Paul Magne Haakonsen
This is a Walt Disney movie in the very essence of the meaning. As such, this is a movie that is suitable for the entire family. Watching it as an adult with no kids around, then chances are that you will find this movie to be too family-friendly.The story is about a taxi driver in Las Vegas who find two teenagers in the back of his taxi. These teenagers claim to be from outer Space, and as things become turbulent around every corner, taxi driver Jack Bruno starts to think that there might be something to the extraterrestrial claims.There is a lot of action and adventure in "Race to Witch Mountain", but it is done in a manner that allows even a younger audience to watch the movie as well. And the storyline is fast paced and has a good continuous flow to it.The effects in the movie were good, and the visual effects department did a good job in bringing the movie to life on the screen.While this isn't Dwayne Johnson's best movie, it is still fun and entertaining for the family to watch.
Johan Dondokambey
The story is just plain lame. This kind of adventure plot where the adult character protects younger characters, let them be aliens, foreigners or other kind of situations, and go through all kinds of things where the movie eventually ends happily with the ones being protected get to safety, is really a plot too often done in the more mature action movies, particularly those of secret agent movies. It even comes complete with the side plot of having government agencies chase after them beside the actual bad guys. Sadly, besides having Dwayne Johnson, this movie doesn't really bring any new stuff to the table. On the adventure side, particularly the alien movie side, which is in itself has become kind of a culture; this movie only repeats all the recipe of previous alien and kid movie. The acting overall is just a standard work, particularly so because this movie has Dwayne Johnson in it. His performance here seems to lose focus on combining his action movie roles and his family movie roles. Carla Gugino also doesn't really make this movie anything more special.
Jackson Booth-Millard
I had seen Escape to Witch Mountain from 1975, and the sequel Return from Witch Mountain, and even the dreadful 1995 TV remake of Escape to..., but it was interesting to see Disney making another more modern version, from director Andy Fickman (She's the Man, The Game Plan). Basically an alien spaceship crashes near Searchlight, Nevada, over one hundred miles from Las Vegas, Henry Burke (Ciarán Hinds) leads a secret Defense Department unit to seize the ship and take the passengers, but none are found. Former criminal Jack Bruno (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) has turned his life around and works as a cab driver, one of his passengers on this night is failed scientist Dr. Alex Friedman (Spy Kids' Carla Gugino) who is attending a UFO convention at Planet Hollywood, and Jack no longer wants to accept jobs with the mob. Two teenagers, Sara (Bridge to Terabithia's AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig), get in the cab are paying him a high fare of $15,000 to head in a particular direction, no given destination, Bruno assumes the government agents following the cab are more mob, he avoids them with his driving skills, and Seth uses his ability to vary his molecular density to allow their escape. The teenagers explain that they are are aliens that look human and have advanced abilities that people on Earth have not discovered yet, including telekinesis, telepathy and varying molecular density, and finding an abandoned house he sees them retrieve a device they will need for their ship, and they are again pursued Burke's agents, as well as powerful armoured alien assassin Siphon (Tom Woodruff, Jr.), but they manage to avoid them and carry on. Bruno takes Sara and Seth to Dr. Alex Friedman, she realises she is what she has been theorising on for some time, she joins the group, the teenagers explain their world is three thousand light years from Earth, despite the idea being unpopular their government plan to invade the planet so that their race can survive, their parents were experimenting to find a way to survive without invading Earth but were arrested before completing, so the teenagers went to Earth to find the successful findings, to save both Earth and their race they must return to their world in their spaceship. Fellow UFOlogist and conspiracy theorist Dr. Donald Harlan (Garry Marshall, director of Pretty Woman) helps telling the group that the spaceship was taken to Witch Mountain, a secret government base in California, they arrive there but are captured and the teenagers are knocked out to be surgically experimented on, and meanwhile the Siphon attacks the soldiers, while Bruno and Friedman get back into the base and save the teenagers. Sara and Seth launch their ship and escape Witch Mountain through the tunnels, the Siphon is finally killed by the high voltage energy from the ship core, once landed the teenagers give Brun and Friedman a tracking device son they always know where to find them, they wish them a tearful farewell and return home with hope they rebuild it somehow, in the end Bruno and Frideman become successful authors with their book about their experience, and as they leave the device activates, this suggests the humanoid alien teenagers may be returning. Also starring Tom Everett Scott as Matheson, Chris George Marquette as Pope, Kim Richards as Tina, Ike Eisenmann as Sheriff Antony and Richard 'Cheech' Marin as Eddie. Johnson isn't the best at acting but proves a good enough being surprised and a hero, Robb and Ludwig putting on British accents and speaking perfect English sentences are likable, the story is simple enough for all the family, and assisted by terrific special effects, a few explosions and cool chase sequences it is moderately exciting, an enjoyable science- fiction adventure fantasy. Good!
Lobo Trujillo
"Race To Witch Mountain" is a film about two alien teenagers, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) & Seth (Alexander Ludwig), who have come to Earth in order to save their planet from destruction and save our planet from invasion. The science device they came to retreat has the answer to their problem, and they enlist the help of Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) and Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino) in order for their mission to be a success. This action movie from Disney is out of this world, the kid's powers, the spaceship and even the Siphon (Tom Woodruff Jr.) are very good created. The only problem that I find with this film is that the aliens look very differently, but it is a minor mistake. If you like action, I totally recommend this film.
