You have to try and watch this Disney
production partly through the eyes of a child. It was ok seeing it as an
adult, but I would guess as a child this would be a good scary funny adventure.
At least children in 1975. These days maybe not. But it has children with
special powers like the X-Men and aliens from a dying planet. What more could
you want as a kid? More. Ok, evil adults, bullies who get their comeuppance,
a cat that is whip smart and a bear that protects them. More! Ray Milland
and Donald Pleasence as villains and the Green Acres guy as the only good
human in the film.
After their foster parents die, a young
boy Tony and his sister Tia are sent to an orphanage. They are not very smart
about hiding their powers and soon all the other children are afraid around
them. Tony can jump very high and mentally beat up a bully with a flying
baseball glove. Tia can see the future, undo locks, communicate with animals
and sense if people are bad. Not too shabby. Where is Xavier to take them
away? Instead, there is the very wealthy Aristotle Bolt played by Ray Milland
with big red bleary eyes.
Tia tells Deranian (Pleasence) not to get
into his car and a moment later another car crashes into it. He works for
Bolt and they devise a way to adopt the children. Bolt asks them if they
can tell if there is oil beneath them if they walk over it. They know it
is time to skedaddle and the escape is on. They hide in an RV driven by the
grouchy Mr. O'Day (Eddie Albert) and soon all the cops and hunters in the
county are after them. But they have a cat and a bear on their side. And
all those powers. Decent enough fun. The special effects are fine. Good clean
fun for children and an early lesson not to trust the rich and all the rest
of humanity that will do their bidding. There are a couple sequels.
