| Review:
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Yet another addition to the numerous Witch Mountain
screen incarnations inspired rather remotely by the Alexander
Key bestseller, this latest Race To Witch Mountain is fairly
kid friendly but may leave their more jaded parents snoozing
through the proceedings. Though the choice of Dwayne Johnson
as exasperated helpmate to a couple of superteens from outer
space, keeps the movie afloat whenever it threatens to fizzle.***
Race To Witch Mountain is directed by Andy Fickman,
whose previous productions She's The Man and Reefer Madness:
The Movie Musical, would seem to raise expectations a tad
too high this time around. I can report with much relief
though, that for a change, neither grossout raging teen
hormones nor violent superpowers are part of this mix. AnnaSophia
Robb and Alexander Ludwig are Sara and Seth, two brainiac
pubescent extraterrestrials who turn up in Vegas after they
are victims of a spaceshipjacking. With unusual mental superpowers
that include the ability to drain an ATM machine of all
available cash, move objects of any size around at will,
and translating dog barks into English, the highly peculiar
pair are still in need of a bit of brawn in order to retrieve
their vehicle from a mean alien. So they settle upon The
Rock's unsuspecting ex-con cabbie Jack Bruno to supply the
muscle for their mission. But Bruno has enough problems
of his own at the moment, since the Vegas mob is trying
to force him back into their gang whe n he's adamantly retired
from a life of crime. Meanwhile, there's a conspiratorial
crew of government operatives with menace on their minds,
who want to kidnap and dissect the super-talented teens
to analyze their assets.***
Also around for a little sidekick duty when not providing
comic relief with maternal instinct, is Carla Gugino as
Dr. Alex Friedman, a failed astrophysicist turned alien
guru. Doing double duty on the big screen right now as seductress
Sally Jupiter/Silk Spectre in Watchmen, Gugino here is less
space expert than space cadet. And her goofy sensibilities
playing out in the midst of a simultaneous Vegas UFO space
expo of true believers, provide the rare moments of weird
fun whenever the story gets bogged down in unnecessary self-seriousness.***
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