Lately there have been a lot of DVD releases from the Walt Disney Studio and I have been delighted. Some have been favorites from my childhood, some I watched when my now adult daughter was much younger and some are brand new and destined to become Disney classics. While looking back at a lifetime of Disney movies I realized something that I guess I always knew but never really through about much. Many of the Disney live action feature films were pretty good works of science fiction. Like many of us born in the fifties one of the first genres that captivated my interest was Sci-Fi. I loved the pulp novels you could buy for fifty cents and the old space operas and monster flicks that we saw at the movies. It was not like any of the Disney Sci-Fi would win awards at a Sci-Fi convention but it was solid and good enough to spark the interest in the genre within young minds. The elements of science fiction that Disney used were most of the time a simple semi rational explanation for magic. In ‘The Absent Minded Professor’ people could leap fantastic distances and cars could fly but it was due to a substance with strange properties called ‘flubber’, not magic. Disney films were always known for magic but in the sixties and seventies the nation found a new fascination with science and the increased love of Sci-Fi was a natural side effect.

In1975 Disney came out with a movie ‘Escape to Witch Mountain’ that followed the exploits of two orphan children with amazing powers of their mind. It turned out that they were actually aliens, the nice kind of course. This lead to a sequel in1978 ‘Return from Witch Mountain’ and while it did not live up to the modest success of the original it did forward the story and allow fans to see the kids a bit more grown up. ‘Return’ is a prime example of the fate of most sequels, a fainter echo of the original but it does fair well enough for a kid friendly flick. As usual in a case such as this the special effects were increased in both difficulty and frequency over the first movie. Younger viewers should keep in mind that 1978 was a turning point for special effects. It was just before the computer graphics revolution but also a year after the first ‘Star Wars’ film. This film may not have been a great example of special effects of the time but it does demonstrate the direction the trend was headed especially for movies not in the big budget class. At this point in time Disney is rekindling the Witch Mountain franchise with a heavily marketed, glossier new film. Part of this is the re-release of ‘Escape’ and ‘Return’ as part of the on going ‘Disney Family Classics’ line of DVDs. Although ‘Return’ is not great there is more than enough nostalgia value to it especially when paired with ‘Escape’ as a family movie night double feature.

For this installment of the franchise Malcolm Marmorstein took over the scripting from story originator Alexander Key. Marmorstein previously worked for eh House of Mouse on ‘Pete’s Dragon’ and before that was engaged with more intense faire on television with work on series such as ‘Dark Shadows’. There is an inherent difficulty with taking over a story initiated by another author. In this case the as with many sequels the fundamental story line is the same as the original with a few new twists to shake things up as much as possible. The siblings, Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) are still the subjects of as dastardly plot by sinister adults. There is still a grown up on the side of the kids, Mr. Yokomoto (Jack Soo in his final performance) to keep the sides somewhat balanced. Added to the mix is a gang of children, called the Earthquake Gang, to help the extraterrestrial kids find their way. Helping to differentiate the story from its predecessor is the fact that three years have past both in real time and for the characters. This means the cute children have become what we now refer to as tween; a current favorite demographic of Disney.

Helping to maintain the continuity between the films is the director, John Hough. He helmed the first flick and therefore had experience in working with the young stars. There are the usual sequel demands of increasing the pace of the story’s presentation but Hough is up to the task. He is a solid, working director and had to know that this movie would not reach the same level as the first but he still comes across as committed to his project. Although just the year before George Lucas reset the special effects boundaries to unheard of new heights the affects had not yet trickled down flicks of this level. The youth of today, that is the post CGI generation, will find the effects laughable here. Hough had a lot working against him in this flick but made an honest effort in its direction.

For several years Tia and Tony have been honing their alien mental skills under the tutelage of kindly Uncle Bene (Denver Pyle). He has noticed that the children are now teens and getting restless so a little vacation is in order. The first shot of the flick is their flying saucer gliding to a landing in California’s famous Rose Bowl. The tweens have developed a greater degree of control of their mental powers. Tony can easily levitate over a fence and Tia can just put her fingers to her temples and open a lock. The kids are taken by taxi while in another part of town we get to meet Dr. Victor Gannon (Christopher Lee) and his henchperson Letha (Bette Davis). They get a glimpse of Tony using his abilities and a nefarious plan begins to form. It just happens that Victor is an evil mad scientist and has developed the means to control a person’s thoughts. I guess there is not a lot of government funding for evil overlord plots so Victor captures Tony and plans to use his powers to rob enough money to build a device that can enslave the world. The prototype is able to turn Tony into their mindless slave and it is up to Tia to save him and the world.

The quality of the video is somewhat akin to a television series of the same time period. There are many shots that were supposed to be outside that was obviously matted; take a look at the cab ride at the start for an example. There is less of a sense of danger here than the first flick. The tone has moved over to camp as the ids in the gang go through all sorts of antics tying to help Tia out. Jack Soo was best known for his laconic role on television’s ‘Barney Miller’ and this was his last role before he succumbed to cancer. Lee and Davis were included to give some touchstone for the adults in the audience and even though they were past their prime they both were professionals and gave a reasonable performance. This film cant really stand on its own that well but would make a good double feature with the original.