Escape To and Return From Witch Mountain

Platform: VUDU (owned movies - you can also watch them on Disney+ along with Race to Witch Mountain)

Director: John Hugh

Release Year: 1975 & 1978

Watch Date: May 1 & 3, 2021

My Rating: 8.4 and 8.2

The Witch Mountain movies are Disney Classics. Disney cranked out a lot of gems in the 60’s and 70’s that I still love to watch. These days Disney seems to be remaking everything instead of producing new masterpieces.

Witch Mountain follows a brother and sister (Tony and Tia) who have special abilities (telekinesis, telepathy, talking to animals, particle matter manipulation….) who are trying to find home and live life. Both movies find the children being exploited for their powers. In Escape to Witch Mountain Tia and Tony find themselves being hunted down by a greedy man who wants them to see the future. They stow away in a Winnebago and end up finding their people (who happen to be from outer space) at Witch Mountain.

Return from Witch Mountain finds the kids in a big city on vacation. Tony saves a man from falling to his death and ends up getting kidnapped and having his free will taken over. Tia spends the movie with a group of misfit boys who help her look for Tony. The thing that I love most about this movie is that it stars Bette Davis and Christopher Lee who are some of the greats from the golden age of movies.

For both movies, the effects are pretty awesome for when they came out. The flying Winnebago, the upside down helicopter, and the pandemonium that ensues at the museum are works of genius. One of the many things that I love about old movies is how inventive they were when it came to special effects. No CGI added later…..sometimes the effects were one and done so they had to be perfect the first time.

I will definitely watch these movies again (and again).

Photo Credit: amazon.com