Escape to Witch Mountain (1975)

Directed by John Hough. Starring Kim Richards, Ike Eisenmann, Eddie Albert, Ray Milland, Donald Pleasence, Walt Barnes, Denver Pyle, Reta Shaw. [G]

Young orphaned siblings with witchlike powers—the girl (Richards) can see glimpses of the future and telepathically communicate with her brother, the boy (Eisenmann) can move objects with telekinesis—are coveted by occult-obsessed millionaire Milland, so they go on the run to mysterious Witch Mountain, which may harbor the secrets of who they are and where they came from. Innocuous kids’ fantasy from Disney, based on the first story in a book series by Alexander H. Key, is lacking imagination when it comes to the children using their powers to pull pranks and stay one step ahead of their pursuers—more like juvenile magic tricks than stunning feats. And on that count, it’s hard to generate any kind of suspense when the heroes have the powers to easily get out of jams while the bad guys are ordinary mortals with a relatively harmless goal (Milland wants to use those kids’ powers, but not hurt them in any way). Takes a ludicrous turn at the end that not only rewrites the premise (hint: they ain’t real witches), but also closes out the adventure with a whimper and leaves the door open for sequels, of which there are several, some produced for television, and one being a reboot/legacy sequel starring Dwayne Johnson.

45/100