Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Fresh and Exciting

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This follow-up to 'Escape from Witch Mountain' cuts to the chase far sooner than the original, boasts some excellent location photography of Los Angeles, a groovy score by Lalo Schifrin - and it has Bette Davis and Christopher Lee! They play siblings who occupy a castle that looks as if it belongs in Transylvania rather than the centre of L.A. and while Davis makes no bones about just being into villainy for the money, Lee - dressed in the usual Disney Villain homburg and three-piece suit - has the usual desire to harness Tony & Tia's alien powers to become "The Most Powerful Man in the World".

John Hough directed this sequel that sees both Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards return as psychic siblings Tony & Tia Malone, who try to take a vacation in L.A.(with help from Uncle Bene, once again played by Denver Pyle) but are immediately targeted by evil adult siblings Victor & Letha(played by Christopher Lee & Bette Davis) who want to use their powers for world conquest, and after Tony is captured & brainwashed, Tia must enlist the help of a gang of kids to rescue Tony, and stop the criminals. Silly and contrived film has a good cast working with inferior material. Has little of the charm of the first, though kids may like it.

Disney fantasy full of adventure , tension , intrigue and spectacular images . Engaging Walt Disney Sci-Fi/fantasy in which we meet Tony (Ike Eisenmann , in 2009 recent version played by Alexander Ludwig ) and Tia ( Kim Richards , subsequently performed by Anna Rob ) as they are arriving along with their uncle (Denver Pyle) in a flying saucer at a stadium called Rose Bowl . They have special telekinetic powers which make getting along with the rest of the kids difficult . After that , the clairvoyant kids with special powers meet a Cabman getting into a car across the streets . Some baddies discover their supernatural powers and effect they can have on humans while the children being pursued . As Tony is abducted by the evil Dr. Gannon (Christopher Lee), his spinster pal Letha (Bette Davis) and hoodlum (Anthony James) who want to use his powers for his own objectives . Gannon puts him an artifact into the neck that allows him to control Tony's brain . As Tony will brainwashed into helping them commit several crimes , hoping to put his special faculties to evil .This mystery-fantasy is packed with amusing action , thrills, suspense and spectacular scenes with abundant but primitive effects. The two children with mysterious powers played by Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are enjoyable and phenomenal , as always , Christopher Lee as mean villain and likable Bette Davis as old nasty . The picture results to be the sequel to ¨Escape to Witch mountain (1978)¨ also by John Hough that holds a recent take on titled ¨ Race to witch mountain (2009)¨ with The Rock , Carla Gugino and Ciaran Hinds as government agent and as homage to former adaptation appears Kim Richards as Sara and Ike Isenmann as sheriff in a brief roles .This funny picture is well directed by John Hough . He has an eclectic and long filmmaker career , beginning in television series ( Avengers, Protectors , The champions ) , making Hammer film (Twins of evil) , classic terror ( Legend of hell house ) , average horror movies ( Howling IV, American Gothic, Incubus ) , adventures ( Island of treasure, Black arrow ) until wholesome Disney family fare ( The watcher in the woods , Return and escape to witch mountain) . The flick will appeal to Disney film buffs and wholesome entertainment enthusiasts . A good children's film with acceptable special effects by that time though nowadays corny . The motion picture is professionally made though with no originality because being a simple remake , being an agreeable fun from Walt Disney productions .

Following the success of "Escape to Witch Mountain," Disney went to the well once again with this follow-up, three years later. Telekinetic, alien preteens Eisenmann and Richards return to Earth for a "vacation" following the presumably tough job of gathering together all the wayward people from their displaced planet. They haven't even gotten to their hotel yet when Eisenmann foresees an accident involving a man falling from the top of a building. The man (James) is part of a test that scientist Lee is conducting with his sidekick Davis in which people do as they are commanded to do following the implantation of a device behind their ear. Once Lee and Davis see Eisenmann save James through his powers, they decide to kidnap Eisenmann and make him their pawn, allowing them to steal things and extort money from whomever they choose. Richards, left alone in L.A. following the kidnapping, falls in with a gang of misfit kids who hang out in an abandoned house. They try to help her, but ultimately she must take on Lee, Davis and even her own brother in order to stop the crimes. Eisenmann and Richards are surprisingly more mature in the couple of years that separate the two films. Their performances are more assured and they are appealing, the one quibble being that the script separates them throughout nearly all of the running time, thus their considerable chemistry together is not given a full chance to shine. Lee is suitably suave and dangerous as the villain with Davis cackling her way through with somewhat less success. She gets a decent line or two, but mostly doesn't seem fully comfortable in the film. It has to rank as one of her lesser screen showcases. Soo, in his final film appearance before succumbing to esophageal cancer, appears as a beleaguered truant officer attempting to round up the gang of hooky players. The gaggle of kids is a fairly negligible bunch. One is played by Tina Yothers' brother and should be easy to spot. Juttner, whose voice has a shrill quality to it, later appeared in "The Swarm" before quickly ending up out of the biz. Pyle again appears incongruously as the alien uncle of the siblings. This go-round is far more action and effects-oriented than the first film. Some of the action is amusing (such as the silly goings on in a museum) and some of it is even a bit thrilling (some car chases and the adventures of a goat!) One neat stop-motion effect involves the impromptu repair of a wrecked van. There's a notable lack of heart in the piece, however, especially compared to the first movie. It might have been more entertaining had Davis been allowed to go the usual route of being the one in charge rather than a hapless flunky. While not a "great" movie, it has a certain level of entertainment and might even be more accessible to today's kids than the first one thanks to the emphasis on effects and the urban setting. Interestingly, James, who plays Davis' relative here (and chauffeur) played the very creepy driver who drove her over the edge of insanity in "Burnt Offerings" a couple of years prior. Also, the poster for this film was far scarier looking than anything in it, especially the VERY unflattering rendition of Davis!