Having seen the new version of this film recently ("Race to Witch Mountain"), I cannot tell you how much of a pleasant surprise "Escape to Witch Mountain" was to me. The new version, in my opinion, lacks any kind of character development and is full of annoying characters that do nothing to help the movie. Essentially, the new version basically did away with the first 45 minutes or so of this film, which helped set up the story, develop the characters, and give us a better sense of why the kids are running away. Also, Dwayne Johnson is incredibly lacking in emotion and character compared to Eddie Albert in this movie. While I admit that most of the special effects in this film may seem cheesy by today's standards, they actually make the film even more fun to laugh at. This film came out of a couple of decades when Disney was at its height of live action movies, when even film of this type they turned out was at least worthwhile. This is an enjoyable movie, with good jobs of acting done by basically all of the characters. Appropriate for anyone in the family, exciting, funny, and likable.
***1/2 out of ****
***1/2 out of ****