"Race to Witch Mountain" is that rarest of cinema birds "? no, not a remake, which it is, because those are everywhere. Rather, it's a picture billed as a family film that is actually for the entire family and not just for the kids.
It's also one long chase scene, which doesn't leave much room for character or plot development, but it does start things off with a bang. Jack Bruno (Dwayne Johnson, "Get Smart") is a repentant ex-con now working as a cab driver in Las Vegas. He picks up teen siblings Sara (AnnaSophia Robb, "Bridge to Terabithia," "Jumper") and Seth (Alexander Ludwig, "The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising"), who run up a $750 fare when they convince Jack to drive them to the intersection of Middle and Nowhere. All he knows about the two is that they possess weird powers and are being pursued by "Men in Black" types eager to grab them.
Jack drops them off at an abandoned house, but upon hearing strange noises from within, he follows the kids and learns that they are aliens in the form of humans who are on a mission to collect an intergalactic MacGuffin that will allow scientists on their planet to save it from ecological disaster, thereby avoiding the necessity of invading and conquering Earth.
Along the way, this trio of runners meets a scientist on the cutting edge of UFO quackery (Carla Gugino, "Watchmen," "Night at the Museum"), a UFO hunter (director Garry Marshall), a friendly and helpful waitress and town sheriff (Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, who starred as the alien kids in the 1975 Disney original), and the ruthless government man (Ciar
