Race to Witch Mountain
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Andy Fickman
Produced by	Andrew Gunn Mario Iscovich (executive) Anne Marie Sanderlin (executive)[1]
Written by	Andy Fickman Mark Bomback Matt Lopez
Starring	Dwayne Johnson AnnaSophia Robb Alexander Ludwig Ciarán Hinds Carla Gugino
Music by	Trevor Rabin
Cinematography	Greg Gardiner
Editing by	David Rennie
Distributed by	Walt Disney Pictures
Release date(s)	March 13, 2009
Running time	98 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$50,000,000[2]
Gross revenue	$100,191,831[3]
Preceded by	Beyond Witch Mountain

Race to Witch Mountain is a re-imagining of the 1975 film Escape to Witch Mountain. Both versions of the film are based on the 1968 novel Escape to Witch Mountain by author Alexander Key. The film is directed by Andy Fickman and stars Dwayne Johnson, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig, Ciarán Hinds and Carla Gugino.

Filming began in Los Angeles in March 2008. Race to Witch Mountain was released on March 13, 2009.

[edit] Plot

Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson) is a cab driver in Las Vegas. One of his passengers is Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), a failed scientist who is giving speeches about legitimate scientific theories of UFOs and outer space.

The next day, Bruno notices two children, Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) and Seth (Alexander Ludwig) sitting in the back seat of his cab. They tell him they need to go to a certain destination and are willing to pay all they have (about $15,750,with a $15,000 tip) to get there. They lead him to a house in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile, Major Henry Burke (Ciaran Hinds) is searching for information on the two aliens that landed some days earlier.

When they arrive at the house, Bruno follows them out of concern and curiosity. There, the kids retrieve their objective, a device contained within alien flora.

When leaving, they are attacked by a "Siphon", a creature built to destroy a certain target. The Siphon pursues them, until its spaceship crashes into a train, the Diesel Locomotive is destroyed by an explosion in the railroad tunnel, and the creature is wounded. The trio eventually find themselves in a small town. The children explain to Bruno that they are aliens from a distant planet, who are sent to Earth by their parents because the government of their dying planet intends to attack and invade Earth so that their kind may live on there. They also explain that the object they obtained at the house contains the results of an experiment which their parents set up. The research from this experiment will save their planet without having to attack and invade Earth. However their planet's military prefer the idea of invading Earth and sent the Siphon assassin to stop them. They are next pursued by government agencies trying to retrieve the children for experiments.

They are joined by Dr. Friedman at the UFO Expo. With help of one of Dr. Friedman's friends, the kids discover that their crashed spaceship has been relocated to a government base at Witch Mountain. The group, now including Dr. Friedman, after evading the pursuing government agents, eventually arrive at Witch Mountain. There, the children are captured, along with Bruno and Friedman. Nevertheless, the two humans escape and come to rescue the kids. The Siphon causes a distraction by attacking the base, allowing the humans to free the children and reach their ship. They launch the ship, escape through the mountain's tunnels and defeat the Siphon who boarded the ship. Once safe, the kids drop the humans off, and during a tearful goodbye, give Bruno and Dr. Friedman a device that will allow the kids to always find them. Sara also gives Bruno the ability to read minds. The movie ends with the spaceship taking off and returning to their planet.

During the end credits, Bruno and Dr. Friedman (now a couple) are speaking at a UFO convention about their new successful book called "Race to Witch Mountain". As they are about to leave, the device the kids gave Bruno activates, indicating that they may be returning.

[edit] Cast

Iake Eissinmann and Kim Richards at the premiere of Race to Witch Mountain.

• Dwayne Johnson as Jack Bruno, a Las Vegas cab driver and former convict.^[4] The director wrote in a cab driver as a main character because there was a unique relationship between the driver and his passengers. Fickman explained, "When Dwayne's driving and two aliens appear in his cab, he's stuck with them, there is an implied contract that I will get you to your destination, because that's what he does."^[5] This is Dwayne Johnson's second Disney film, the first one being the 2007 family comedy film The Game Plan, also directed by Andy Fickman.
• AnnaSophia Robb as Sara, sister of Seth, a girl with telekinetic and telepathic powers.^[6] Fickman chose Robb based on her performance in Bridge to Terabithia (2007).^[7]
• Alexander Ludwig as Seth, brother of Sara, a boy with the power to control his molecular density - "phasing" and becoming very dense to some degree of invulnerability.^[6]
• Ciarán Hinds as Henry Burke, the main villain of the movie.^[8] Hinds described his character as a man in black, explaining, "I'm the head of the operation who's contacted directly by a man you never see...[It] is about protecting the country. He's responsible for it, and he'll do whatever needs to be done. That's how he sees it."^[9]
• Carla Gugino as Dr. Alex Friedman,^[5] a discredited astrophysicist.^[6] Fired from her university, she is relegated to giving a lecture at a UFO conference about hard science. She also becomes Jack's love interest.^[9] Fickman cast Gugino into the role since he was a fan of the short-lived television series Threshold, in which the actress starred.^[10]
• Tom Woodruff, Jr. as The Siphon, the major villain of the movie and well-trained ailen assassin.
• Garry Marshall as a government fringe scientist and UFO conspiracy theorist.^[6]
• Cheech Marin as the auto mechanic.^[11]
• Chris Marquette as Pope.^[11]
• William J. Birnes, the host of UFO Hunters, in a cameo.^[11]
• Whitley Strieber, author of Communion, in a cameo.^[11][12]

Kim Richards and Iake Eissinmann, who portrayed Tony and Tia in the original Witch Mountain films of the 1970s, made cameo appearances in Race to Witch Mountain. Richards appears as a roadhouse waitress and Eisenmann appears as a sheriff.^[13][14]

[edit] Production

In July 2007, Walt Disney Pictures hired Andy Fickman to direct Witch Mountain, a "modern re-imagining" of Escape to Witch Mountain, using a script by Matt Lopez.^[15] The following August, Dwayne Johnson (most notably famous for portraying The Rock in the WWE) was cast into a lead role, with filming scheduled to begin in March 2008.^[4] Fickman did not describe the film as a remake, defining his production as "a new chapter within the world of Witch Mountain". The director also described the book, in which the films are based as "a very cool dark thriller" and anticipated drawing elements from it that did not exist in the 1975 film.^[16] By March 2008, filmmakers were using a new script written by Mark Bomback.^[17] The film was re-titled Race to Witch Mountain, and it began filming in Los Angeles in the same month.^[8]

The convention center in Pomona, California was converted into the film's UFO Expo 9, and the interior of Witch Mountain was designed using photographs from a tour of NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain.^[11] A cabin for the story was also built in Agua Dulce, California.^[18] The director sought assistance from UFO experts, the military, and CIA advisers to shape the elements of the film.^[19] He also introduced a new element in the remake, an extraterrestrial creature called Siphon. The creature was conceived by the design team who created the look for Alien and Predator.^[12]

[edit] Music

Offspring song "Stuff is Messed Up" was used in promos for the movie.The score to Race to Witch Mountain was composed by Trevor Rabin, who recorded his score with a 78-piece ensemble of the Hollywood Studio Symphony and a 24-person choir at the Sony Scoring Stage.^[20] Two of the songs in the film were written and performed by country and western band Brokedown Cadillac, which appears briefly in an opening scene.

The movie also features the hit single "Fly On The Wall" by Miley Cyrus and "Emergency" by Hollywood Records artist Steve Rushton, featured on the soundtrack.

[edit] DVD release

Race to Witch Mountain will be released on DVD and Blu-ray August 4, 2009.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Reception

Reviews for Race to Witch Mountain have been mixed. Based on 74 reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently has a 42% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 5.1/10.^[21] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 50, based on 23 reviews.^[22]

Despite its mixed criticism, the film opened #1 at the box office becoming the first Disney film to open #1 in 2009^[23] grossing $24.4 million.^[24] So far it has grossed $67,013,621 domestic, with $33,063,629 international for a worldwide total of $100,191,831.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Race to Witch Mountain movie trailers.
• Race to Witch Mountain at the Internet Movie Database
• Race to Witch Mountain at Allmovie