Search - Return from Witch Mountain (Special Edition) on DVD

Classic Disney Film on DVD

Peter Saenz | Los Angeles, CA United States | 07/07/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Disney's "Return From Witch Mountain" is a classic film that highlights the story of super powered alien brother and sister Tony and Tia. "Return" is actually the sequel to it's previous film "Escape From Witch Mountian". The two children discover thier alien origins in the first film and now, having spent time with thier own people, in the sequel return to the outside world and start a new adventure. Hollywood Grand Dame Bette Davis plays a ruthless industrialist who plans to use the sibling's mental powers to further her own gain, along with fellow henchman actor Christopher Lee. This movie brings a lot of great memories to mind. The DVD also promises to include lots of great bonus features such as a commentary with the film stars Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards along with Director John Hough. There also proves to be a behind the scenes look at the film called "Making the Return Trip" that should make fans of the film happy. In addition Disney is expanding their 'Lost Treasures' releases by including an original interview with actor Christopher Lee. A 1978 Disney Studio Album will also be included along with the film's theatrical trailer. Widescreen and Dolby sound doesn't hurt either. Tack on the animated short "The Eyes Have It" and you've got yourself one DVD fans of the genre will be more than happy to own."

Escape to Witch Mountain is much better !

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) | 09/06/2003

(2 out of 5 stars)

""Return from witch mountain" is a typical Walt Disney film- which is quite disappointing due to the fact that the movie this is a sequel to is "Escape to witch mountain" which was a magical movie filled with a powerful unique story,good acting,special effects & a brother & sister with special powers who may be from another planet & need to get away from money-hungry adults who kidnap them. This sequel movie on dvd has a commentary track that both actors Kim Richards & Ike Eisenmann say a few times on it that neither of them really understood why the story was as it was or remember the filming of that film compared to "Escape to Witch Mountain" which was very special- in other words they were saying the same thing that is written here- this movie is subpar- it just doesn't have the storyline to carry it and is more of a silly comedy than a science fiction mystery like the original. 70 year old Bette Davis and Christopher Lee as money-hungry villians who kidnap the brother with the sister not having much telepathic communication made no sense to the idea that the two kids were in Los Angeles,California for a day's visit yet never are together unless they are battling powers at the end. If one is going to make a sequel= one should first come up with an original idea and then play it out with good writing.They waited three years to put out a sequel to Alexander Key's "Escape to Witch Mountain" so we will have to wonder why they didn't bother to write a good story. Kim Richards is famous for her long blonde hair yet it is pulled back throughout this movie and she is "Tia" yet her starcase is long gone.Ike Eisenmann's harmonica is long gone as well & his wonderful smile is absent due to them having him as a robot-like character. Tia runs around with a group of truant boys with a truant officer as the bad guy. The movie mainly focuses on high speed car chases and special effects that aren't so special. As a fan of the original movie, a fan of all the actors in this movie and a fan of the first movie- I still couldn't find anything good about this movie.It gets 2 stars for being the sequel to a great movie but otherwise its' just a 1 on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the best.The extras on this dvd are mainly the commentary track and even that is better on Escape to Witch Mountain.Without comparing the two movies- this is still a typical movie that isn't worth watching more than once a decade at most so why own it on dvd ?"

Thank you Disney!

Motown Collector | Bridgeport, CT USA | 10/02/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"As someone who works to historically preserve music, I think Disney has succeeded in not only preserving this film on DVD, but they deserve to be applauded for putting in all the extras, even if it's not conisdered the best of Disney films. The print, audio and package is great. I loved this film as a kid, and it was fun to re-watch as an adult. Ok, it's not going to win the award for the best film ever. It's definitely light Disney live action comparable to many of it's other 70s films. True, the original Escape To Witch Mountain was better, but this has some great moments of it's own. Also, it's got a fabulous cast, Bette Davis and Christopher Lee, and those incredible kids!!! Can you tell I like this film despite it's silliness? What makes it all more special, are the extras. They are laid out kind of strangely, and if you don't look around, you could miss them. The highlight of these is the documentary, "Making the 'return' trip." If you wondered what ever happened to Kim and Iake, as well as the members of the gang (can you believe they actually grew up?), the crew, and director, they're all here. Thank you everyone at Disney for putting the extra effort into this release. Keep up the good work!"

The sequel features more action, more special effects and a

Dennis A. Amith (kndy) | California | 03/09/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The classic Walt Disney sci-fi film "RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" (1978) is released on DVD to help celebrate the theatrical release of "RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN" (the third `WITCH MOUNTAIN' film which can be considered a new storyline or a re-imagining of the first film).

"RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" is the long awaited sequel to "ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN" (1975) and continue to be a family sci-fi film to utilize the latest special effects at that time and bring back popular British director John Hough and popular teen talents Ike Iesenmann and Kim Richards to reprise their role as the alien human brother and sister team who have supernatural abilities.

"RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" focuses on the return of Tony and Tia to the planet Earth. The two haven't been back in several years, so they get the opportunity to have some rest and relaxation.

Meanwhile, a mad scientist named Victor (Christopher Lee) and Letha (Bette Davis) talk about how they should be making money. Letha was once a very rich woman but funded Victor's laboratory in order manipulate people and control them. Victor decides to put Letha's nephew Sickle (Anthony James) to a test by using a remote control device in which Victor talks on it and the person will follow his instructions. His first instruction is to have Sickle climb up a tall building and walk on the rooftop ledge and seeing how the remote control device is actually working on him.

Meanwhile, as Tony and Tia are being driven in their cab, the cab loses fuel prompting the taxi cab driver to get gas. While left alone, Tia's premonitions start kicking in to full gear as she senses a man who will fall to his death from falling from a building.

Knowing that they one would have to wait for the driver, Tony goes to find this man and warn him. Sickle ends up falling from the rooftop but before he can go splat on the pavement, Tony uses his supernatural abilities to have him suspended in air and eventually help him down.

Victor sees that Tony is quite special and thus Victor and Letha inject John with a tranquilizer and kidnaps him.

Tia is scared that she has lost contact with Tony and goes to look for him. She ends up losing him and while trying to look around the area, she sees four kids being chased by a bunch of thugs. She eventually uses her power to save the four kids named Dazzler (Christian Juttner), Muscles (Brad Savage), Crusher (Poindexter Yothers) and Rocky (Jeffrey Jacquet).

The four are trying to be tough kids who want to start their own gang but also hide from their truant officer Mr. Yokomoto (Jack Soo) who wants them back at school.

With no place to go and not knowing the Los Angeles area, the kids decide to help Tia. Meanwhile, Tony has been thoroughly brainwashed by Victor and is now being controlled by him by the remote device.

With Tony revealing his power to the bad guys, now they want to exploit his power to give them leverage and possibly help them steal anything from gold to possible plutonium.

Meanwhile, Tia tries to search for her brother everywhere and when she does find him, she is pitted against her brother in a battle of their super powers. Will she be able to save her brother from being a pawn of Victor and Letha?

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" includes several special features. Many which were included in the 2003 DVD release but there is one special feature that is exclusive to the 2009 DVD release. Included are:

* ALL NEW Pop-Up Fun Facts - For those who want to watch the film with fun facts popping up on the bottom of the screen.
* Making the Return Trip - A pretty lengthy featurette with interviews with director John Hough, Ike Eisenmann, Kim Richards and the other children from the film. The discussion was how they all came together again, the popularity of the first film and how Ike and Kim, unlike the first film where they worked closely together, this time they didn't. But what is most interesting was to hear how the guys had a crush on Kim Richards.
* The Gang's Back in Town - A reunion of the gang Christian Juttner (Dazzler), Brad Savage (Muscles) and Poindexter Yothers (Crusher) who talk about having fun on the set, having a crush on Kim Richards and how the film was one of the best experiences of their lives.
* Disney Kids with Powers - A short music video of various clips of children in Disney films that have powers.
* "The Eyes Have It" - An animated short featuring Donald Duck and Pluto, as Donald learns hypnotism and his test subject is Pluto.
* Lost Treasure: Christopher Lee: The Lost Interview - An interview with Christopher Lee done back in 1978 with a Spanish television network. Lee talks about working on the film and his experience for a Disney film. Subtitled in English.
* 1978 Disney Studio Album - A short musical featurette featuring stills from all films that were shown in 1978.
* Audio Commentary - Commentary by John Hough, Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by "RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN". Mainly because you have legendary actress Betty Davis and Christopher Lee (known for his work in the past with the Vampire and Fu Manchu films and presently with his work as Count Dooku in the "Star Wars" films) . But it was great to see them out of their typical film element and playing a humorous duo, Letha obsessed with money and Victor obsessed with the power and prestige he can get from utilizing Tony for his own twisted means.

But many people wanted a sequel and this time, the series would managed to capture an action film with an a chase scene and even more special features than the first film. Definitely something you wouldn't imagine seeing in a family film but John Hough wanted to make sure the film was different from the first and if he could, make it even better.

One thing that I liked was that both Tony and Tina are nearly at the same level in their powers. In the first film, it seemed like the only way Tony could use his powers was playing a harmonica. But glad they didn't do that for this film.

I enjoyed the first film for its cat and mouse type of storyline, it was a pure film that is fun for the family and kids. With "RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN", because more special effects were used and more action scenes, it was interesting to see both Tony and Tia separated but most of all, watching them go against each other utilizing their supernatural abilities.

Speaking of special effects, the first film utilized a cat and a bear. "RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" utilized Albert the goat and it's amazing how trainers were able to get a goat to walk through the middle on top of several cars. Very impressive.

Now, for those who own the 2003 DVD release of "RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN", you may not need this DVD because there really is no major addition in terms of special features but for those who are looking forward to watching Dwayne Johnson in "RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN" in 2009 and have never watched the original films or its been too long since you have last seen it, then definitely pick up both classic Witch Mountain films. They're both fun and enjoyable in their own separate way.

As for "RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN", both "ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN" and "RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN" both come with a free ticket coupon (attached to the slipcase cover) to download a certificate (ticket) in order to watch the latest film at a participating theater for free.

Overall, "RETURN TO WITCH MOUNTAIN" is a fun and enjoyable film and despite being nearly 35 years old, it's a film that families can watch with their children now and still be entertained.

Definitely a Disney classic worth having in your DVD library."