Review of Race to Witch Mountain (2009) by Jeff B — 16 Aug 2010

It must take a lot of energy to be The Rock. First, he has to maintain enough charisma to carry an entire Disney movie that is being set up as a potential franchise. Second, he has to kick enough ass to keep the movie interesting enough for adults dragged to the theaters by a hundred screaming children. Third, he must stomach getting referred to as ?The Rock? by snarky film reviewers despite giving up a pro wrestling career many years ago. But he does all of this in spades in Race to Witch Mountain, an anemic sci-fi kid flick that would have been shot back into space were it not for the bankable personality of its star, a man who apparently has enough star wattage to light up the eastern seaboard.

In the PG-rated family adventure flick Race to Witch Mountain, a Las Vegas cabbie (Johnson) and UFO expert (Gugino) shepherd two young runaways with supernatural powers (Anna-Sophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig) away from an alien assassin and a government agency.

Science fiction and family entertainment do not necessarily go together. Disney, however, made a head-scratchingly successful go of it in the ?70s with such low-budgeted fare as The Cat From Outer Space and the Witch Mountain twofer (Escape and Return, respectively). Channeling the trippy model rocket whimsy of the latter with a NASA-sized budget, director Andy Fickman gives Moviegoers a romp that is, at times, too repetitious and involved (does the audience really need our heroes chased by the assassin, government agents, AND the cabbie?s former mob boss?).

Bottom line: Rock of crud.