Escape to Your Childhood!
Growing up as a child in the 1970's I remember watching THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY every Sunday evening at 7pm. I of course enjoyed the cartoons but also enjoyed the many live action Dinsey movies such as THE SHAGGY DOG, THE SHAGGY D.A., POLLYANNA, THE WHIZ KIDS movies and of course the WITCH MOUNTAIN movies. I remember looking forward to ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN and would make it a point to never miss this movie when it aired.
The story is about a brother and sister, Tony & Tia, who along with their alien family tried to migrate to Earth but crashed upon arriving. Tony and Tia then try to locate their family with the assistance of a widower while trying to avoid a rich villan who wants to use the kids Extra Sensory Powers (ESP) to further his greedy goals. As a child I actually found this movie to be very scary. I actually feared for Tony and Tia. Now as an adult it has lost the scary aspect. That comes with age I guess. It is still a good watch though...
Universal Themes Make for Timeless Appeal
To coincide with the new Witch Mountain film being released to theaters, Disney is re-releasing "Escape to Witch Mountain" (1975) as a special edition loaded with well-done extras.
The story is about Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and his younger sister, Tia (Kim Richards), two orphans who have recently lost their foster parents as well. While getting used to their new home, an orphanage (run by Disney favorite Reta Shaw), the children draw the attention of an attorney, Lucas Deranian (Donald Pleasence), whose life is saved because of the children's esp powers. Deranian's boss, Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland) is an evil (and wealthy man) fascinated with paranormal powers. He pretends to be the children's uncle so that he can take custody of them and use them for his own gain. Meanwhile, Tia's star case (a metal purse) reveals a map to Witch Mountain, providing clues to their origins. Once Tony & Tia discover Bolt's plot to exploit them, they escape his mansion and with the help of a...
Superb and timeless.
I like Escape To Witch Mountain better than any other Disney film. It's probably in the top 5 best kid-movies ever made for that matter. I'm now 36, but was 7 when I first saw it. I probably had a crush on Kim Richards back then but I clearly remember seeing the movie at the theater and loving it.
Looking at the dvd now.. the direction by John Hough is crisp and the effects, though not digital, have loads of SOUL, creativity and charm. When a car full of bad guys wrecks.. the fact that they show the 4 occupants safely getting out of the car is a nice touch (after all kids are watching this).. and that (and lots of other things in this movie) speak to the innocence that still actually existed for those of us lucky to be kids in the 1970s... there was still a common-respect in large parts of society.. kids could be kids .. and all the in-your-face junk that permeates much of the world of kids today was years away...
Back on the subject at hand...I watched the DVD (which is nicely...
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