Cathardincu Surprisingly incoherent and boring

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . of Bette Davis and Christopher Lee to "star" in this apparent direct-to-video 2009 feature, RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN. Davis and Lee look deader than their namesakes Jefferson and Robert E. as robotic caricatures of themselves. Lee rips off his MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN villain from half a century earlier, while Davis revives one of the roles she originated for Sophocles: Electra. Speaking of rip-offs, the middle third of RETURN totally plagiarizes key plot elements from the NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM series. It's surprising that Disney has yet to trot out RETURN as a Broadway Musical. Most of the action here screams out for romantic duets or sing & dance chorus ensembles. The part of Alfred the Goat would be great for any tenor worth his salt, and Ms. Davis' "Letha" character could be a lethal weapon when armed with coloratura A La FL0RENCE F0STER JENKIN$. Though Disney has bought up the copyrights to The Brothers Grimm, Charles Dickens, and The Holy Bible, that's no excuse for them not exploiting their WITCH MOUNTAIN property for every ounce of "Molecular Mobilization" (including the Au Naturel Hags from Roman Polanski's MACBETH) that it's got.

Michael_Elliott Return from Witch Mountain (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Aliens Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) return to Earth for a vacation but soon Tony finds himself kidnapped by an evil scientist (Christopher Lee) and the woman (Bette Davis) who funds his experiments. The evil duo plan on using Tony's powers to take over the world so it's up to Tia to try and stop them. This sequel to Disney's ESCAPE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN isn't nearly as good but fans will at least get some entertainment out of the supporting players. I think, for the most part, this is just a rehash of the original movie and the imagination level isn't nearly as high nor is the adventure as good. What we basically get are a lot of mildly amusing scenes where the kids are forced to use their power against one another and this does lead to a few good scenes. One of the highlights of the film happens when Tony is forced into a museum where Davis tries to get him to steal three-million in gold. This includes bringing the museum to life and this long sequence turns out to be the most memorable. The ending is also quite fun as Lee plans on blowing up the world and Tia must try to fight off Tony's powers. Unlike the first film, this one here actually contains some rather dark moments as the kids are constantly in danger and this gives the film a tone that isn't nearly as enjoyable. The special effects are just as impressive as the first one and they really get to shine during a car chase where certain objects magically move to try and ruin the chase. Both Richards and Eisenmann are very good in their parts and add a lot of charm even though their characters aren't written as well as previously. The main reason to check this out will be for fans of Lee and Davis who appear to be having a great time together. You can tell that both actors are enjoying these lesser roles that certainly didn't require them to do anything other than have fun. I found the two of them worked very well together and made for a great duo. Lee gets to be a good villain while Davis gets to show off some of her comic timing. In the end the film isn't nearly as good as the original but the cast and special effects make it worth while.

Woodyanders Psychic alien siblings Tia (a charming performance by the adorable Kim Richards) and Tony (a solid turn by Ike Eisenmann) go to Los Angeles to check out human life in the big city. Trouble occurs when Tony gets abducted by evil, arrogant scientist Victor (the always fine Christopher Lee in smoothly sinister form) and his greedy accomplice Letha (a perfectly wicked portrayal by Bette Davis). It's up to Tia and an amiable gang of scruffy delinquent kids to rescue Tony from this dastardly duo. Director John Hough, working from an eventful script by Malcolm Marmorstein, relates the absorbing plot at a constant brisk pace, maintains a pleasingly lighthearted tone throughout, makes nice use of the gritty LA locations, and stages the thrilling action scenes with considerable flair (a lively and lengthy car chase rates as the definite exciting highlight). Richards and Eisenmann are both excellent in their roles; they receive sound support from Lee, Davis, Jack Soo as jolly truant officer Mr. Yokomoto, the ever-creepy Anthony James as cowardly flunky Sickle, Denver Dyle as the gregarious Uncle Bene, and Richard Bakalyan as gabby, irritable cab driver Eddie. AIP biker flick regular Adam Roarke has an uncredited bit part as a museum security guard. The street gang members are a genuinely likable bunch of harmless minor league miscreants. The special effects are pretty nifty. Lalo Schifrin's funky 70's TV cop show-style score totally hits the groovy spot. Frank V. Phillips' polished cinematography is likewise up to par. A fun family feature.

S Bradford "Escape to Witch Mountain" is not a perfect movie, but has a good plot, well-developed characters, and beautiful scenery. "Return from Witch Mountain", unfortunately, has none of those. In this contrived sequel, Tony and Tia are left to fend for themselves while on vacation in Los Angeles (all the better to save on the budget!), where they become mixed up with a mad scientist (Christopher Lee), his partner (Bette Davis), and various other Disney stock characters. What charms the original had are completely absent from this sequel, which seems to borrow every cliché from the scores of middling-to-bad Disney movies which littered the movie landscape in the 1970s.Much of the dialog is cringe-worthy; you'll actually be embarrassed watching it. You're better off re-watching the original.