More seriously, the climax, in which Gannon’s mind-control device is damaged and short-circuits, seems to contradict the first plot point, in which the device is introduced and similarly damaged. Why does Tia run away from the villainous Sickle (Anthony James) in the nuclear power plant moments after stranding a security guard in mid-air in the corridor outside? The first film for me is overshadowed by my childhood memories of the superior original novel by Alexander Key, which I read long before seeing the movie.)Īttentive kids will notice inconsistencies in how the siblings’ powers are portrayed. (For this reason alone, my family liked the original better, though I remain fonder of the sequel, which I saw as a child in the theater. Most disappointingly, Tony spends almost the whole film separated from Tia in a trance-like state, so the siblings’ relationship is lost. In his last role, Jack Soo is ill used as a truant officer who becomes the butt of some unpleasant humor. On the down side, the story is sillier, with a scheme involving mind control and a squeaky-clean street “gang” of nerdy kids who’d look better in Mouseketeer ears than painted denim jackets. Victor Gannon and dowager Letha Wedge, Lee and Davis are more engaging than the original’s Donald Pleasence and Ray Milland, and their characters and goals are better defined. Of course, more effects also means more glaringly cheesy effects.) As bickering villains Dr. (The original’s “biggest” scene was probably the underwhelming prison break, with its whirling coat on a coat rack. Better structured and faster-moving than its predecessor, the sequel has more energy and wit in one sequence - the gold theft at the museum, in which a rolling stagecoach and floating manniquins evoke scenes from a Western - than all the special effects in the first movie combined.
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