Race to Witch Mountain (2009)

Good concept, poorly executed.

An Exercise In Nonsense

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

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.

Fast-paced sci-fi action comedy that has The Rock playing an ex-con turned cab driver who ends up with two space alien children that are being hunted by our government and an assassin from their planet. To make matters worse, the cabbie is being pursued by some bad guys out of his past, so it's never a dull moment for these three. He is trying to get the kids back to their spaceship, which is in the hands of the government and stashed in Witch Mountain. The Rock is personable and convincing as a guy perpetually down on his luck, the kids are cute, and we get Carla Gugino as a controversial astrophysicist who helps the trio in their quest. Garry Marshall has a nice cameo as a UFOlogist. Lots of car chases and explosions and battles. Set in and around Las Vegas, which is its only flaw. A little too much time spent on the the Strip, which gets tired quickly. Better when they are out racing around in the desert. Great CGI effects, on which Disney must have spent tons of money.

Two teenagers from outer space enlist the aid of a Las Vegas cab driver to help them escape from an intergalactic assassin as well as a secret organization hoping to harness the kids' extraordinary powers for their own gain. 1975's modest fantasy "Escape to Witch Mountain" wasn't a blockbuster, however it made a good deal of money for the Disney Studios and has held up over the years simply by virtue of its charm. This rethinking of the story is full of slam-bang action and wise-ass exclamations (practically directed straight at the camera for that instant audience rapport), yet it is completely disposable. All the money has been sunk into the special effects and car smash-ups, leaving the characters and the script wanting. This is a committee picture by design, and every decision--from the casting down to the bulldozing laugh-lines in the script--has been made with both eyes on the box-office. Dwayne Johnson does about as well as can be expected with this lackluster material, yet his inefficiency at comic exasperation is matched only by the illogical nature of his impatient cabbie (whose vested interest in the goings-on isn't even questioned). The film is so clumsy, so inept, it fails even to introduce the two children (ostensibly the focal point of the story) with any care or foresight. Since the people on-screen do not emerge as anything other than running targets, the only thing holding the viewers' attention is the over-amplified noise. This isn't a movie, it's a distraction. NO STARS from ****