Return from Witch Mountain

Plot synopsis:
Tony and his sister Tia are in need of a vacation. Uncle Bené drops them off in their flying saucer at the Rose Bowl stadium in Los Angeles, California, after which the siblings quickly become separated from each other. A man named Dr. Victor Gannon (Lee) and his assistant Letha Wedge (Davis) happen to see Tony using his powers to save Letha's nephew Sickle from certain death. Realizing that Tony has supernatural powers, Dr. Gannon drugs the boy with a tranquilizer shot and takes him back to their laboratory. There, Dr. Gannon successfully tests a new mind-control technology on him. Under its influence, Tony is completely hypnotized and does everything that his kidnappers want him to do, including stealing gold from a museum exhibit and stopping Tia from finding them. With Tony at his robotic bidding, Dr. Gannon hopes to achieve recognition within the scientific community and worldwide power, while Letha merely wants a return on her investment. A group of would-be tough boys whom she comes across, called the Earthquake Gang are chased by the goon goons, Tia telepathically gets rid of them.The gang of boys accept her into their gang and help look for her brother. They let her sleep in their secret hideout. She often gets many visions of where her brother is. First at the gold museum where Tony is controlled by a chip attached to his ear. He unstacks the gold but is chased by Mr. Yokomoto the truant officer who thinks Tony has to go to school and chases the doctor , aunt , nephew and Tony in his mini bus. Unsuccessfully Mr. Yokomoto destroyed public property and ends up losing his job. Next Tia uses her telepathy to trace Tony's hideout but is caught by Sickle and is under the influence of chloroform. She telepathically asks Alfred the antelope who is in the house to find the Earthquake gang. They chase the antelope back to the hideout. In the mean time Tony , Letha , Sickle and Victor drive to a Plutonium Plant as it is more expensive than gold. Tia traces their location and describes it to be a " Big round ball" One of the members assume the location to be another place and Tia is upset. They come across Mr. Yokomoto who tells them he lost his job and the only thing that works is the radio. The news given about the plutonium plant stresses on the word "molecular flow." Tia then asks Mr. Yokomoto to drive them to the location after she magically repairs the mini bus. After Victor and gang reach the site, he shuts down the plant's cooling system. In exchange to turn it on he requires 5 million dollars in cash. The people working at the plant make arrangements for money as soon as possible. Tia reaches in time where she and Tony battle to turn on the cooling system. Tia manages to turn it on but Victor commands Tony to kill his sister. In this course of time , she understands how he is been controlled and destroys the device. Tia explains what had happened to him. He makes Victor , Sickle and Letha go on to the ceiling with no way of getting down. Mr. Yokomoto drives the kids to the Rose Bowl Stadium and the Earthquake gang come along to say bye. Tony and Tia bid farewell to the kids after they board the flying saucer back to witch mountain.

Tags: paranormal, brainwashing

Review:
This is a fine sequel to one of Walt Disney's better family projects Escape from Witch Mountain.
The adult stars are Bette Davis and Christopher Lee as an old dowager financing a mad scientist in some nefarious experiments.These two happen on the alien kids from Witch Mountain, Kim Richards and Ike Eisenman, when the kids are on holiday to Earth once again.
They kidnap Ike after seeing an example of his powers of levitation and seek to use him and fit him with a mind control device that Lee's been perfecting.Lee's dreaming some big dreams and Davis has some more mundane schemes like a trip to some gambling house or racetrack.
Both of them looking like they are having one grand old time hamming it up for the cameras.Of course the film wouldn't work at all if it were not for the winning personalities of Richards and Eisenman.
Both come across as real kids, not sure of the extent of their own powers rather than Hollywood juvenile actors.The whole of the film is Richards pursuing and trying to rescue her brother and in the process she recruits a gang of juveniles escaping from a truant officer played by the ever deadpan funny Jack Soo. Eventually Soo joins forces with the kids and proves of some help.Both Escape to Witch Mountain and this sequel are fine family entertainment, some of the best that Disney studio produced..
The fine performances from Davis and Lee help save this film from being bland, instead it is one worth watching.
Christopher Lee is a finely sinister lead villain, but it is the legendary Bette Davis's picture all the way, as the actress brings a touch of colour into a film that could have easily been bland, and with that colour it made the film worth watching.
This is a very well done sequel to "Escape to which mountain" Tony and Tia(Ike Eisenmann & Kim Richards)are back!
Enter Letha and Victor(Bette Davis & Christopher Lee)who are testing a mind control device that Sickle(Anthony James)is wearing.
They then help Tia look for Tony.I like the earthquake gang.
Victor on the other hand wants to rule the world and he uses Tony to take over a plutonium processing plant.Tia then shows up-and a show down between Tia and Tony ensues-you will need to watch the film to see how it ends.Although not the best sequel, it's better than most(Esp. by Disney).
Disney's sequel to their not-bad 1975 hit "Escape To Witch Mountain" brings back Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards as the teen-tykes from outer space, here battling wits and powers with villainous Bette Davis and Christopher Lee (and their chauffeur, Anthony James, who also played a chauffeur alongside Davis in "Burnt Offerings"!).
Well-enough made, but the movie loses sight of what was so special about the first film (a kid's flick with the emphasis on character, not overtly outlandish special effects).
The plotting gets too heavy in the final third, what with Los Angeles about to be decimated and delinquent children running amok, but the worst decision was to separate siblings Tony and Tia for much of the movie.
Engaging Walt Disney Sci-Fi/fantasy in which we meet Tony (Ike Eisenmann , in 2009 recent version played by Alexander Ludwig ) and Tia ( Kim Richards , subsequently performed by Anna Rob ) as they are arriving along with their uncle (Denver Pyle) in a flying saucer at a stadium called Rose Bowl .
As Tony is abducted by the evil Dr. Gannon (Christopher Lee), his spinster pal Letha (Bette Davis) and hoodlum (Anthony James) who want to use his powers for his own objectives .
The two children with mysterious powers played by Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are enjoyable and phenomenal , as always , Christopher Lee as mean villain and likable Bette Davis as old nasty .
He has an eclectic and long filmmaker career , beginning in television series ( Avengers, Protectors , The champions ) , making Hammer film (Twins of evil) , classic terror ( Legend of hell house ) , average horror movies ( Howling IV, American Gothic, Incubus ) , adventures ( Island of treasure, Black arrow ) until wholesome Disney family fare ( The watcher in the woods , Return and escape to witch mountain) .
Being a Tony and Tia fan, I thought this movie wonderful as a kid.
After Tony "visions" a man falling off a building (Davis' Letha's nephew, Sickle), he takes advantage of the cab's running out of gas to go help.
As things do in the movies, the rescue wasn't as easy as he thought, and the good Doctor saw a golden opportunity to take control of molecular manipulation by enslaving Tony with his mind control device.
But, the two movies, and this coming from a Disney in the mid-70s and post-star wars, were/are two films that somehow brought in those necessary elements: one it has to have participation of the viewer and 2 it has to be fun.
It's not a bad film and the special effects are way outdated but the acting isn't bad and the cast does make it worth watching..
My mum took me to the pictures to see this film and I always wanted to have 'powers' like Tony & Tia. Mind you the child in me still does.
Tia is taken in by a fun-loving street gang and Tony is taken in by a typical Disney-type group of villains including Bette Davis and Christopher Lee. As an adolescent, I fell in love with Kim Richards after watching this movie, but that may be its only redeeming quality..
Worth Watching for Davis and Lee. Return from Witch Mountain (1978) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Aliens Tia (Kim Richards) and Tony (Ike Eisenmann) return to Earth for a vacation but soon Tony finds himself kidnapped by an evil scientist (Christopher Lee) and the woman (Bette Davis) who funds his experiments.
The evil duo plan on using Tony's powers to take over the world so it's up to Tia to try and stop them.
This sequel to Disney's ESCAPE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN isn't nearly as good but fans will at least get some entertainment out of the supporting players.
One of the highlights of the film happens when Tony is forced into a museum where Davis tries to get him to steal three-million in gold.
The ending is also quite fun as Lee plans on blowing up the world and Tia must try to fight off Tony's powers.
In the end the film isn't nearly as good as the original but the cast and special effects make it worth while..
Sequel to Escape from Witch Mountain has the two kids from that film returning for a visit.
Returning from the first movie are stars Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann, as well as Denver Pyle.
What we do get are screen legends Bette Davis and Christopher Lee, as well as a group of street yutes called the Earthquake Gang.Richards and Eisenmann are fine but they're outshone by the vets in this one.
He would later direct the Disney horror movie The Watcher in the Woods, which also starred Bette Davis and Kim Richards' younger sister Kyle.
Like I said before, it's a decent sequel but not as good as Escape to Witch Mountain.
But it's worth a look if you're a fan of the first movie or a fan of Bette Davis and Christopher Lee. Also worth a look to see "Barney Miller" actor Jack Soo having fun in his last movie role before his death..
"Escape to Witch Mountain" is not a perfect movie, but has a good plot, well-developed characters, and beautiful scenery.
In this contrived sequel, Tony and Tia are left to fend for themselves while on vacation in Los Angeles (all the better to save on the budget!), where they become mixed up with a mad scientist (Christopher Lee), his partner (Bette Davis), and various other Disney stock characters.
The principle characters, two kids with an earnest lack of skill, named Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards return to dazzle us with their ability to read lines and stand where directed, but the real excitement is how many wheezy Disney-fied clichés--cute critters, stereotypical cab drivers, harried cops, and megalomaniacal mad scientists--can feed into this dull, under-plotted kiddie flick.Christopher Lee, the mad scientist and his compatriot, Bette Davis, are involved in some sort of mind-controlling, plutonium-stealing plot to make Lee famous and Davis rich.
Davis is as dead as the careers of the two kids who are now, respectively, 44 and 42.By the end of the movie, the good guys have won (ohmigosh, now there's a headline!), the baddies are suspended in on a scaffold (highly comical, eh?), and a truant officer, played by Jack Soo, gets to transport the heroic mini-gang of kiddies--who helped Eisenmann and Richards--back to school in his bright and shiny Ford Econoline van.If none of this makes sense, don't worry your head about it.Neither does the movie..
As young children in Escape To Witch Mountain they were very convincing, as pree-teens not so much.....alot of the first movies appealfor me was the mystery, where do these kids come from?
I loved Tias flashbacks and the fact that both kids had similar but different powers (Tia could talk to animals, open locks, move objects without help, Tony could see future places and needed his harmonica to move objects) in this movie they are both basically telepaths and telekeneics, although more powerful.
brilliant for children up to the age of ten or even older like me i am 17 and i must say i still love this film as much as i ever did x 2 teenagers with special powers who are somehow turned against each other is a good story line and i love the way a 'mean' gang help get them back together and Alfred the goat is a great character.
This corny sequel to "Escape To Witch Mountain" is full of stupid and convenient plot devices (smart goat!), the performances by the kids are awkward, Bette Davis and an obviously slumming Christopher Lee are here only to lure some adults into thinking the movie might have some interest for them too (it doesn't) and the special effects run hot and cold (some good, some embarrassments).
The two magical kids Tony & Tia return for another adventure in Disneyland!
The intergalactic kids who charmed "Escape from Witch Mountain" (1975) - telekinetic Ike Eisenmann (as Tony Malone) and telepathic Kim Richards (as Tia Malone) - return to Earth for a vacation.
Elsewhere in Los Angeles, mad scientist Christopher Lee (as Victor Gannon) demonstrates his mind-controlling invention for greedy partner Bette Davis (as Letha Wedge) by commanding her vertigo-suffering nephew Anthony James (as Sickle) to scale a skyscraper.
An accident causes Mr. James' to fall, but young Eisenmann has sensed trouble, and saves him from certain death.Impressed by the teenager's powers, Ms. Davis and Mr. Lee kidnap Eisenmann, drug him, strap him to a lab table, probe his chest, and take control of his mind with an ear contraption.
Everyone here deserved better.**** Return from Witch Mountain (3/10/78) John Hough ~ Bette Davis, Christopher Lee, Anthony James, Ike Eisenmann.
And, I never saw the original film "Escape From Witch Mountain".
John Hough directed this sequel that sees both Ike Eisenmann and Kim Richards return as psychic siblings Tony & Tia Malone, who try to take a vacation in L.A.(with help from Uncle Bene, once again played by Denver Pyle) but are immediately targeted by evil adult siblings Victor & Letha(played by Christopher Lee & Bette Davis) who want to use their powers for world conquest, and after Tony is captured & brainwashed, Tia must enlist the help of a gang of kids to rescue Tony, and stop the criminals.
This is one of my all time favorite disney movies as a kid.
Kim and Ike are great as the brother and sister with supernatural powers.However I dont think bette davis really cut it as one of the "bad guys".Despite that I thought the car chase from the museum was good and the earthquake gang were quite funny at times.
Dull, uninteresting, unfunny, and badly acted by all - including Davis and Lee. The first film was a nicely-constructed fun light comedy only marred by Eisenmann's complete inability to act (I'd love to know how he was picked for these films - did they just pluck him off the street?) As a homeschooling family, we did get one good laugh at the warning given by the truant officer: a child can either go to school or "become a bum" - no other choice!
This is a good movie, but I think 'Escape to Witch Mountain' is a little better..
This follow-up to 'Escape from Witch Mountain' cuts to the chase far sooner than the original, boasts some excellent location photography of Los Angeles, a groovy score by Lalo Schifrin - and it has Bette Davis and Christopher Lee!
They play siblings who occupy a castle that looks as if it belongs in Transylvania rather than the centre of L.A. and while Davis makes no bones about just being into villainy for the money, Lee - dressed in the usual Disney Villain homburg and three-piece suit - has the usual desire to harness Tony & Tia's alien powers to become "The Most Powerful Man in the World"..
when i was little i remember in addition to escape to witch mountain and return from witch mountain that there was another similar film it had the same idea where two kids(boy and girl) figure out they're twins with special abilities but in this one it has them as teenagers and the boy arrested and sent to some camp (like on a farm kind of camp).
sequel to"Escape to Witch Mountain" and a bit better movie.
in this follow up to "Escape to Witch Mountain",Toni and Tia Malone(Ike Eisenmann,Kim Richards),leave the safe confines of their home on Witch Mountain,to visit New York.They are a few years older and their psychic abilities have grown.once again an evil madman finds out about their powers and will stop at nothing to gain control of them.there is bit of a twist in this movie,which i liked.there is more humour in this than the first movie and there is more action.there are also a few scenes of mild peril,compared to the 1st one.the stakes are a lot higher in this one,not just for Toni and Tia,but the world.Toni and Tia are less naive this time around,so they provide better resistance against the bad guy.i really enjoyed this film,a bit more so than the 1st.if you liked "Escape to Witch Mountain"you should not be disappointed with this film.a strong 8/10.
The kids who made it home in the prior movie "Escape to Witch Mountain" travel to a city to stay in a hotel for recreation find themselves being found out by a mad scientist who has realized the ability to control the mind kidnap the older male sibling Tony.
This time its up to Tia played by Kim Richards too find away to free him with a bit of help.
Those who like "Escape to Witch Mountain" will be glad to know that "Return From Witch Mountain" is a direct sequel with the same two main characters, Tia and Tony.
But don't expect to see Jason O'Day, or any of the other characters from the first movie, because unfortunately Tia and Tony are the only characters who return, with the exception of their Uncle Bene who is again seen just briefly, this time mostly at the beginning.
So for most of the movie, he and two others are using Tony's powers, while Tia and a group of street kids are trying to find and stop them.
Though the movie is rated G, but in my opinion some scenes are almost a little too intense for that, and even slightly graphic.Near the beginning when Ganon captures Tony, the way that he does it is that he actually injects him with a needle from behind.
Psychic alien siblings Tia (a charming performance by the adorable Kim Richards) and Tony (a solid turn by Ike Eisenmann) go to Los Angeles to check out human life in the big city.
Trouble occurs when Tony gets abducted by evil, arrogant scientist Victor (the always fine Christopher Lee in smoothly sinister form) and his greedy accomplice Letha (a perfectly wicked portrayal by Bette Davis).
If you remember seeing the original Walt Disney Pictures film about two twin kids called Tony (Ike Eisenmann) and Tia (Kim Richards) who are witches "escaping" to Witch Mountain, then you'll probably like this sequel.
Tony unfortunately gets caught performing magic by the really good villain Dr. Victor Gannon, played by the excellent Christopher Lee, along with his spinster partner Letha (Bette Davis).
Sequel-Bad. It seems like the makers of this movie took a look at everything that made "Escape" so great and decided to forget it.
It doesn't help that "Return" shifts more focus onto these special effects - and puts less effort into it."Escape" had those two cute kids which worked great together.
This review may contain SPOILERS.One praiseworthy note before the coming necessary diatribe: Christopher Lee, who played the antagonist, succeeded admirably in this movie; despite wading through the cinematic muck, he came out clean.For true fans of this movie's actors or admirers of the original movie (Escape to Witch Mountain), this sequel may be worth watching.
. of Bette Davis and Christopher Lee to "star" in this apparent direct-to-video 2009 feature, RETURN FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN.
Tia gets help from a kid's gang to free Tony and save the EarthI thought the original was OK but not anything noteworthy, so I really didn't set my expectation bar that high for this one.
The two kids don't do enough this time around to maintain my interest, and the only thing I enjoyed mostly about this movie was Christopher Lee's performance.Performances.
Kim Richards and Ike Eisenmann are OK but rather bland as the kids this time around.