Mommy Brain

(Escape to Witch Mountain and Return to Witch Mountain were both provided to me by Click Communications for the purpose of review.)

Disney’s beloved family classic returns with a fantastic new trivia bonus track for the ultimate Witch Mountain anthusiast.

A vehicle floats in midair…a coat rack comes to life and attacks a sheriff…and wild animals are putty in the hands of Tony and Tia Malone in Disney’s thrilling fantasy adventure about the psychic powers of two young orphans.

Their clairvoyance prompts evil millionaire Aristotle Bolt (Ray Milland) to lure them to his mansion to exploit their powers. While escaping, they meet a friendly camper (Eddie Albert) and begin to unravel the mystery of their origin. Soon, all three are fleeing townspeople who have branded the children witches. But then IT happens! Someone with even greater powers takes over and leads the children – and the audience – into a dazzling and unexpected experience…one that is truly out of this worold!

In this thrilling sequel to Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain, automobiles mysteriously fly and humans float in thin air as sinister masterminds Christopher Lee and Bette Davis unleash a diabolical plan. The entire city of Los Angeles teeters on the brink of nuclear disaster when the greedy criminals manipulate a young boy’s supernatural powers for their own devious gain. But the youth’s sister and a streetwise band of truants join forces in a desperate attempt to save the city from destruction.

I grew up in a family of huge movie buffs. We got a VCR right away – before the whole VHS vs. Betamax debate had even been settled. We watched movies every weekend, and went to the movies as often as we could. And yet, I’ve never seen Escape to Witch Mountain or the sequel. My parents (the entire church we attended, actually) went through this really legalistic, extreme phase, and everything with the word “witch” in it was automatically suspect.

The kids and I watched Escape to Witch Mountain over the weekend, and I was amused to discover that it hasn’t a thing to do with witches – except that a whole town full of people (not a little unlike the people we went to church with) branded two children as witches because they had psychic powers. I just love irony.

We all enjoyed watching the story of Tony and Tia very much. We haven’t had time to watch the sequel yet, but that’s on the list for family movie night this weekend. I am especially glad that we got to see the original before Disney’s remake comes out later this year.

Escape to Witch Mountain and Return from Witch Mountain are both available now on DVD, and they’re both loaded with special features.