One of my best friends told me that, as a child of the late 80s and early 90s, I had to see this movie. He told me that it wasn’t very good and that its only claims to fame are that it stars Fred Savage from The Wonder Years and that it was used to market the launch of Super Mario Bros. 3. As is oftentimes the case, my friend was right.Jimmy hasn’t been the same since his sister drowned a few years ago. The trauma split up his family and now he lives with his mother and stepfather and two half-brothers, played by Fred Savage and Christian Slater. Jimmy is so disconnected from the world that his family puts him into an institution. Half-brother Corey (Savage) realizes that Jimmy doesn’t belong there. Corey breaks him out of the institution and reluctantly helps Jimmy realize his unexplained need to go to California.
Along the way, they meet a young girl (Jenny Lewis) also hitchhiking her way to California. Together they form a team and repeatedly dodge a sketchy runaway collector that has been hired by Jimmy and Corey’s parents. When they discover that Jimmy is something of a savant for video games, they sign Jimmy up for “Video Armageddon,” which boasts a $50,000 prize. The search for Jimmy brings everyone to Universal Studios in Hollywood: the kids, the parents, even the runaway collector. The climax of the film sees Jimmy make the finals where he and his fellow finalists are the first to play the new Super Mario Bros. 3 game by Nintendo.
On the surface, The Wizard feels like a harmless, commercialized kiddy flick. A closer examination reveals a manipulative film full of clichés and product placement. The target audience is clearly children but there is “enough” family-oriented content to pass as something for everyone to enjoy. For the parents, it preaches family togetherness. To kids, it highlights how absolutely cool Nintendo video games are.
The story itself is completely ridiculous but kids love seeing kids outwit adults every step of the way along a great journey. I just hope that no young children set out to hitchhike across the country because they saw how fun it could be in this film. Corey and Haley (Lewis) lie to other children and adults in order to fund their cross-country trek by hustling young and old to put money down on video game contests against Jimmy, who seems nothing short of autistic. My, what wholesome family entertainment indeed!
This film can actually be broken down into several distinct components that were commonplace in popular 80s movies. There’s the tale of a broken family searching for a way to become whole again, Rocky-esque video game training montages, catchy pop tunes, and the already-mentioned cross-country trek. It’s a pastiche of all the cheesiest elements of 80s cinema rolled into what is essentially Rain Man for kids plus endless plugs for Nintendo.
If they were to remake this film to help promote Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U, I would trash it for shameless commercialism and a lousy story. Since this film is over 20 years old, I’m willing to be kinder to it. While it may indeed amount to little more than a 100-minute commercial for Nintendo, The Wizard has all but been forgotten about, unlike other shameless product placement films like Mac and Me. Super Mario Bros. 3 was going to be a hit with or without this movie, so it’s not like there is any kind of historical or commercial legacy attached to it.
You almost have to respect what the filmmakers pulled off with this movie. They put a mega-popular child actor in front of the screen in Fred Savage and applied any number of adult movie clichés in watered-down forms for younger viewers. Sure, it’s all dishonest and completely absurd, but it’s also something that little kids will love simply because it involves children and an adventure. Most of the other stuff will, thankfully, go right over their heads.
RATING: 2.25 out of 5
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