Film Reviews

Race to Witch Mountain

• Rating:
• Director: Andy Fickman
• Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Carla Gugino, Ciarán Hinds, AnnaSophia Robb, Alexander Ludwig
• Details: US/ 98mins (PG)

There's no doubting that the man formally known as The Rock is on a bit of a winning streak of late. Here, he reteams with the director of one of his biggest hits, The Game Plan, for a film that - while pacey and generally undemanding - really doesn't take off fully as a frolic-ridden adventure/science fiction flick. Still, it's hard not to notice that there is a very sweet message beating at its core. Johnson plays Las Vegas cab driver Jack Bruno, who is trying to get his life back on track, having dropped his high paying gig as a wheel man for a dodgy Vegas gangster. When working one day, two teenagers sneak into the back of his car. Thinking they are runaways, Jack takes them to where they need to go, but soon realises that they are in fact aliens from another planet. They're in need of a ride to their spaceship y'see, before a shady government agency tracks them down and begins nasty experiments on them. Along the way, Jack enlists the help of a UFO expert (Gugino), who may be able to assist them in their quest to avoid the fuzz, and find their way home - so they're like ET, only in human form (if all humans looked like teen GAP models). Of course this is all very silly, and the script can feel like it's written by a writer on a deadline, scribbling down plot turns like a stressed leaving cert student with the clock ticking down. Our heroes are never really in that much difficulty, and at one point, the main bad guy actually just lets someone go, only for them to scupper his plans later on. Doh! Johnson, every inch the action hero, is still built like a professional athlete, and the proprietor of a wit and charisma that can only come naturally - he is pretty much wasted here. The fluffy tone of the film doesn't really suit him. That said, it really does zip along, and the younger kids will undoubtedly find stuff here to chuckle at; just don't go in expecting anything other than sporadic amusement for them.

Review by Mike Sheridan