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Not even the power of nostalgia can save this very silly sequel.

An admission: I actually watched Return from Witch Mountain before the original film. Sacrilege, I know. But I had a friend over, and we had a pizza, and we knew Bette Davis was in it, and we wanted something silly to watch…

The funny thing is, of course, that we may have picked the very best reason – and the best atmosphere – to watch Return from Witch Mountain. The director may be the same, and the lead kids have grown a little as actors, but it’s stupefyingly obvious that there wasn’t a book to base it on this time around. Everything’s played more for camp, even accidentally: Christopher Lee, in performing the villain of Dr. Gannon completely seriously, manages to send up every mad scientist he’s ever played, while Bette Davis simply upstages him in every single scene (mostly through wide-eyed expressions, mascara, and some truly ridiculous dialogue). Iake Eissinmann’s Tony character is separated from Tia for most of the movie, left to be stripped to the waist and mind-controlled in Gannon’s lab, while Tia searches for him in a hideous polyester suit. Even the flying saucer effect, which wasn’t brilliant in the first film, is repeated with far, far hokier results in this one, and the opening credits (which were pretty creepy in Escape) are merely, well, ‘70s.

It’s absolutely hilarious, of course. Thrill as Tony lifts some small barrels off the ground with the power of his mind! Scream as Bette Davis doubles the size of her eyes again! Watch as Tia runs around Los Angeles with a carefully-selected, ethnically-diverse, overly-clean group of ten-year-old ragamuffins with names like “Rocky,” “Muscles,” and…”Dazzler”…? Yeah, it’s one of those movies. Splitting the kids up, actually, may be the base mistake of the script; Eisinnmann and his co-star, Kim Richards, do have some natural brother/sister chemistry that worked very well in the first picture, and here, it’s relegated to about ten minutes of screen-time at best. It also doesn’t help that, to try and include the “adventure” aspect of Escape, large chunks of the movie focus on…well…escapes, or chases, or other action sequences that frankly don’t need to be there at all. There’s a ridiculously overkill chase where Tia and her new buddies are in a government van, being chased by Dr. Gannon and Tony’s mental powers; with all the things Tony is forced to do the other kids, they should be dead, never mind the painful green-screen shot of a van flying over a school bus. The original film feels like it was designed to actually entertain kids, no matter how dated it has become; this one feels like a bunch of old men in suits sat around and decided “what kids like to see” and threw it all into the script. I wonder why there wasn’t a third installment…

Return from Witch Mountain comes to us from Disney DVD. As with Escape to Witch Mountain, its predecessor, the anamorphic 1.75:1 transfer is really strong and clean, with clearly defined detail in the shadows, good skin tones, and an acceptable amount of pop on Tia’s bright red polyester suit.

Audio is provided in an English 5.1 and Spanish and French stereo tracks, while optional subtitles are available in English for the Hearing Impaired, French, and Spanish. Happily, all of the supplements are subtitled along with the film - including the commentary! - and additionally, the disc opens with a menu language selection for English, Spanish or French.

Just as with the first film, the audio commentary features lead actors Iake Eissinmann (Tony) and Kim Richards (Tia), along with director John Hough, the latter of whom has obviously been separately recorded. This track’s a bit more lackadaisical than the previous one, partly because Eissinmann and Richards’ characters are kept apart for so much of the film, but Hough’s contributions are still strong, ranging from Bette Davis’ acting “techniques” to the realization of the many, erm, special effects sequences (boy, are they ever special, too).

Making the “Return” Trip (22 mins.) is a retrospective documentary in exactly the same vein as Making the “Escape” from the first film’s disc. However, this time there are several more participants, which is nice: Eissinmann, Richards, Hough and Danny Lee are all back, plus associate producer Kevin Corcoran and actors Brad Savage (Muscles), Erik Yothers (Crusher) and Christian Juttner (Dazzler). The only thing fans are really going to miss is any sort of comment from famed villain Christopher Lee, which Disney apparently recognizes, because…well…

Lost Treasure: Christopher Lee - The Lost Interview (11 mins.) is actually an archive Spanish TV interview with Christopher Lee, from the promotion of Return from Witch Mountain. The interview is presented in its original Spanish language with automatic English subtitles. This is classic, fluffy, late-‘70s promotional guff – Lee, who appears pretty fluent in Spanish, boasts an insane moustache and even performs a little opera a capella. Terribly silly, but fun to see all the same.

Continuing in the interview vein, The Gang’s Back in Town (8 mins.) is a reunion between actors Savage, Yothers and Juttner. This is lighthearted and very pleasant; the guys are obviously having fun. The only annoying part is someone imitating Kim Richards’ voice to “link” the interview segments.

As with the Escape disc, two supplements are really just ads. Disney Kids with Powers (3 mins.) is just a montage of film clips based loosely around that subject. The 1978 Disney Studio Album (3 mins.) provides clips and stills from the films, re-releases and park events of that year, set to music; the basic style, plus the obviously un-restored clips from Return to Witch Mountain, suggest to me that this began life as a trailer on Disney’s old VHS line.

The Eyes Have It (7 mins.) is an entertaining Donald Duck and Pluto animated short from 1945. It really doesn’t have anything to do with Return to Witch Mountain, though, except that both involve hypnosis.

Finally, Pop-Up Fun Facts activates a subtitle trivia track for the movie. This is quite similar in tone to the track from the first film, alternating between production trivia, actors’ and crewmembers’ careers, and real-life factoids. Kids will enjoy it for sure.

The Sneak Peeks section includes advertisements for Disney Blu-Ray, Disney Movie Rewards and Disney XD, and trailers for Bolt, the new Race to Witch Mountain remake, and the Blu-Ray or DVD releases of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Bedtime Stories, Morning Light, and Tinkerbell and the Lost Treasure. Several of these will play when you first insert the disc, as well.

Like its prequel, this new release of Return from Witch Mountain includes redeemable movie bucks that will get you a free ticket to the 2009 remake, Race to Witch Mountain. Surely it’s better than this one.

Well, here’s the fact of it: this film is considerably worse than Escape to Witch Mountain, but it’s enough in the same vein that, once again, nostalgia may once again win out for many viewers. The DVD transfer is – again – great, and the special features are even a slight step up from the earlier film. If you’ve not seen this movie before, though, or not in a long time, take my advice: get a pizza, invite some friends, and prepare for a wacky evening. There’s really no way to treat this one seriously in a modern context, so don’t even try!

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