Race To Witch Mountain (Walt Disney Pictures)
By the Numbers Disney Flick
If there ever was a by the numbers Disney movie, Race To Witch Mountain is it. It has the requisite accidental hero Dwayne Johnson, check! It has the cute kids in peril AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig, check! It has the beautiful woman who helps out Carla Gugino, check! It has an adventure that is not too scary but not too bland, check! It is all there and it works one more time for Disney.
The problem is it all seems stale. We have seen Dwayne The Rock Johnson in other Disney films like The Game Plan. He is a capable actor and possesses the necessary charm for his role in this film. He plays Jack Bruno, an ex-con earning a living as a cab driver in Las Vegas. One day Sara and Seth (Robb and Ludwig) get in his cab and ask him to take them to a location in the desert.
Along the way a group of government agents begin to chase them. It turns out Sara and Seth are aliens. Bruno becomes their protector and eventually enlists the assistance of Dr. Alex Friedman (Gugino), a specialist on UFOs. They all race to Witch Mountain in order to get the kids on their spaceship for their return home.
None of the characters in this film ever relate to each other. They are all friendly and cheerful but they never seem to bond. There is zero chemistry between Johnson and Gugino, or even Johnson and the kids. This may be his fault or the fault of the other actors. Who knows
One nice touch is the cameo appearances by Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann. They played the kids in the first two Witch Mountain movies. Richards plays a waitress and Eisenmann plays a sheriff in this film.
Gugino looks plastic in this movie. Her face appears to have been painted on, and her hair looks like a bad wig. This just adds to the overall artificiality of the movie. It looks good, but it looks fake.
The film is rated PG for some mild violence.
Kids should enjoy this latest Disney offering but adults will find it all just tedious and tiring. We have seen it all before in fresher versions. It is great that Disney still makes these family movies but this one just didnt have that Disney magic to it.
I scored Race To Witch Mountain an erased 5 out of 10.
