CHICAGO – Excelsior! Comic book legend Stan Lee’s famous exclamation puts a fine point on the third and final play of Mark Pracht’s FOUR COLOR TRILOGY, “The House of Ideas,” presented by and staged at City Lit Theater in Chicago’s Edgewater neighborhood. For tickets/details, click HOUSE OF IDEAS.
JIM reviews = "RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” -- They Brake For ALIENS, So Cut Them Some Slack! =
“RACE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN” – They Brake For ALIENS, So Cut Them Some Slack! =
[Rating: 7 of 10 stars]
This film (a sort of “updating” of Disney’s 1970’s film) was clearly made for a younger audience. DWAYNE “The ROCK” JOHNSON plays a Las Vegas cab-driver who chances to acquire 2 teenage passengers (ALEXANDER LUDWIG & ANNASOPHIA ROBB) who offer him a lot of money to take them far away into the desert. It soon becomes clear that they’re being chased by a bunch of guys with a decidedly unfriendly “agenda”. In time, those people are shown to be government agents (including CIARAN HINDS) involved with a study of UFO’s & their “contents”, 2 of which happen to be the kids. After various car and on-foot chases, the cabbie sees the kids have special powers and also need to avoid an extraterrestrial pursuer as they try to get back home (which is “only a wormhole away”). The Rock is quite ENJOYABLE with his periodically acerbic, sardonic, tongue-in-cheek humor & demeanor, the kids are “believable” (as are the agents & thugs chasing them), & the special-effects are quite good (even if not “spectacular” by today’s standards). So, I found it to be a “fun” trip.