Race to Witch Mountain

Starring: The Rock, Carla Gugino, and that one female child/teen actress who appears in a lot of movies, but not Abigail Breslin or Dakota Fanning

Had to watch this with our kids today on a field trip. They were, surprisingly, very well-behaved. Unlike another team's kids who I won't mention, but will say that their primary leader is on maternity leave, which could explain all the craziness we witnessed today.

RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN is, I guess, the delayed-over-three-decades third installment of the Witch Mountain's trilogy. It's about this brother and sister alien tandem who come to Earth to do something that I won't disclose at this moment. Gotta keep the suspense going. Even if it is Disney.

The Rock is the cabbie who coincidentally runs into these kids who are themselves running away from these kinda NASA dudes. He, coincidentally, used to be some kinda driver for these mob-type guys. How convenient. So now, he's running away from the NASA dudes and some of those mobster guys who want him back in the game. And on top of all of that, they're in the lovely oasis of a desert we call Las Vegas.

Gugino plays some kinda alien/UFO expert who just happens to ride the Rock's cab (no, not like that) and is giving a seminar in Vegas while all this is happening. Hmmm...I wonder why she gets involved? Yeah, you'll see her at the beginning of the movie and at the end, flirting with the Rock and waving her bosoms in front of his face. Did you guys see RIGHTEOUS KILL with De Niro and Pacino? You'll never look at Carla Gugino the same way after that movie.

For a Disney, family-friendly movie, this movie had a lot of action, violence, suspense, and even a little horror. I liked it. Kept you entertained the whole way. Some parts were the usual cheesy Disney. I mean, come on, it's an alien Disney movie. For the most part though, pretty good movie. I didn't much care for the ending, but the action/suspense parts were pretty riveting (for a Disney movie).

Beautiful almost had multiples when the original kids from ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUTAIN made a cameo in this one bar scene. I wonder how many people actually noticed that? In a way, it was kinda obvious because as you're watching, you're wondering why they're concentrating so much on an unnecessary scene. I guess it's kinda cool. If you're a dork.

Anyway, seriously pretty good movie. The Rock doesn't really make bad movies, does he? Good family movie. The Mormons can get in their PG-8 rating and still be entertained without feeling guilty. Sorry. Had to throw that in. I give this movie two illegal aliens trying to cross the border into Earth, ending up, in of all places, Vegas, where everything on the strip looks like a UFO, driving by, ironically, Planet Hollywood, which, if you think about it, is pretty ironic and fitting at the same time...