[[quoteright:236: [[http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/thatguywiththeglasses/nostalgia-critic/215-the-wizard http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wizard1989.jpg]]]]
[[quoteright:236:[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome A god amongst gamers.]] Too bad he ain't the hero.]]

''For the homonym TV Series, see TheWizard''.

''The Wizard'' is a 1989 film starring Fred Savage and two other actors nobody really remembers (though one turned out to be a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Lewis future indie rock star]]). It is about Jimmy, a young boy who suffers from a serious mental disorder reminiscent of [[TheRainman Hollywood Autism]] after a traumatic incident. After being put in an institution, one of his older brothers breaks him out. They decide to run away to California together, as Jimmy is for some reason fixated on the place.

Along the way, they meet with some other kids that eerily seem to [[ParentalAbandonment lack parental supervision]]. They also learn that Jimmy is a [[DisabilitySuperpower godlike entity around video games]]. Meanwhile, the concerned mother of the runaway kids hires a sleazy private detective to track them down. This causes a rivalry between him and the father and older brother that are also trying to get to them.

But none of this is what the movie is well-known for. The film is a fairly blatant MerchandiseDriven affair, made to sell the Nintendo products and the Universal Studios tour. In fact, [[strike:much of]] the film's [[strike:initial]] appeal was that it had a sneak peek at Super Mario Brothers 3.

The film maintains a cult following within the video game culture based on its SnarkBait potential. Deconstructing the film is a senior thesis of its own, but some of the major issues include the following:

# It's not a good sign when [[http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19891215/REVIEWS/912150304/1023 Roger Ebert]], who is vocally not a fan of video games, is able to [[CriticalResearchFailure notice the inaccuracies]].
# Most of the "arcade" machines are little more than NES games given a justification for access to the main characters. (Although it could be argued that they were [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayChoice-10 Playchoice 10]] units.)
# Lucas and his infamous line, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad". Anybody who has ever used one of those will tell you that there is no way you can utilize it with that level of skill. Not to mention the original meaning [[HaveAGayOldTime being]] [[TotallyRadical distorted]] by the fact that now, "bad" has reverted to meaning "[[ReverseFunnyAneurysm of poor quality]]", [[DontExplainTheJoke which the Power Glove was]].
# During the tournament, the withdrawn kid displays that he has psychic powers by just randomly coming across the Warp Zone Whistle in the world 1 fortress of SuperMarioBros. 3, one of the [[GuideDangIt least intuitive]] shortcuts in any game. How is some kid supposed to figure out that you're supposed to fly over the top of the ceiling and then go into a door that ''you can't even see''? And why would he even risk it, given that he's in a competition?
** Did we mention this was ''the first time the game has been seen by anybody''?
** It can be inferred that he learned the trick from reading Nintendo Power or from the dude at the Nintendo Hotline. If you ''don't'' believe that interpretation, then the scenes featuring both of said things were pretty much just the movie stopping for a commercial break.
*** What part of ''the first time the game has been seen by anybody'' did you not understand?
# Or, for that matter, why do ''all'' the kids -- even the ones cheering the competitors on -- know so much about this game if this was a surprise showcase.

Still, it's a fairly popular Sunday afternoon TV recycle amongst younger kids who aren't familiar with Nintendo's heyday. Or who don't know any better.
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!!This film provides examples of:
* AdultsAreUseless: Pretty much the whole driving point of the film is that every adult is either uncaring or evil.
** Or incompetent: The kids run through ''half of Universal's backlot'' without being halted by the tour guide they're disrupting or caught by studio security (who should be much more familiar with the layout of the studio; they ''work'' there, after all).
** Or absent altogether: There's no mention of any minor kid characters' parents.
* CompetenceZone
* CriticalResearchFailure -- when the tournament announcer says one level, and the game screen says another (earlier) level, something is wrong.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: As explained above.
* DeadLittleSister: Rather sickeningly used as just another plot point, and implied to be the reason why Jimmy is on the Autism Spectrum. Seriously.
* DesignatedVillain: Putnam is a JerkAss, but the movie (particularly the boys' father) treat him much worse than he actually is.
* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Aside from the relentless Adults Are Useless. According to this movie, it's okie-dokie to exploit your little Autistic brother into winning money for you.
** And it's also okay for minors to walk and hitchhike from Utah to California, by themselves.
** Or to accuse a guy, who is just trying to do his job, of [[DudeNotFunny child molestation]].
*** Even if he is kind of a douche.
* GamerChick: A TropeCodifier.
* [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, It's That Girl!]]: Fans of indie rock tend to say this when they see Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis as a GamerChick.
* HufflepuffHouse: that "other" girl in the final round with Jimmy and Lucas.
* InformedAbility: Notice how the main characters are so hung up on how awesome Lucas is... after they've only seen him win at ''one'' game.
** WITH THE POWER GLOVE! He is truly a god amongst gamers.
* InspirationallyDisabled: Jimmy
* MerchandiseDriven: It can give ''MacAndMe'' a run for its (sponsors') money.
* MoralDissonance: The father tries to run Putnam off the road several times in ways that could easily cause flaming wreckage.
* MostWritersAreMale: Quite blatant here; the obligatory female companion acts about as feminine as a football jock.
* {{Narm}}: There's a bit of Narm from all of the major characters: Jimmy's pleas to go back to California, Haley's cries of "He touched my breast!", [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome Lucas and the Power Glove]], Officer Putnam complaining that "it's very hot" before getting the crap beaten out of him, Fred freakin' Savage...
** Naturally, of course, all this is [[NarmCharm a large part of the reason]] people enjoy the film at all.
* PacManFever: See main article text.
* ProductPlacement
* TheRainMan
* RoadMovie
* SoBadItsGood: And we're not talking about the Power Glove.
* ThatOneGuy: Lucas. Jimmy's skill was more or less an ExcusePlot device.
* ThrowItIn: it's pretty obvious that Haley and Fred Savage cracking up at the end of the scene where she kisses him was ''not'' scripted.
* TotallyRadical: Most of the film.
-->"The Power Glove... it's so ''bad''."
* TournamentPlay: Oh, how many ways we can pick apart this sequence.
* VideoGameMoviesSuck: One of the originators, and it's not even directly based on any one game.
** Quite astonishingly in retrospect, UweBoll was not involved in this film in any way, shape or form.
* WalkingTheEarth
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