The Wizard (1989)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Todd Holland

Writer (WGA):

David Chisholm (written by)

Release Date:

15 December 1989 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Adventure | Drama

Tagline:

They're on a cross-country adventure to the world's greatest video championship. It's more than a game...it's the chance of a lifetime.

Plot:

A boy and his two friends run away from home and hitch cross country to compete in the ultimate video game championship.

Plot Keywords:

Video Game | Championship | Cross Country | Young Boy | Nintendo

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Luke Edwards	...	Jimmy Woods / The Wizard
Vince Trankina	...	Tate (as Vincent Leahr)
Wendy Phillips	...	Christine Bateman
Dea McAllister	...	Councelor
Sam McMurray	...	Bateman
Beau Bridges	...	Sam Woods
Fred Savage	...	Corey Woods
Christian Slater	...	Nick Woods
Will Seltzer	...	Putnam
Roy Conrad	...	Bus Clerk
Jenny Lewis	...	Haley
Roderick Dexter	...	Trucker #1
Ray Bickel	...	Trucker #2
Chuck Skinner	...	Grease Monkey
W.K. Cowan	...	Salesman #1

Runtime:

USA:100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Canada:G (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:PG (Nova Scotia) (re-rating) (1994) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Iceland:L | USA:PG | West Germany:6 | UK:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Cabazon, California, USA

Company:

Finnegan/Pinchuk Productions

Trivia:

When Corey has Jimmy challenge the businessmen to an arcade game bet, the side of the arcade cabinet features an ad for the then-recent Tom Petty album Full Moon Fever.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Jimmy says, "Corey, I don't want to go home," Haley's purse disappears and reappears between shots.

Quotes:

Putnam: All right, I'm looking for a couple of kids. This one's a mental case, have you seen them?
Pinball Teen: Does he dress like you?
Putnam: No.
Pinball Teen: Then he can't be too much of a case, all right?

Movie Connections:

References Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

Soundtrack:

Send Me An Angel

Indescribably Bad.

Was there a single positive to this film? Critics who knew nothing of video games could spot the gaming errors made. No damage taken with damage clearly visible towards the beginning being a primary example.

And I may have missed something, but wasn't Super Mario Bros. 3 suppose to be a game that had never played before? Well if that IS the case, and I did not miss anything... how did Fred Savage's character, and even the girl, know so much about the game already? We're talking things that some people don't know about by their second or third play-through.

Beyond the factual and gaming errors there is the general low quality of the film itself. Nothing here is honestly very memorable. The kid wasn't even that good at playing video games in the footage they showed. A lot of kids I knew way back in those days were significantly more experienced. On top of all this the acting and storyline are just mediocre at their strongest points. The characters are bland and completely uninteresting, the 'Wizard' (the youngest child) is a very silent, completely dry child cliché of a little kid who almost never talks because of a trauma. It isn't that this is unrealistic, it's the fact that it had to be thrown into the movie to actually even begin to form a plot that would exceed even 30 minutes.

Honestly, the only value that is to be found here is that of a nostalgic nature. If you grew up with this movie you're going to like it whether it was good or not. It was about kids playing video games, and at the time you saw it you likely had an obsession with the NES as well. But unless you loved it as a kid there just isn't anything that's going to keep you interested, and very little that will prevent you from turning it off.

No sir, I didn't like it.