The Wizard is a cute little yarn about a kid with special needs named Jimmy (Luke Edwards). His parents undergo an ugly divorce, so he wants to run off to California. He winds up doing so accompanied by his brother Corey (Fred Savage). Along the way, they befriend a girl (Jenny Lewis). When it becomes apparent that they need cash to move on, the trio discovers that Jimmy is a bonafide video game wizard, and they push themselves into a tournament.
My interest to see this movie stemmed from some recent video game history videos I stumbled across on Youtube (as such, it comes as no surprise to me that this movie is loaded with Nintendo propaganda). The Wizard has the distinction of being the first time any American had ever laid eyes on Super Mario Bros 3--prior to this, the game had been released and played all over Japan and it was rightfully hyped as a masterclass platformer. Couple that with a memorable "so bad it's good" scene where a rival kid shows off the Power Glove, and the film becomes a kitschy time capsule of Nintendo's highs and lows by the end of the decade.
If this movie was strictly about games and Nintendo, I would have been more invested. And this could have been easy for the film if it focused strictly on the tournament. Alas, it treats it as an ends rather than a means. Without indulging in the specific characteristics of what defines Jimmy as a "wizard," we're left with a rather lame melodrama about kids running away and avoiding adult problems. Right from the start, the film shoots its credibility in the foot as the two brothers somehow cross Death Valley without dying. To say nothing about the useless subplot in which a bounty hunter chases after these kids (with bumbling antics to ensue).
I see what the film's doing though. So-many years after movies like Rocky and The Karate Kid successfully showcased underdogs (and kids) building themselves up to become champions, The Wizard carbon-copies the plot structure expecting us to care about these lost underdog kids before proving themselves in a major championship. It doesn't really work because most of the film is more interested in showing how Jimmy is emotionally tormented (and is bullied in at least one scene) and exploring the trauma that makes him clam up as he does. But it does so in the framework of a chase film--one that seems cheaply shot all across California (and possibly Nevada or Utah, it all looks similar).
What's really odd about this flick is that the adult actors inject their performances with way more energy and camp than the kids, who play it pretty straight and serious. It becomes tonally weird--stiff in some places, goofy in others. Most of the money seems to be put in the few scenes that do feature video games, but it still amounts to nothing more than a room full of cheering kids in front of three or so screens. The film is competently shot and edited, for what it's worth. Every time an emotional moment is warranted, an 80s rock ballad kicks in, and I found it quite annoying.
I would have been six when this came out, and if I saw the film then I might have enjoyed it just fine. Even with an enthusiasm for the 80s and gaming culture, I can't really get invested in this as an adult--there's simply not enough gaming involved, and the actual meat of this story just doesn't work.
Oh, and those final championship scenes with Super Mario Bros 3? I was really distracted by how poorly these kids played it. Jimmy hesitates way too much and he could have gotten the warp whistle way earlier than the castle level. In fact, all these kids sucked at it. When I was ten, I could have pwned them all. For all that goes, here's a guy who beat most of the game in 10 minutes--he surpassed the scores in the movie within 30 seconds.
Also, screw the Power Glove. It's so bad.
4/10
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