People are voting emotionally.

Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

The Rock, or 'Dwayne Johnson' as he's now known, is a down on his luck cabbie in Las Vegas, that is until he accidentally picks up two young alien children who happen to be looking for a ride home. Unfortunately, his taxi doesn't go into space, but he vows to help them get back to their ship. Naturally, those shady Government agents have other plans and set out to thwart them.If you could imagine The X-films, but on at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, then you're sort of in the right area, only 'Race to Witch Mountain' has more chases than Scully and Mulder normally have to get through. In fact, the first half of the film is pretty much one long chase. Therefore, when the film takes its foot off the pedal (so to speak) mid way through, the paces feels like it's slowed dramatically, which is a downside, but simply because the beginning has been so fast.But, don't worry, there are more chases and action to come - With Mountain isn't an easy place to just walk into, so Dwayne's punching and kicking skills will be tested to the limit as he has to fend off not only the U.S. Government, but also an alien bounty hunter.This is family fun. There's nothing new here, but it's one of those rare action films that the whole family can sit down and enjoy.http://thewrongtreemoviereviews.blogspot.co.uk/

I am of those who actually saw the original and although I cannot remember the story or the scenes at all, what I remember clearly is that as a kid, I had great anticipation and excitement to see it and a week full of dreams afterward. I can imagine that if I saw it again, I may not be as enchanted. Hard to see both a newer version of it (usually, the remake are bad and disappointing) and see it as an adult. One needs to make special efforts to be be balanced and see it with eyes as close to the one I vaguely remember having "then".Overall, this version stands by itself as a family movie and in the genre, it will be entertaining and make even more kids dream and have this feel that if they were a cab driver (or anyone else), they would certainly help those aliens too. Most of the movie is predictable for sure: alien good only trying to stay alive and return home, men in black bad and focused on "getting them" - a bit of the "StarMan" generation as theme. Then there is the cabi from LA protects the children (cute eyes a-la-puss to insert here) because "they are only children". OK, saw this too before.Now, cannot say that I would have imagined Dwayne Johnson in the role of cab driver Jack Bruno but I think at the end, the choice works fine and the acting is aligned with this style of movies. The actors playing the aliens/kids (Anna-Sophia Robb and Alexander Ludwig for Sara and Seth) I think play their role pretty well - scared kids (alien) in need to return home and being chased by all kinds trying to stop them, split in their approach: one is trusting the other one suspicious of humans. The rolling eyes and expression of Anna-Sophia are especially convincing. This certainly recovers from the modest performance of other actors (Sr something ... can't even remember her role in the movie, it was that shallow and irrelevant). Add to this some cheap humor (the UFO nuts at the convention) and you get a movie which is in doubt entertaining for the targeted age, full of action, car chases, explosion and effects and one which, while it may not make the cut for a great movie for adults, will not be boring either for the more mature audience.

Race to Witch Mountain (2009) ** (out of 4) Disney's reboot/remake/sequel (or, once again, whatever) of ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN has a couple alien children (Anna Sophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig) landing on Earth and being chased by a group of men wanting to use their powers. Thankfully, for them at least, they ended up with a cab driver (Dwayne Johnson) who will protect them to the end. Perhaps it wasn't best for me to view ESCAPE and RETURN before viewing this third film in the series because when you watch the films so close together it's hard not to compare them. I found the 1975 and 1978 movies to be mildly entertaining even though they were nothing overly special but the biggest difference with this film is how much its been dumbed down. Instead of some sort of story we just get one loud, obnoxious explosion after another and in the end you can't help but feel that you've wasted your time. I think the screenplay is pretty poor but I guess this sort of thing passes for a kids movie today. None of the characters are written very and in fact I'd say there isn't a single one of them that has an ounce of a personality. It's hard to care for the alien children here because they're simply so cold and unlikeable. Part of the problem is without a doubt the screenplay but another problem is that the performances themselves are rather lame. Neither Robb or Ludwig have any energy and they come across very weak in the film. Perhaps this was what the director wanted and if so he deserves the blame but either way when your leads aren't entertaining then your movie is in trouble. I'm really not familiar with the work of Johnson in these kids movie but I found him to be pleasant here. He's certainly game for anything they throw at him including some of the silly humor. Tom Everett Scott, Ciaran Hinde and Garry Marshall wound out the supporting cast. In a nice move, Disney brought back Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann who played the children in the original movies. I had expected just a quick cameo but the writers went the extra mile and gave both of them nice parts. I'm really not sure how children will see this movie but for me it doesn't come close to the original two. I think the first two contain enough good moments to where most kids of today should still be able to enjoy them. As for adults, seeing the older movies will show how much better kids entertainment use to be.

Race to Witch Mountain is a great remake, so much better than most people give it credit for. Most people underestimate the skills of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson because he is a former wrestler star and people think they can't act. I'll be the one to say he did a great job here.This is about a taxi driver who ends up with two aliens in his taxi disguised as kids and they want him to drive them back to their spaceship so they can leave.The special effects are very good especially for a kids-friendly Disney film. The music by Travor Rabin is surprisingly good. Overall, I think this is a great story for the whole family. Certainly better than the original. I rate this film 9/10.