Race to Witch Mountain is a fast-paced and somewhat scary version of the 1975 Disney classic Escape to Witch Mountain. Expect a full throttle action/adventure story. From the moment taxi-driver, Jack Bruno finds Seth and Sara in the back seat of his cab there is barely a moment to breathe as the trio hurtle from one dangerous situation to another.
Modern Race to Witch Mountain has Aliens... Danger
Don’t expect little green men. The alien protagonists of this movie are indistinguishable from humans, until they begin to use their powers. Alien technology comes into play with the arrival of the Siphon, a semi-robotic assassin whose only purpose is to eliminate Seth and Sara before they can achieve their objective and return home.
Although it has a PG rating, this is not a film for the little ones. While some robust 6-year olds may find it appealing, the scenes with the Siphon provide some truly scary moments and it is ultimately more suitable for children 8 years and up.
Monsters vs Aliens
It’s Susan’s wedding day and she couldn’t be happier but as the day progresses her dreams of happiness are crushed, literally. First her fiancé cancels their honeymoon to Paris. Then she is hit by a meteor and infected with Quantonium. The wedding is over when Susan grows into a giant and is hauled away by the government as a monster.
This is the set-up for Monsters vs Aliens. The broken love story of Susan and her self-centred fiancé is largely irrelevant to younger audiences and although used to create a moral dilemma when our heroine needs to choose between her life as Susan or Ginormica it could easily have been dispensed with.
That said, the real story begins when Susan/Ginormica meets her fellow monsters. Each of the monsters has enormous kid-appeal and it is the insecurities and imperfections of these characters that creates much of the humor in the movie.
The action is exciting without crossing over into scary and refreshingly, the characters grow and change in positive ways. This is an upbeat, entertaining movie that is ideally targeted at 4-12 year old audiences but is clever enough to keep even the parents entertained.
Which One to Choose?
Both of these movies are worth the cost of the tickets and which one you choose will really depend on the age and temperament of the children you are taking. Neither film has inappropriate language or themes. For younger children or those that don’t like to be scared then Monsters vs Aliens is the ideal choice. Most twelve year olds however, would probably prefer the more dramatic action of Race to Witch Mountain.
Jodie Wells-Slowgrove - You might say my life has revolved around kids. At university I studied teacher-librarianship. Working in public libraries on the ...
