film: Escape to Witch Mountain

I haven't done one of these in a while, and someone requested I do this movie, so here it is.

Jerman's Rating: 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. I don't really know age limits very well, but it is for young kids, as I'll explain later, maybe 4 and up. Defcon 2 for scary beginning credits and some scary situations and just because this movie is so so very weird.

Good things it teaches includes: Kidnapping children is bad, taking advantage of people is bad, especially against their will. It also threw in some stuff about being good people and treating strangers as family. Bad things it taught included using your talents to hurt people, encouraging people to play or fight dirty, and be mean. Nowhere in this movie (unlike other Disney movies) is there a good upstanding moral figure, he is simply absent from the film. It taught some things that weren't really bad, but probably shouldn't be taught. The little girl befriends a grizzly bear- not something you want your own little girl to imitate, also the kids befriend a pack of angry dogs just by turning around and talking with them- again, not something you want your kids to do. (There is also running away from the cops and beating up a sheriff thing.)

The camera work and editing is old style and confusing if you've grown up on more recent films. To us, it would appear amateur. The music is great though. Not Danny Elfman great, but more this is so freaking weird great. It has this theme that is really entertaining.

I also have to mention one film making rule. Its very established and makes a huge gap between the good films that follow it, and the not-good-at-all films that don't. It is this: Instead of telling it- show it, but implying it is better. Now that I've told you that, there are a few circumstances in which you are allowed to break this rule:

• You are George Lucas and think you transcend all rules
• You are making a kids movie
• You made a movie before this rule was set and established

This movie meets the last two circumstances, so its allowed to break the rule, but it does break the rule. Everybody walks around announcing what they are thinking and about to do, I laughed at it. Kids sometimes need characters to announce things like that.
I would recommend seeing it if you have nothing else to watch or are in a weird mood and its free to watch. It tells a story that kids are likely to want to watch and would enjoy, but the kids of today might get kind of confused by it. It does tell a story they would like, but it tells it in a way they might not be familiar with. I would love to show it to some kids as an experiment and see if they understand everything or not.