Moviegoers often moan when learning about upcoming remakes or sequels because they rarely live up to the original. Fortunately, Disney’s Race to Witch Mountain finds new ground that makes it suitable for young children. It’s been almost 30 years since the original film, Escape to Witch Mountain, debuted -- so there’s an entirely new audience for the adventure film. Also, Race to Witch Mountain stars Dwayne Johnson, who makes his character feel authentic and is compelling to watch. 

Johnson (The Game Plan) plays Jack Bruno, a once petty crook. Bruno wants to go straight and moves to Las Vegas where he hopes to turn his skills behind the wheel of a car into a career with NASCAR sports. Instead, he becomes a cab driver trying to stay a few steps ahead of the boss he once worked for, a shady man who asserts their association is not over.

When two young kids suddenly appear in his back seat, Jack is surprised. He becomes intrigued when brother and sister Seth (Alexander Ludwig) and Sara (AnnaSophia Robb) offer him a large roll of cash to take them out into the dessert. Before Jack can ask more questions, a few of his old cronies show up in hot pursuit, and Jack is soon leading them -- with the teens in the back --  on a crazy chase through the Nevada desert.

Eventually the kids explain they’re from outer space, but it takes a few rather stupendous stunts to prove this to Jack. The youngsters are trying to find their space ship, which the U.S. government has hidden. Jack is sympathetic when he learns the teens are in a race against time to save their own planet from extinction.

There are many scenes here requiring a suspension of disbelief, but overall the film comes across as fun for youngsters. Robb (Bridge to Terabithia) and Ludwig (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising) offer nothing extraordinary in their performances but often hold their own with Johnson -- who nicely steals the show. Carla Gugino plays Dr. Alex Friedman, an astrophysicist attending a UFO convention in Vegas. Jack remembers delivering her to a hotel and seeks her help when government officials are trying to capture the teen aliens.

I’m a close observer of the audience when screening a movie for review, and the children watching Race to Witch Mountain at the same time I did seemed to thoroughly enjoy this movie.  However, the long opening sequence resembled something akin to a Quentin Tarantino film attempting to explain UFO conspiracies. It bored and confused me, so I’m sure youngsters had no clue what it was supposed to portray. Still, once the movie began, I saw the kids laughing, clapping and sitting on the edge of their seats many times throughout the film.

 I was slightly uneasy with some of the big-government-is-bad aspects of the film, but I think the children were too involved in the adventure and the chase to focus on those elements. Johnson, Gugino (Watchmen) and Garry Marshall -- as an amusing UFO expert -- provide enough entertainment to keep parents favorably involved in the film.

Because Race to Witch Mountain serves its intended audience, I found it a fun, adventurous, intriguing and harmless film for the entire family.

(Released by Walt Disney Pictures and rated “PG” for sequences of action and violence, frightening and dangerous situations and some thematic elements.)

Review also posted at www.reviewexpress.com .