THE CRITIC-AL LIST
5 STAR FAB - 1 STAR RUBBISH

The Crazies
Case 39
The Wolfman
Legion
The Lovely Bones
Black Death
Daybreakers
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Ninja Assassin
The Descent: Part 2
Amer
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
The Box
2012
Disney's A Christmas Carol
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Solomon Kane
Pandorum
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs
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An Education
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A Perfect Getaway
The Imaginarium Of
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Up
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And The Half-Blood Prince
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Let The Right One In
Drag Me To Hell
Race to Witch Mountain
Knowing
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Not Quite Hollywood
Lesbian Vampire Killers
Martyrs
The Children
Surveillance
Watchmen
The Unborn
The International
Friday The 13th
Franklyn
Push
Punisher:War Zone
The Uninvited
Amusement
The Good The Bad And
The Weird
Hush
Underworld
The RIse OF The Lycans
My Bloody Valentine
Bolt
Slumdog Millionaire

Directed by Andy Fickman. Starring Jack Dwayne Johnson,Sara Anna, Sophia Robb, Seth Alexander Ludwig, Alex Carla, Gugino Henry, Ciaran Hinds, Matheson Tom and Everett Scott. Family drama, USA, 100 min. Web Site.

For those old enough to remember ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1974) and its sequel RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN (1978), both probably play better in rose-tinted memory than the corny and coy sci-fi adventures they actually were.

Deft direction by John (THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE) Hough non-withstanding, author Alexander Key’s brainchild suffered in screen translations by being made before STAR WARS raised the bar for family entertainment forever. Quite why Disney has taken so long to revive the dormant franchise is a moot point. But refresh it they now have into an express adventure barely giving you time to breathe between one breakneck slab of high action and the next mega car chase. You won’t need reminding of the story: two aliens disguised as teenagers Sara and Seth (BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA’s AnnaSophia Robb and THE DARK IS RISING’s Alexander Ludwig) try to recover their lost spaceship with the help of a disgruntled Las Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) and astrophysicist Alex Friedman (WATCHMEN’s Carla Gugino). The only chance of saving their environmentally challenged world from invading ours is freeing their flying saucer from the clutches of sinister UFO investigator Henry Burke (ROME’s Ciaran Hinds) at his Witch Mountain base of operations and zoom home with crucial eco data. Meanwhile the Vegas mob are after Bruno too and a deadly alien warrior will destroy anything to stop the intergalactic blonde duo get space-ward.  Thankfully the whole ‘are they or aren’t they aliens?’ mystery is jettisoned immediately by this re-imagining, one of the reasons why the first film felt so ponderously dragged out. And The Rock’s easygoing charm goes a long way in papering over similar cracks in credibility that sometimes threaten to warp the well-oiled tracks of director Andy (THE GAME PLAN) Fickman’s rollercoaster ride.  Overall the special effects work is pretty good (the Planetarium-style holograph explanation of Sara and Seth’s alien origin a particular favourite), the one misstep a third act rain of bullets at the flying saucer’s entrance that betray their obvious CGI origins. Can’t complain too much though when the main story zips along like gangbusters with engaging performances, sly humour, colourful thrills and spills and sneaky swipes at sci-fi fandom (Alex is lecturing at a UFO convention, cue Whitley Streiber cameo) helping spin the entertainment wheels.

Although conforming to what is expected of tent-pole fantasy blockbusters these days, RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN never loses its good-natured Disney mojo. Everyone ends up hugging each other before teary farewells lead to a sweetness and light credit roll. Altogether now, aah!  Fans of the first two movies will be delighted to see original aliens Tony and Tia (Iake Eisenmann and Kim Richards) return to play Stony Creek’s sheriff and diner waitress. 

Alan Jones

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