Escape to Witch Mountain (1995 film)

*Escape to Witch Mountain*
Escape to Witch Mountain
	Television listing advertisement
Genre	Adventure; Family; Fantasy;
Based on	Escape to Witch Mountain; by Robert Malcolm Young; Escape to Witch Mountain; by Alexander Key;
Teleplay by	Peter Rader
Directed by	Peter Rader
Starring	Elisabeth Moss; Erik von Detten; Perrey Reeves; Robert Vaughn; Vincent Schiavelli; Brad Dourif;
Music by	Richard Marvin
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Executive producers	George Zaloom; Les Mayfield; Scott Immergut;
Producer	Joan Van Horn
Cinematography	Russ T. Alsobrook
Editor	Duane Hartzell
Running time	87 minutes
Production companies	Walt Disney Television; Zaloom/Mayfield Productions;
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	April 29, 1995
Related
	The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes; Freaky Friday;

Escape to Witch Mountain is a 1995 American fantasy-adventure television film written and directed by Peter Rader. It is a remake of the 1975 film of the same name.^[2] The film was announced by American Broadcasting Company (ABC) in September 1994, as the third of four Disney film remakes to air on the channel, the other three being The Shaggy Dog, The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes, and Freaky Friday.^[3]^[4] The film was produced by Walt Disney Television and premiered on ABC on April 29, 1995,^[5] as an ABC Family Movie.

Plot

On the outskirts of a small town there is a rock formation called Witch Mountain rumored to possess mysterious powers. A young waitress, Zoe Moon, witnesses infant twin children Anna and Danny appear behind the diner in a pillar of purple light, causing her to faint from shock. When a local hermit named Bruno finds them in the bed of his truck, he moves Anna to the back of another nearby truck but is seen by Sheriff Bronson while carrying Danny and is told to freeze. The truck containing Anna drives away before she is noticed, separating the two.

Danny spends the next nine years of his life between foster families and frequently runs away. After his latest attempt is thwarted, his frustrated social worker decides to leave him at an orphanage run by Lindsay Brown. He is reunited with Anna when she saves him from Xander, an older boy at the orphanage who has a soft spot for Anna. Neither Danny or Anna are initially aware of their relationship, despite performing identical odd mannerisms. However, their newly found proximity to one another reawakens their supernatural powers and they realize that they are siblings. When Edward Bolt, a local magnate seeking to develop the nearby Witch Mountain, notices their powers, he decides to care for both of them as their foster father. Though Danny is happy with the development because he has his sister and a nice home, Anna is apprehensive about being adopted by Bolt and befriends Bolt's chauffeur, Luthor, who feels he has a connection to the twins.

During one of their outings to a purple general store, Anna uses her telekinetic abilities and catches the attention of the store's owner, Waldo Fudd. Waldo reveals he has the same abilities they do and that they are extraterrestrials from another world where everyone has a twin. When they came to Earth to explore, everyone separated due to the quarrels they experienced on Earth. Waldo has been working to reunite them all and take them home. Meanwhile, Zoe sees the purple light from the front of the shop and recognizes it and confronts Waldo to discover the fate of the twins she saw years earlier. Though he dismisses her claims, Waldo leaves her clues regarding Anna and Danny's fates if she wishes to help them.

Bolt reveals his true intention to exploit the twins' power to blast open Witch Mountain without explosives in order to obtain its valuable rock material, despite Waldo's protest that the mountain must not be tampered with. Anna discovers the truth and telepathically warns Danny, only to be held hostage by Bolt so that Danny will do as he asks. The twins are rescued by Xander and escape to Waldo's shop on a horse that Danny communicates with to help them. Lindsay becomes suspicious of Bolt when he sends the police to retrieve the children from the shop.

Zoe and Bruno help Danny and Anna escape to Witch Mountain after the twins levitate Bruno's truck, while Bolt is arrested by Bronson after Luthor exposes Bolt's plot. At Witch Mountain, Waldo and the other reunited twins await Anna and Danny so they can all return home. The last set of twins arrive soon after—Bruno and Luthor. Using Waldo and his twin's power on their home world, all of the twins return home in pairs, with Anna and Danny going last to close the gate between their home world and Earth. Waldo casually comments that he will be waiting for the next group of tourists, while Anna and Danny float up into the purple smoke to Witch Mountain. Zoe narrates that Witch Mountain is not haunted but has light in it.

Cast

Elisabeth Moss as Anna
Erik von Detten as Danny
Perrey Reeves as Zoe Moon
Robert Vaughn as Edward Bolt
Lynne Moody as Lindsay Brown
Sam Horrigan as Xander
Lauren Tom as Claudia Ford
Vincent Schiavelli as Waldo Fudd
Henry Gibson as Ravetch
Bobby Motown as Skeeto
Kevin Tighe as Sheriff Bronson
Brad Dourif as Bruno/Luthor (dual role)
John Petlock as Butler
Beth Colt as Woman officer
Daniel Lavery as Mr. Flynn
Jeffrey Lampert as Man on TV
Ray Lykins as Deputy
Jennifer & Marissa Bullock as Baby Anna
Nikki & Sammi Allen as Baby Danny

References

^ Maheshwari, Disheeta (March 18, 2023). "21 Movies like Harry Potter for all the fantasy fans out there". Pinkvilla. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
^ "Escape to Witch Mountain". TCM.com. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
^ King, Susan (September 11, 1994). "Preview '94: A Feel for Family". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
^ "1994 Fall TV Preview Saturday". Entertainment Weekly. September 16, 1994. Retrieved July 26, 2017.
^ Johnson, Ted (May 6, 1995). "Finding TV Gold in Scripts From the Silver Screen". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 26, 2017. Last Saturday, a new version of "Escape to Witch Mountain" aired as the "ABC Family Movie", and the same folks are presenting a new "Freaky Friday" tonight.