Race to Witch Mountain

Finally, something to write about.

This evening, I watched Race to Witch Mountain with the rest of my family.
It was one of the movies I suggested my mom get from Netflix, since there are many movies I'd like to watch that aren't for children, but I also try to look for movies our whole family can watch (and preferably ones that I will like also).  Many of the reviews I'd read (at Christian movie reviews) said it was a good family movie, so I thought it might be a good idea.  As it turns out, I am happy with my choice. 

For those who haven't watched the movie, here's my take on it, provided you don't care about having some of the surprises spoiled.  If you have yet to watch the movie and don't want to see the plot spoilers, skip to the "end of spoilers" part. 
[WARNING: Some plot spoilers ahead]
The movie begins with a taxi driver, Jack Bruno (played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), taking people where they want to go.  It may be my odd & twisted sense of humor or something, but the Stormtrooper scene in the beginning had me laughing.  His next passenger, Dr. Alex Friedman (Carla Gugino), spends much of her time studying and giving lectures on UFO phenomena, but Jack doesn't believe in the existence of UFOs, which rather disappoints Alex.  Later, as Jack is driving along without any passengers, he looks in the rearview mirror and sees two kids in the back seat!  He comes to find out that their names are Sara and Seth, and they are aliens on a mission to save Earth from destruction by the more war-inclined denizens of their planet some 3,000 light-years away.  Unfortunately, they are being pursued by government agents and a Siphon, an alien assassin sent to kill the kids.  To help matters just a little bit, the kids both have special abilities (i.e. superpowers): Seth can withstand tremendous impact without being hurt and can pass through solid objects, and Sara can read minds and can manipulate objects with her mind (telepathy and telekinesis).
The trio later team up with Dr. Friedman and try to stay one step ahead of the government and the rather unfriendly interstellar intruder, all the while trying to find and get to the siblings' spaceship.  I won't say what happens next, so watch the movie to see the rest. 
[End of plot spoilers]
      
The movie has no objectionable language that I caught, and no sexual content at all.
Overall, even though it does require a good amount of suspension of belief, I found it to be enjoyable on the whole and satisfying (I can't say the same for Inkheart, which I watched recently; I found it to be too illogical and lacking...something...), funny in parts, and pretty good with some of the special effects.  
In case you didn't know, I think superpowers, especially telekinesis and other mind powers like telepathy, are really cool.

Something in the movie that some people might have a problem with is the fact that the government agents, presumably from the CIA, FBI, or another large and well-known intelligence agency, are the "bad guys" trying to use Sara and Seth for their own ends.  Naturally, this doesn't bother me in the least, as I am, well, a conspiracy theorist, and I have no illusions or delusions regarding the government.  In fact, I believe some think me somewhat of a pessimistic/fatalistic prophet of doom for saying things like "the government is becoming totalitarian and might be like the former U.S.S.R. and other countried relatively soon, and we can already see how many of our freedoms have been and still are being eroded and how the government's power is steadily increasing..."
Well, enough about that.

Here are some themes I see in the movie that I believe can be seen biblically (although the biblical themes may be only loosely connected):
1) When seeing how Jack and Alex develop a close affection for the kids, even though they were previously total strangers, we can be reminded how God loves us and adopted us into his family, even though we hadn't known him before.   





[to be continued...]