet was dying. They find out that other from their planet came to Earth to start a new life and colonized at a place called Witch Mountain.
The new film called, Race to Witch Mountain stars Dwyane “The Rock” Johnson, Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb, and Alexander Ludwigg. This movie is not a remake of the original movie it is a re imaging of the 1970s movie/1960s book. In this film the names of the kids have changed and so have their powers. They are not Tony and Tia, but Seth and Sara. Also, Seth can change his molecular structure and phase though solid objects and Sara can read people’s minds, communicate with animals, and has telekinesis. The reason why they are on Earth has changed as well but I don’t want to give that away. Dwayne Johnson stars as Bruno a cab driver in Las Vegas that is hired by Seth and Sara to drive them to their destination which at some point becomes Witch Mountain. Carla Gugino stars as Dr. Alex Friedman a scientist that has been laughed out of her field because of her scientific theories of UFOs. She and Bruno help the twins with their mission. Along the way the children are being hunted by a thing called a Siphon sent from their home planet make sure they don’t complete their mission.
When I first heard that they were making a Witch Mountain movie I was excited because I loved watching the original movies as a kid. Then I found out that it was not a remake but a re-imagined version of the movie and I was not happy. What made me mad was that they changed the kid’s powers because I thought their original powers rocked. My opinion changed when I saw the film and their powers rocked. One of my favorite parts of the film was when Seth changed his molecular structure rock hard and stopped a vehicle that was chasing them just with his body. That scene looked like the scene in the movie Hancock where Hancock stops the train from hitting Henry’s car with his body.
I enjoyed the movie immensely because the movie pays homage to the original movie in many different ways. For example, the group use a weinebago as one of the vehicles they travel in to get to Witch Mountain. In the original movie the twins ride in a Weinebago to Witch Mountain. Also AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwigg are very believeable as the twin aliens. This film is very family friendly and is rated PG.