Review of Escape to Witch Mountain (1975) by Michael M — 30 Apr 2012

The performances are often pedestrian, the writing is forced, the effects display blatant age marks, and despite a heavy focus on the mystery (something that was missing in the remake) the reveal comes too casually.

But does that make it a bad movie? Well, no actually. It's no masterpiece, and at times can be downright silly, but that's really part of its charm. There's a certain quality to these 70's era live-action Disney pictures that no other films can capture, and I must admit to a certain fondness towards them.

Low attention span children may get bored by some of the more drawn out sequences (there are a number of edits that could have been made to streamline a handful of scenes) and may prefer the remake, which admittedly I do as well.

Still, it's harmless fun, and it's charm is undeniable. It's stupid, but it's cute, and it's very difficult to dislike.