By Brock Fortman

Escape to Witch Mountain is a “vintage” movie on Disney’s streaming service Disney+. I originally found this movie on a weekend afternoon while scrolling through the platform in the company of my aunt who suggested it.

The movie starts with the two main characters Tia and Tony traveling in a car on their way to an orphanage due to the sad news of their deceased adoptive parents. Both children suffer problems due to their “special abilities”: Tony can move inanimate objects with his mind aided by his harmonica. Clairvoyant Tia can communicate telepathically with Tony and empathically with animals.

Tia’s premonitions turn out to be the worst for her which causes them to be kidnapped by a rich tycoon named Aristotle Bolt. Both children escape and befriend Jason O’Day who at first acts negatively towards the children but due to their charm and intriguing situation agrees to help them. The rest of the movie includes some fun and silly chase scenes with other side scenes.

As one of the first vintage Disney movies I’ve ever seen, it’s an interesting and engaging plot where there’s something going on at all times. Although you’re constantly engaged, it results in many questions going unanswered. I kept wondering why something happened.

Witch Mountain includes the type of violence that’s toned down into humor like you’d see in a kid’s cartoon. There’s a crash in the movie that shows a car plummeting into a wide lake and later the occupants swim away and express verbal complaints.

For a movie of its time, Escape to Witch Mountain does a great job of using special effects of a quality that makes it still watchable in the present day. Take Tony’s ability to move objects with his mind: the quality of special effects adds an almost-comical effect that adds to the rest of the movie.

Even though I’m not an avid watcher of these kinds of movies, I still enjoyed it as a relaxing movie that let me escape reality for its 97 minutes of runtime.