Could've been better

i wasn't aware of any remake in 1995, but personally I liked the Return From Witch Mountain better than the Escape To Witch Mountain.

I think having a morale of staying in school is actually pretty good though, especially since a lot of kids at that age like to skip school. That could very well have been the moral of the story.

I was curious as to how they did the special effects for the repair of the minivan though. That was pretty good. I am guessing they had a smashed up one and then they had a brand new one and found a way to combine them to make it look like it was repairing itself.

I saw a documentary once where they showed how they did all of that stuff, and I must say, it was pretty interesting

Agreed, it's a disappointing sequel. I loved seeing the kids as older and more in control of their powers (especially loved in the novelization how Alexander Key mentions that Tia talks to the boys in the voice she'd worked so hard to achieve--it's a nod to continuity with his original novel where she cannot speak out loud, only Tony can). And frankly, it's great seeing Tia large and in charge throughout the movie; she has to rescue Tony, instead of the other way around as it's usually done. (And of course as always, Kim and Ike are great.) But I thought the whole "mad scientist" thing was lame--I mean, a mind control device to use him to "take over the world"? Gee, that's never been done before :) As though Tony couldn't fight back somehow! Hasn't it been established how much stronger Tony and Tia's minds are, in every way? What might've been more interesting is if somehow Victor and Letha used Tony as leverage and forced Tia to do what they wanted, by threatening him (they could've kept him sedated or something). In other words, if they pressured T&T through psychology and the strength of their relationship, instead of a external "mind control" device. Conflict based on relationships instead of external stuff is always better writing.

I also disliked the painfully unfunny "comic relief" (the Earthquake gang). I absolutely shuddered when Tia is having her vision of the bank, she says "I see gold!" and all the kids drop to the ground and start scrabbling around. It's not the kids' fault, it's the writing--this was '70s Disney at its cheesy worst, and instead of moderately believable Los Angeles gang wannabes, we have these hokey, cutesy moppets whom the story uses to hit us with the moral of "stay in school." No, there's nothing wrong with that message, but it doesn't belong in a thriller! One starring the venerable Bette David and Christopher (Count Dooku!) much less--how did they ever agree to be in this? Drug debts must have been involved :)

Ultimately though, as disappointing as it is, it's still better than nothing. It would be great to see them do another one!

Don't forget, the movie was made during the post-Walt Disney pre-Michael Eisner time period in Disney history. ALL Disney movies made during that period, for lack of a better term, STUNK!!!

I agree, also I think that they could have done more with Jack Soo. He was brilliant and he is just wasted here, not sure why.

It was a poor follow up.