The Wizard (1989)

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

Broken Arrow (1996)

After a career-revitalizing role in Pulp Fiction, John Travolta was thrust back into the limelight of Hollywood. All of a sudden he was a leading man again, and everybody was knocking on his door. Whether he was trying to cling to the aura of cool that he embodied in Pulp Fiction, or whether he was trying to play himself once more against his former squeaky clean, charming roles of old and some recent ones, Travolta takes to the silver screen as a conniving Air Force pilot bent on stealing nuclear weapons.

While Travolta’s physique is less than perfect, his co-star’s acting chops are even more suspect. While Travolta’s career was on the up-swing, Broken Arrow catches Christian Slater close to where his stardom and career sputtered out. Nevertheless, Broken Arrow spits out a fairly black and white good guy vs. bad guy action flick with predictable results and a handful of slick stunts.

Travolta and Slater play a pair of pilots running stealth bomber exercises over the Utah deserts with real nukes. Travolta has masterminded a plan to steal the nukes and ransom millions from the US government. Slater catches on to the plan, but just a tad too late, as he is jettisoned from the aircraft before he can stop his former partner. He does, however, manage to muddle up the delivery of the nukes by parachuting them off-target.

Slater teams up with a park ranger and they set off to do what the US government seems incapable of doing, despite their resources: find and stop Travolta.

There are lots of fancy stunts, fights and explosions in this hour-fifty action flick. Broken Arrow was John Woo’s second Hollywood film, and first big-budget film in the States. The martial arts influence is certainly present. The popularity of Woo and his compatriots led to a plethora of films featuring white guy action heroes saving the day via wicked kung fu moves. Unfortunately, the acting isn’t as slick as the action.

Travolta attempts to slide his character all the way to the extreme as the villain. He sneers and jeers and seems to have a genuinely good time playing a borderline psychopath. The problem is that he takes it too far. Travolta just isn’t believable as the unstable mastermind villain, which makes sense. It’s very hard to have a believable villain be both a mastermind and borderline certifiable. The combination of the two results in a jumbled mess. It looks like fun, but it doesn’t comprehend well in the mind of the viewer.

Slater, on the other hand, doesn’t come across as being smart enough to play the hero. His steady, confident delivery, piled on top of a Western-inspired hero theme tune, comes off as a goofy, modern John Wayne impression. I’m not a huge fan of the Duke, but the Duke he ain’t. Between a few lucky guesses and a few lucky breaks, Slater’s hero character ambles along the path to victory and doesn’t work out all too well either.

The plot has more than its fair share of plot holes and flaws (where was Travolta going to hide after getting away?) but enough dazzle and flair to satisfy summer audiences who check their brains at the door. It has the potential to be a fun movie, as long as you try not to think too much about it.

Given a casting change and a few more re-writes, Broken Arrow could have been better than average for an action flick. Instead, we get a guilty pleasure performance by Travolta and a taste of what the future would hold for Slater.

RATING: 2.25 out of 5