year: 1978
cast: Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Bette Davis
rating: ***1/2
The original, ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN, centered too much on Eddie Albert, his RV, and the villain and not enough of the kids. I realize the kids were the stars but it didn't seem as much their movie as this sequel in which the alien brother and sister take a visit to L.A. and things go wrong really quick. The boy is kidnapped and brainwashed by evil Christopher Lee, his henchman Anthony James, and Lee's seemingly-bad counterpart Bette Davis (who turns good later on). The girl escapes and joins a gang of ten year old street urchins and they plan to rescue the brother. Good versus evil is a lot funner this time around since there are more kids involved. I also enjoyed the climax pitting brother and sister against each other. Chalk this up as another example where the sequel trumps the original. At least for me.
Escape to Witch Mountain is one of my favorite memories as a kid. Pre-Star Wars - one of those old school great 70's kids movies. Of course I saw Escape to Witch Mountain a sickening amount of times in the movie theater back then. I know I only saw Return one time but it's because I had a HUGE crush on Kim Richards.
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