iroquoisjoe This was the gf's choice for an action flick and boy do I regret having this in my Action folder.Somewhere at the end of this movie, the "actor", formerly known as The Rock, gives the camera his 'look of wonder' face as the kid's spaceship lifts-off for the stars. I couldn't bear it any longer...this was where I just looked away from the screen because it was just that bad.It didn't start out too bad. I just think he has a limited acting range. He was fine as the cynical taxi driver at the beginning... And even as his sarcastic one-liners were becoming increasingly hit and miss as the movie went on, he was at least tolerable as an average joe (with body builder biceps and semi-pro NASCAR driving skills) 'in over his head'.But then he has to become Mr. deep-down has-a-heart-of-gold friend-to-all-kids-in-trouble type of guy. And that is just beyond his acting range. Anyhow, the special effects are not up to par. The acting all around is questionable. The music; annoying. The plot...kinda holey. The "love interest"...is uninteresting. The young actress...a good look-a-like replacement for Disney for Lindsay Lohan but having to do a part that is way to weepy. The young actor...he would almost be laughable displaying his stoic yin to his movie sister's emotional yang, but really he seems to have been the casting director's lowest priority....and then there's The Rock. I suspect too much of the budget went to him and not to getting good support actors, script doctors and special effects. And thus you get a movie with a main actor whose expressions of wonderment could be mistaken for a person experiencing an prostate exam getting disturbingly personal.I know he'd twist me into a mutilated pretzel, but it would be worth it to sock him one for putting me through too many close-ups of his bad camera mugging. I have really been turned off the idea of seeing him in a starring role EVER again.

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!

canadian58 Despite what people say, Race to Witch Mountain is a very good movie. Both child actors have a lot of talent, as does Dwayne Johnson. There is lots of action. And the aliens are more human- like in their behavior than any movie I have seen.What surprised me is the amount of violence in a Disney film. Pretty sure this easily could've earned a PG-13 rating at the MPAA, but was allowed a PG, given it was indeed a Disney movie. There is no blood seen, but lots of shootouts, explosions, and physical violence in this movie, so parents, be aware. Also there are many scenes that may frighten younger children.The storyline is a bit weak, but it is made up for in action, good acting, great special effects, and likable characters. My rating is 8/10.