I don’t have a lot of exposure to kids these days, so I have no idea if they still watch Escape from Witch Mountain, but when I was growing up in the ‘90s every kid watched that fucking movie, which is notable considering the film was released in 1975. It was one of those rare nerd movies that apparently made a connection with all kinds of kids, giving the film extra longevity.
The big budget “re-imagining,” called The Race to Witch Mountain, has been in development for a little while now. The involvement of the very promising AnnaSophia Robb as one half of the magical twins and The Rock as the guy who helps them, eh, escape to Witch Mountain had previously been announced. Today, we have two more names to add to the cast: Ciaran Hinds as the villain and Alexander Ludwig as the male half of the twins.
I don’t expect that anyone reading this has seen any of Ludwig’s films. Well, maybe one or two of you saw The Dark is Rising, but I would be terribly surprised to see fans of Air Bud: World Pup or The Sandlot 3 popping up. Like most of you, my exposure to this kid consists solely of the Dark is Rising trailer, and he managed to irritate me in that short amount of time.
Ciaran Hinds, on the other hand, is someone we should all recognize. As the villain, Hinds will be taking on the Ray Milland role, which is just about perfect (see below).
But it’s not perfect enough to get me excited about an Andy (The Game Plan, She’s the Man) Finkman film. I do look forward to the film’s release, however. I’m hoping we’ll get a least a couple proclamations of childhood rapeage.
