Buckle up for a hyperactive boost of Easter alien chase action – Disney style… Race to Witch Mountain is a pseudo remake or update of the 1970s Escape to Witch Mountain, it's not quite as good but boy it looks great.

The budget people at The Mouse House have gone for the 'let's hit the screen with everything we can' formula.

If you sign up for the trip to Witch Mountain you'll get flashy flying saucers, an evil intergalactic bounty-hunter and two cool kids with unearthly powers, oh and lots of pile-em-up car chases.

AnnaSophia 'Bridge to Terabithia' Robb and Alexander 'The Dark Is Rising' Ludwig are Sara and Seth, two alien youngsters who have crash-landed at Witch Mountain in the US.

Seems that their own world is dying due to pollution (Hhmm – could there be a moral for us being not so subtly squeezed in here?). Now the chase is on for them to recover a vital piece of evidence which might be the key for them to save their own planet.


But in true ET style the Government are keen to apprehend and experiment on our young alien visitors.

Who can the little lost extraterrestrials turn to for help? Why – only Jack Bruno (Dwayne 'once known as The Rock' Johnson) a loveable rogue taxi driver and handily on the scene UFO boffin Alex Friedman (Carla 'Watchmen' Gugino).

The action takes place mostly back and forth between Las Vegas and the Nevada desert – the Government goons chase doggedly, some nasty gangsters try to get in on the action and the alien bounty hunter blows up lots of stuff. Nothing makes a great deal of sense but as I said before – it sure does look good.

Unfortunately, director Andy' The Game Plan' Fickman manages to garble the action scenes (of which there are lots due to the film being co-written by Mark Bomback of Die Hard 4.0 fame).

That leaves little else to impress although the kids try their best and will both probably go on to better things.

I did find the wry section set at a Sci-fi convention appealed to my inner sci-fi nerd, and there's the obligatory Disney dog cameo character that raised a smile but overall Race to Witch Mountain is a fun but forgettable family friendly action flick.