MOVIE REVIEW: Race to Witch Mountain
I love Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, he has that “It” quality that makes me want to watch him no matter what he does. He’s moved away from the action role stereotype and has gone into the Disney Family movie. A move many muscle bound stars like Stalone, Vin Diesel and Arnold have tried and failed at in the past. Diesel destroyed his career by doing The Pacifier – a movie I kind of liked, but then I’m a sucker for the Disney family movie. The reason it works for Johnson and didn’t for the others is that he doesn’t take himself too seriously and the fact that he’s having fun really comes through. This is Johnson’s 3rd Family film in a row, it’s time for him to go for some hardcore action film, but it seems like he’s happy where he is. His latest film Race to Witch Mountain is a remake of the Disney Classic Escape to Witch Mountain.
Disney released the classic film along with the sequel Return to Witch Mountain on DVD this week and I didn’t watch it so that I can go into this updated version fresh. The first few minutes of the film I was tired and out of it. But the movie doesn’t waste time with unnecessary build up or back-story, it throws you into the main story ten minutes into the film and doesn’t let up until the end. The kids (AnnaSophia Robb) Sara and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) appear out of thin air in the back of Jack Bruno’s (Johnson) cab and former “The Game Plan” Director Andy Fickman kicks the film into action and stays there for 90 minutes.
The film lacks soul and is straight out of Disney cookie cutter land, especially the cheesy low budget special effects. But somehow the film works for me, I don’t know and can’t explain why, it’s just nice little lightweight film to watch, especially after watching the heavy and depressing stuff that’s been coming out in the theaters and on Blu-ray lately. This is the first “pure” family film that I’ve watched since Coraline. I will say, I’m really tired of Animated films already. The previews before this showed 6 trailers – all 3D animated features. Talk about overkill. I don’t have a lot to say about Race to Witch Mountain. This film works because the kids and Dwayne Johnson are so darn likable.
Final Grade B
EM Review by
Michelle Alexandria
Originally Posted 3.13.09
i loved this movie. a good family film.
dwain rocked in the movie and anna was so exelent for the part and alexander really suited seth so please don't call it a 'cookie cutter' disney film cause it's really not