ManiakJiggy This is How Movies Should Be Made

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Delight Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

Rich Wright Oh, I miss those days when video games were limited to 64 colours, controllers only had two buttons and the latest titles were sixty quid a pop. Wait a minute... no I don't.Regardless, here we have a movie where three runaways including Wonder Years (never watched it) star Fred Savage, his dysfunctional little brother and some tagalong chick hotfoot it to California so the youngest of their number to compete in a Nintendo tournament. On the way, they play plenty of arcade games for 'practice' (e.g Product Placement) while dodging the unwelcome attentions of a hired private eye on route.Cue parents and kids bonding over Ninja Turtles, minors hitchhiking across the USA without barely ANYTHING GOING WRONG and false claims of sexual assault against a pre-teen girl somehow being justified so she and her friends can make a quick getaway from their pursuer... "HE TOUCHED MY BREAST" indeed. It's as thin as rice paper, as cheesy as a Camembert festival and as haphazardly put together as my failed Scalextric projects.Despite all this, I have a soft spot in my scaly old heart for road movies, and seeing all those ancient Nintendo games brings with it something of a warm nostalgic glow (Which is a bit odd, considering I was a Sega dude). Plus, the final Super Mario Bros 3 showdown at the contest is genuinely thrilling... even IF we all know who the victor will be (CLUE: Not the blonde jerk or the girl geek).One final question... What DID happen to the Power Glove? 5/10

goc6283 A good way of telling if you will like this film is to watch the power glove scene. It shows exactly the nature of this film, and you wouldn't have it any other way. If you like cheesy films, you will probably like this.It is rather hard to vote a film such as this. On one hand, there is such blatant advertising for the SNES/Nintendo in general (as well as a certain amusement park) that it should almost be down-voted to a 1 or 2. It is also incredibly cheesy, even as 80 kids films go.But then on the other hand, this film has an odd goofy nature that really shows when it was from. It also contains some interesting and funny lines and memorable scenes, many which are spoken to or referenced today, for better or for worse.If you did not know, this film in general concerns a young group of kids trying to go to a video game championship themselves. There is an underlying plot, but why spoil anything else here? This film is bad but in a good way. It has just enough charm to prevent it from being bad. There is a whole lot of advertisement but it somehow does not feel as in the face as lets' say Mac and Me. Though it can't exactly be said that this film is good.7.3 Nintendiums out of 10

Steve Pulaski The problem with watching The Wizard now is the fact that it is so dated, and is no longer relevant to anybody, other than people amused by the classics, such as myself. Today's kids aren't going to want to watch this film simply because "it's old." Even I, a retro-Nintendo fan, was bored throughout most of this film.Reason being why this film was so big at the time was because kids everywhere were in love with the Nintendo Entertainment System, and wanted to see and play anything to do with it. Plus, not only was it a movie with some games referenced in it, it also had the sneak peek of Super Mario Bros. 3. I can't imagine the looks on a child's face as they saw some early footage of one of the greatest games in video game history. It's things like that juice-up the nostalgia meter, but don't do much to juice-up the likability of the film.The story is about two boys, Corey (Savage) and his brother Jimmy (Edwards), who run away from their parents after a family fights consume the house. Jimmy suffers from a serious mental condition, and remains silent for most of the film. Corey realizes that Jimmy is "a wizard" at video games. He seems pretty calm about his skills as well, and they soon meet up with Haley (Lewis), another runaway who tells them about "Video Armageddon," a big video game event that showcasing player's skill. Suddenly, they are en route to it.The Wizard's main problem is it is overly written and completely unrealistic, but I think that is what most kids will like about it. Home Alone was very over-the-top, but kids like it because the unlikely happened. Same thing happens with The Wizard. Though too many times these kids are put into serious danger, that no kid would escape. I find it incredibly hard to believe young kids aren't victim to trouble or abduction when they wander the streets aimlessly as runaways escaping kidnappers like they do it all the time.Every kid who saw this film came for the video game footage. Not the actual storyline. There are parts in the film where games are shown, saying they are on level three or something, when really, it's plain obvious to the character when they are on level. Any kid who was a huge fan of these games was most likely yelling in the theater "hey, he's not on level three," and frankly, if I was eight in 1989 I probably would've too.The film focuses too much on a senseless, congested storyline when it could be focusing on trying to construct more video game footage for the kids. If you told a child, around eight or nine years old, that this film as going to show five seconds of Super Mario Bros., they wouldn't bite. If you market the film like it centers around that game, then kids would bite. Nintendo could've banked from this a lot more had they simply gave kids what they wanted. It disappoints all around.Watching the end scene in 2011 doesn't really mean much now, because Super Mario Bros. 3 can now be bought for a few dollars off of Amazon, or at any retro-game used store. All I could think was how many kids screamed at the screen when they saw this come up so abruptly. That's all The Wizard is good for now. Memories, imagining, and nostalgia. Those three things only make for a paper-thin film.Starring: Fred Savage, Luke Edwards, Jenny Lewis, and Christian Slater. Directed by: Todd Holland.

MoronUnited While fans today may complain over the company's change of focus to casual games, it's hard to forget the known fact that in the late 80's, Nintendo was godly. The NES was a major success, kids everywhere were filled with joy playing such greats such as the Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros, and Nintendo was raking in the cash. While the Super Mario Bros Movie is the prime example of Nintendo butchering video game franchises in order to bring them to the big screen, one movie in 1989 was unlike all the others: The Wizard.The film begins with a mentally-unstable 6 year old boy named Jimmy. It soon becomes apparent that Jimmy wants to go to California (VERY APPARENT), so his 13 year old half-brother Corey (Fred Savage) steals him from the mental institution, and they're on their way. As an interesting side note, Ben Savage plays a character named Corey on Boy Meets World while Fred Savage plays a different Corey in The Wizard. Confusing. Anyway, Corey's dad (Beau Bridges) and brother (Christian Slater) start on a mission to find the children while competing with a children-finder, who is not nearly as pant-wetting freaky as the child catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, to get them first. It may seem simple on the exterior, but the plot starts to not make much sense when trying to figure out the family connections between all the characters since Jimmy is the product of one marriage and Corey and…..screw it. Along the way, the duo meets up with Hailey, who convinces them into competing in Video Armageddon, a video game tournament in none other than California.Now, in any great movie there is a great adversary, right? Well of course, and The Wizard is no exception. So, who will be standing in Jimmy's path to video game domination? Lucas Barton, the greatest video gamer in all the land. I really don't know what the creators were thinking when they created this laughable excuse for a villain, but for some odd reason, it actually works. It gives the film a unique sort of feel, and even though it's dated and immature, it's a load of fun.Besides confusing the crap out of an 8 year old with the attention span of a rodent, what other problems does the film have? Got 3 hours to spare? First of all, the morals are all screwed up. The film essentially preaches that hitchhiking is the best plan for 6 and 13 year olds, gambling is great for all ages, screaming about being raped in public to get someone is arrested is fine even if you're just messing around, never reprimand your kids for running away, charge as much money to a hotel room you can't pay for as possible, eat food that isn't yours, sell your parent's bus ticket for some video games……I think the point has been made. I am not even going to discuss the "I'm sleeping with my father in a dump on the highway" or the 80-year old man in a thong ordering liquor. Seriously, what the hell were they thinking? Thankfully, the soundtrack to The Wizard is about as 80's as possible, and for a fan of music from that decade, it's a true joy to listen to. While all the bands that performed songs for the film have ling been forgotten, rocking tunes such as "Send Me an Angel" are featured in some great montage sequences that add a unique style to the overall experience. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the movie is the actual filming locations in the movie. The vast majority of the flick showcases Jimmy and Corey hitchhiking from Utah to California, so seeing all the beautiful scenery and open areas is a real treat.There are great movies, there are terrible movies, and then there is The Wizard. I truly don't know how to even classify it since, yes, it is a plot disaster, yet it's enormously entertaining and interesting. I have seen this flick more times over the years than I can even count, and watching it today still gives me a sense of satisfaction and joy. Considering Nintendo's other film outings have been terrible at best, The Wizard is a refreshing movie that is definitely worth a watch if under the right mindset.