La montaña embrujada

I was thrilled to see one of my favourite films, as a child, released on to DVD. I can now share some of my childhood with my own kids. No big surprise, but my older daughter (7) loves it. My younger daughter (2) thought some parts were "scary daddy"; the broom/jail scene was well done! Highly recommend it as a family film for folks that want a nice movie to watch with their kids.

Having seen the new version of this film recently ("Race to Witch Mountain"), I cannot tell you how much of a pleasant surprise "Escape to Witch Mountain" was to me. The new version, in my opinion, lacks any kind of character development and is full of annoying characters that do nothing to help the movie. Essentially, the new version basically did away with the first 45 minutes or so of this film, which helped set up the story, develop the characters, and give us a better sense of why the kids are running away. Also, Dwayne Johnson is incredibly lacking in emotion and character compared to Eddie Albert in this movie. While I admit that most of the special effects in this film may seem cheesy by today's standards, they actually make the film even more fun to laugh at. This film came out of a couple of decades when Disney was at its height of live action movies, when even film of this type they turned out was at least worthwhile. This is an enjoyable movie, with good jobs of acting done by basically all of the characters. Appropriate for anyone in the family, exciting, funny, and likable.

***1/2 out of ****

A long time ago, I was into books. This isn't a light phrase, I took out multitudes of them from the library. Alexander Key wrote a neat novel called "Escape to Witch Mountain" about a priest named Father O'Day who helps two siblings return to their people. It was a very good book, and I knew when I bought the book from the Book Fair that it was a reprint to endorse the movie. However, at that time, my movie-experiences were minimal. It took several years for me to actually be able to see the movie (when Disney first brought out the Disney Channel, iirc) and I was a bit surprised at the liberties that were taken with Key's book. The priest became the widower, and the beat up car became the RV. Bolt was not in the book, but he was an interesting main-villian, and I enjoyed the movie. My son, who is now 6 (Tues this week) enjoys watching it on VHS as much as I do!

Return was not as good--it was a "let's make money by doing a sequel" but it was cool too. As that 5th grader, I knew what it was to be outside the norm, and I wanted to have the same powers that Tia did, so I guess that's saying something!

I too place this movie with Parent Trap, Candleshoe, and Freaky Friday. Good movies that I don't have to worry about my child "catching" wrong words from! **** out of 5.

It always puzzles me how adults can review movies that were meant for a young audience and review it negatively (through adult eyes), completely forgetting about a child's unique and innocent perspective on the film. Shame on them all!!

As a young kid in the 70's, Disney, cartoons and sports were all weekly staples- so many good memories!! Escape to Witch Mountain was one of the first movies I saw in the theater, and was both entertaining and fun. A good adult cast; Donald Pleasence, Ray Milland and the underrated Eddie Albert, all provide good support for our two hero kids who use their powers to not only try to find home again but thwart the evil intentions of those trying to use their powers for their own benefit. The movie is well paced and has the usual hi jinks one expects in a "chase" film. I enjoyed it then and liked it just as much after a recent viewing on cable.

This movie also illustrates how one doesn't need bad language or crude behavior/jokes to appeal to kids. What some people regard as "corny" others find a refreshing change from today's standards of "acceptable" programming.

Honestly, very few things in life fill me with more joy and happiness than re-watching the favorite movies of my childhood during lazy Sunday afternoons, now more or less 20 to 25 years after I last saw them. During the past couple of years, I discovered that I still love them all just as much as back when I was a geeky 9- year-old with an unhealthy interest in macabre kids' films! I'm talking about titles like "Dark Crystal", "The Watcher in the Woods", "Return to Oz", "Island at the Top of the World" and "Something Wicked this Way Comes". "Escape to Witch Mountain" was also on my list of childhood favorites, and re-watching this particular one also became another emotional milestone for me, since I watched it together with my 6-year-old son! We live in Belgium, so he doesn't speak English and he can't properly read subtitles yet, so I pretty much narrated the entire movie to him. But that was a big pleasure since he was clearly just as impressed and intrigued as I was 25 years ago and he truly loved all the legendary scenes, like with the flying RV, the trained bear and the upside down helicopter! Now, nearly a week after having seen the film he still talks about it and he particularly feels proud about having watched a more mature movie whereas his friends at school are still just watching the animated Disney movies!

But anyways, even my more objective opinion states that "Escape to Witch Mountain" is a recommendable film for all types of audiences. It has an engaging plot, good pacing, plenty of versatile action and – most of all – wonderful acting performances. Back when I was 9, I obviously didn't know who Donald Pleasance or Ray Milland were, but over the years I became a horror fanatic and now they are both ranked among my favorite actors of all time. It's good to see that even in Disney movies they remain loyal to their reputations and depict villainous characters that are equally menacing and loathsome as in regular hardcore horror movies! The story introduces two cherubic but orphaned siblings, Tia and Tony, with sensational supernatural powers. The girl Tia can foretell things before they occur and talk to animals, while the boy has telekinetic capacities. Nobody knows where they come from, although Tia has vague recollections of a shipwreck, and they are placed in a boarding school where they clearly don't fit in with the other children. When the girl saves the life of a certain Mr. Deranian (Donald Pleasance) by warning him about an accident about to happen, he is immediately intrigued by her powers and informs his employer Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland). Their intentions obviously aren't peaceful and even though they offer Tia and Tony a giant room full of toys, the girl senses they are in danger and they flee from the estate. With the - initially reluctant – help of lone tourist Jason O'Day (Eddie Albert), they set out on a dangerous journey in search for their true personalities. "Escape to Witch Mountain" is still a great and adventurous kids' movie, accomplished with a lot more heart and passion than nowadays. I hope to quickly track down the sequel "Return to Witch Mountain" as well, as it has an equally impressive cast featuring Christopher Lee and Bette Davis.