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Film Title: Race to Witch Mountain

 Best for ages: 7 and up.

Movie Website: Click Here

Year Released: 2009

Rated: PG (US)

The Review

   Recently, I reviewed Escape to Witch Mountain and its sequel Return from Witch Mountain on this site, as Disney released them on DVD under their Family Classics label. The two films were highly entertaining and it seemed to be just a matter of time before Disney rehashed the idea for a  new generation.

   Race to Witch Mountain is a movie within itself, not a sequel, while it does borrow ideas from the original two films. The film stars former pro wrestler Dwayne Johnson (a.k.a. as “The Rock”), as Las Vegas cab driver and former convict Jack Bruno. When a science fiction convention is in town, Jack is shuttling Sci-fi nerds back and forth to the convention and picks up Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), a UFO expert who is giving a speech at the convention. She gives him her card and info about her speech, but Jack just blows it off. However, Jack soon will need her help when he finds two children, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) in the back of his cab. Jack soon learns that they are not from this world and finds himself caught up in the middle of an intergalactic struggle.  The children tell Jack that they are here to find something that can help save both their planet and the earth. The problem, however, gets bigger when Sara's and Seth’s spacecraft is seized by the United States Army and Secret Service.  The craft is  taken to Witch Mountain. The children also are being hunted by  an alien from their own planet's government who would rather invade and take over earth than try to save their world. The children need the help of Jack and Dr. Friedman to get back to their ship so they can bring a device back to their planet in time to save it.  However, getting into Witch Mountain will be trickier than they all expect, and around every turn is an enemy who wants to capture or kill them.

   There is a lot of action-based violence in this film, including fistfights, gunfights (laser gun fights as well). There are people and aliens being drugged, hit by all sorts of household and foreign items and so on. . . . We never see any human get killed or hurt onscreen, and Disney, as always, does a good job to sugarcoat most of the violent situations in the film. The film is rated PG for these reasons, and there is a lot of action about which to be concerned. The evil alien that hunts the kids can be frightening to some viewers. He looks like a monster from a horror or sci-fi film. Other elements that make up the intense action scenes are a train crash, (in which, the film states, there are no deaths, but some injuries), some explosions and, of course, when the evil alien meets his doom, which mostly takes place off camera. Bad language is limited to words like stupid and dumb,  with some funny name-calling here and there.

   Disney pulls all the punches with this film making it very action-packed and full of heart-pounding sequences that keep the pace of the script moving. With Dwayne Johnson in the lead role, you know will be not only some great action scenes, but some comical situations as well. As an actor, he has proven that he can hold his own and that he has what it takes not only to be an action star and wrestler, but a diverse actor as well. Robb and Ludwig as Sara and Seth really hit their parts well and are similar to the children in the original films. The overall performances in the film are well-rounded.

    The production values, as always in a Disney film, are top-notch. It does have that Disney fantasy feel to it, but the visual effects are very good and believable, although they have those bright colors to the space craft and other props in the film that give every scene a more cheerful fantasy feel than the audience may be accustomed to seeing in sci-fi/action films.

   The Blu-ray disc comes with a few features such as deleted scenes and a funny bloopers reel. There is also a feature in which you discover hidden references in the film that relate to the original Witch Mountain movies.  The Blu-ray disc comes in a combo pack that does also include a DVD of the film and a digital copy as well.

   Overall, Race to Witch Mountain is an action-packed film and a great deal of fun. It is more geared for the seven and older crowd. It is not a film that I think most children younger than the age of seven will enjoy. The intense action and the scary evil alien that later is trying to kill the children in this film may be too frightening for some younger viewers. Do not get me wrong; it is an enjoyable family film, but it has elements that some might find unsuitable for themselves and young children to watch.

BUY THIS MOVIE.