The Wizard (1989)

A boy and his brother run away from home and hitch cross country with the help of a girl they meet to compete in the ultimate video game championship.

Director:

Todd Holland

Writer:

David Chisholm

Stars:

Fred Savage, Luke Edwards, Jenny Lewis

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 / Wrecking Yard Man
Ray Bickel	...	Trucker #2
Chuck Skinner	...	Grease Monkey
W.K. Cowan	...	Salesman #1

Storyline

Corey and Jimmy Woods are two brothers who are being separated due to their parents divorcing. Jimmy is a mentally unstable kid that has had problems ever since his sister died at a young age. One day, Corey discovers that Jimmy has a natural talent for playing video games. He is one of the best around, and the two journey to the West Coast to compete in a video game championship, but along the way, they must avoid the adults, who are trying to take Jimmy away.

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Plot Keywords:

nintendo | nes | championship | cross country | boy | 

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Taglines:

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.

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Drama | Family | Romance

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

15 December 1989 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'enfant génial

Filming Locations:

Nevada, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$14,278,900 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Finnegan/Pinchuk Productions, Pipeline Productions, Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The literal translations of some of this film's foreign language titles include "Joy Stick Heroes" (Germany), "Sweet Road" (Japan), "The Wizard of Videogames" (Italy and Brazil), "Videokid" (France) "The Little Wizard" (Spain), "Gameboy" (Sweden), "Game Over" (Finland), and "The Child Genius" (Canada; French language).

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Goofs

When Spanky is driving the truck he is turning the wheel left and right. If he was doing that on the road the 18 wheeler would have flipped killing everyone inside.

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Quotes

Haley: What's his problem?
Corey: Jimmy's just shy.
Haley: Shy a few bricks I'd say.
Corey: No he's okay. He just kicked ass on Double Dragon.

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Connections

Referenced in The Angry Video Game Nerd: Nintendo World Championships (2011)

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Soundtracks

Hangin' Tough
Written by Maurice Starr
Performed by New Kids on the Block

User Reviews

Love Nintendo, and (sorry) love this movie

The fond memories I had of this flick from my youth were not disappointed when I finally caught up with it again recently.

Its simply a great kids adventure. Many claimed at the time that it was little more than a rather enormous advert for Nintendo, and it is. But they bothered to make a decent movie out of it as well. I remember how excited I was at the prospect of Super Mario Bros 3, and this movie plays up to those expectations very entertainingly.

If you love videogames, the film is a fascinating cultural artifact. If you are a youngster, you should thoroughly enjoy a very well maintained adventure, with surprisingly few flaws.

It may sound pretentious, but for what it is, it is near flawless. Go figure!