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You can say what you want about professional wrestling, but you’ve got to admit that it did a lot to help Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson make the move from performing in the ring to performing on-screen. With his infectious enthusiasm, his dazzling grin, and his larger-than-life personality (not to mention his hulking physique), he’s an irresistible action hero. But although he seems to be getting better and more charming with every movie he makes, even a tough guy like The Rock can’t carry Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain.
After years of driving late-night revelers and costumed conventioneers around Sin City, nothing really surprises Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno (Johnson) anymore. But when two kids climb into his cab and offer him a pile of cash to drive them to the middle of nowhere (and fast!), it does seem a bit odd. But he’s never been one to turn down a pile of cash—so he drives them out into the desert, to a run-down shack. There, he discovers that these two kids aren’t any normal kids. They’re aliens.
Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) explain that they’re on a very important mission—and unless they can recover their ship from wherever the US Department of Defense has hidden it, the people of Earth are in some serious danger.
Jack reluctantly agrees to help, but before Sara and Seth can return home, they’ll have to elude the military, an alien assassin, and some Vegas thugs—all in a broken-down cab.
Like 2007’s The Game Plan, Race to Witch Mountain is Johnson’s film. He’s that big, gleaming light in the middle of an otherwise mediocre film. He’s funny and charming, and he’s often enjoyably over-the-top. And it’s a good thing that he is, too—because, without him, Race to Witch Mountain is just another run-of-the-mill kids’ movie.
If it’s action and adventure you’re looking for, you’ll find plenty of that here. In fact, the characters spend nearly the entire movie running from someone—or something. But don’t expect any kind of story. Whole plotlines go undeveloped and unexplained, and Seth and Sarah’s mission—which, really, is the whole point of the movie—gets little more than a cursory, two-minute explanation. So if you’re the kind of moviegoer who likes to know why that Vegas cabbie is running from mobsters—or why he’d risk his life to help a couple of teen aliens—you’re sure to find the story lacking.
Also lacking are the 21st-century effects. Instead of enlisting Disney’s whiz-bang effects department for help, it often looks as if director Andy Fickman simply used the same effects as the original Escape to Witch Mountain (which, incidentally, came out in 1975). Or maybe he just whipped something up in his garage. It probably helped Johnson feel right at home, though—because, in the end, it all comes off looking almost as real as professional wrestling.
As far as kids’ adventure movies go, Race to Witch Mountain isn’t terrible. It offers plenty of fights and chases—so, if nothing else, at least it’ll keep the kids entertained for a while. But—unless you’re a big Dwayne Johnson fan—it’s not worth racing to the theater to check it out.
Blu-ray Review:
Like many other recent Disney releases, Race to Witch Mountain was given the full three-disc combo-pack Blu-ray release, including one Blu-ray disc, one copy of the movie on DVD, and a third disc that contains a digital copy. But, aside from those extra copies of the movie, the special features are surprisingly few and far between.
Blu-ray extras include nine deleted scenes, complete with introductions by director Andy Fickman. As usual, most of the deleted scenes were cut for a perfectly good reason—so they’re not especially fascinating. Many of them are pretty short, too—so short, in fact, that the introductions sometimes seem to be longer than the actual scenes.
Escape to Witch Mountain fanatics (and Disney fanatics in general) will appreciate Which Mountain?, a director-hosted feature that reveals all kinds of hidden references and cameos that you probably missed. Some of it is pretty obscure stuff—for example, Cheech Marin’s is named Eddie, after Eddie Albert, who appeared in the original Escape to Witch Mountain. But Fickman seems to be pretty proud of his little Easter eggs—and, well, the attention he paid to those tiny details is pretty impressive.
Really, though, the set’s most entertaining extra is the short blooper reel. If you have a few minutes to spare after watching the movie, it’s worth checking out—if only to watch The Rock laugh his way through various car chases and fight scenes.
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