Race to Witch Mountain

A 'crushable' Rock + 2 blonde moppets + a decent villain + a worthy script = a better-than-expected remake

Lunanshee and I were both hesitant and hopeful that Race to Witch Mountain would be a good movie. "Remakes" usually aren't, but there have been some "Updates" that have been pretty good, and this is one.

Cheers to AnnaSophia Robb, who does the "heavy-lifting" in terms of acting. Alexander Ludwig is a nice-looking young man who manages to look like the McCartney brothers, when they were still youthfully thin. Other than that, I believe that he had a large hand in utterly ruining The Seeker: the Dark is Rising!
Ciaran Hinds makes a delightful villain who will stop at nothing to nab the kids/aliens. The Rock (who can bear to call him Dwayne Johnson?) proves that he is pretty adept at comic roles while being oddly attractive and immensely likable. He was a good choice for the person on whom the narrative rests. Carla Gugino makes a good match for him, both in temperament and talent, although she is perhaps a little less of a comedian. I find her career choices to be more varied, however, and apparently this one is a winner (and one with franchise-potential).

I'm not nearly the fan that Lunanshee is for the source material. For instance, I didn't recognize either of the actors from the original films in this new version (thanks to IMDB.com for that trivia). On reviewing Escape to Witch Mountain after seeing this movie, I'd have to conclude that both are very firmly the products of their time. I am thinking of the environmental mission of the siblings in Race and the quality of the effects for both films (top-notch for their respective periods). I think the two can be admired separately, but similarly. Most of all, I applaud Disney for continuing to make live-action movies where no one is a buffoon (particularly the adults, who often are made to suffer as foils for intrepid children) and where intelligence and talent are supported but not idolized. Aside from a few (obligatory?) banal lines, the script was also worthy of the project. I will go to see the sequel, and look forward to seeing more of the funny side of The Rock.