Race to Witch Mountain parents guide

Race to Witch Mountain Parent Guide

The tongue-in-cheek comedy combined with the action adventure in "Race to Witch Mountain" might make it an above average pursuit for the slightly older crowd.

Overall B

Sara and Seth (AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig) are siblings that possess supernatural powers. Needing to locate a place called Witch Mountain, while at the same time avoiding various villains that constantly trail them, the pair heads into the Nevada desert. Fortunately, the driver of the cab they hire (played by Dwayne Johnson) is a helpful soul who soon finds himself caught up in their desperate race.

Release date March 13, 2009

Violence C
Sexual Content A
Profanity A
Substance Use A

Why is Race to Witch Mountain rated PG? The MPAA rated Race to Witch Mountain PG for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements.

Run Time: 98 minutes

Official Movie Site

Parent Movie Review

As usual, I’m leery of remakes. Some things, like old classic movies and sleeping dogs, are often better left alone. Fortunately in Race to Witch Mountain, the Disney Studio has managed to recapture much of the action adventure experience of its 1975 film, Escape to Witch Mountain while updating the special effects and storyline. On the downside, they have also pumped up the amount of weapon violence and physical fighting.

In the movie, Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) is a former felon trying to scrape together a life as a taxi driver in Las Vegas. He hits the jackpot when a couple of young fares slide into the backseat of his cab and offer him a wad of $100 bills if he’ll drive them to a remote desert location. As the meter clicks well past $700, they arrive at an abandoned homestead in the middle of nowhere.

While the trip hasn’t been without incident, (their car has been smashed, bashed and nearly pushed off the road by an army of SUVs), the recovering criminal concludes he can’t accept all their cash and follows Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) into the ramshackle house. But inside, the teens are opening a series of secret passages, hidden behind a fridge door and shelves of bottled fruit, which eventually lead to a lush environment beneath the desert sands.

Although he’s been hesitant to accept his hunch, the mysterious location, fantastical plants and a Terminator-type assassin named Siphon who begins to attack them, confirms that these two travelers aren’t run-of-the-mill long-distance commuters. In need of Jack’s help, Sara and Seth reveal their identity and ask for assistance in recovering their spaceship that a secret U.S. space agency has locked down in a hidden location.

With Siphon stalking them at every turn and secret government officials on their trail, the innocent aliens are caught in a deadly race for safe passage back to their home planet.

The encounters with Siphon, gun-slinging agents and black-garbed SWAT members involve rounds of live ammunition, fireballs and hand-to-hand fighting as well as crushed cars and reckless driving. Though little blood is shown, characters also are thrown from moving vehicles or pushed through plate glass windows. Particularly for younger audience members, these portrayals are intense and often confusing.

Yet for older kids, the film is free of the usual teen movie concerns, such as language, sexual innuendos or scenes of underage drinking. Given the difficulty of finding engaging yet suitable entertainment for this age group, the tongue-in-cheek comedy combined with the action adventure in Race to Witch Mountain might make it an above average pursuit for the slightly older crowd.

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig.. Running time: 98 minutes. Theatrical release March 13, 2009. Updated

Race to Witch Mountain
Rating & Content Info

Why is Race to Witch Mountain rated PG? Race to Witch Mountain is rated PG by the MPAA for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations, and some thematic elements.

Compared to the original version, this film ups the amps in the violence arena. Numerous explosions, fireballs and car crashes are shown. Men, women and teens are shot at with high-powered rifles and missile-type shells. Men have their heads smashed against car hoods, walls or windows. Characters are shot with tranquilizer guns and subjected to medical testing. A train collides with another object in a tunnel and both explode. A speeding vehicle smashes into a teen. A man uses a table leg as a weapon. A dog attacks a man. An army of soldiers descends on a small town with their guns drawn. Characters are frequently involved in intense hand-to-hand fighting.

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Race to Witch Mountain Parents' Guide

The actors who played the children Tia and Tony (Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann) in Escape to Witch Mountain, make appearances in this film as well. Watch for Seth and Sara’s meeting with Tina, the waitress, and Sheriff Antony.

How does the interaction between Jack and the teens help change their perceptions of one another? Why is it easier to misjudge someone you don’t know? Do you think it is likely that a species from another planet would be similar to us, or the type of creatures Hollywood has created?

What evidence is there that Jack is trying to change his life for the better? What impact did his childhood have on his decisions in life? What other characters experience positive improvements in their lives?

Home Video

The most recent home video release of Race to Witch Mountain movie is August 4, 2009. Here are some details…

Home Video Release Date: 4 August 2009

Race to Witch Mountain sprints onto DVD and Blu-ray in three separate editions:

Race to Witch Mountain on DVD (Single Disc) offers audio tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Spanish and French), and subtitles in (Spanish and French).

Race to Witch Mountain Deluxe Edition (2 Disc DVD set) provides audio tracks in Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, Spanish and Canadian French), and subtitles in (Spanish and French). Bonus materials include:

- Bloopers.

- Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary by director Andy Fickman).

- Featurette: Dylan & Cole Sprouse: Blu-ray Is Suite.

- Promo: Learn how to take your favorite movies on the go.

- Bonus DisneyFile Digital Copy of the film.

Race to Witch Mountain Deluxe Edition (3 Disc Blu-ray Edition) has audio tracks in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English) and Dolby Digital 5.1 (Spanish and French). The disc is also BD-Live Enabled and D-Box Motion capable. Additional features include:

- Bloopers.

- Deleted Scenes (with optional commentary by director Andy Fickman).

- Featurette: Dylan & Cole Sprouse: Blu-ray Is Suite.

- Promo: Learn how to take your favorite movies on the go.

- Backstage Disney: Which Mountain? (where director Andy Fickman reveals the film’s hidden references to the original movies, Escape to Witch Mountain and Return From Witch Mountain.

- DVD Copy of the film.

- DisneyFile Digital Copy of the film.

Related home video titles:

Other remakes of Disney classics include Freaky Friday and The Parent Trap. Dwayne Johnson also stars as a famous football player whose life changes when a perky and precocious daughter he didn’t know about shows up on his doorstep in The Game Plan. Teen actors AnnaSophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig play other unusual kids in Bridge to Terabithia (about a girl with an exceptional imagination) and The Seeker: The Dark is Rising (where a boy discovers he has a gift that is needed to save the world).

 

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