For the homonym TV Series, see The Wizard.
The Wizard is a 1989 film starring Fred Savage and two other actors nobody really remembers (though one turned out to be a
future rock star). It is about Jimmy, a young boy who suffers from a serious mental disorder reminiscent of
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
lack parental supervision. They also learn that Jimmy is a
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
Merchandise Driven affair, made to sell the Nintendo products and the Universal Studios tour. In fact, much of the film's 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
Snark Bait 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 Roger Ebert, who is vocally not a fan of video games, is able to notice the inaccuracies.
- Most of the "arcade" machines are little more than just NES games given a justification for access to the main characters. (Although it could be argued that they were Playchoice 10 units.)
- Lucas and his infamous line, "I love the Power Glove. It's so bad." Anybody who has ever actually used one of those will tell you that there is no way you can actually utilize it with that level of skill. Not to mention the original meaning being distorted by the fact that now, "bad" pretty much only means "of poor quality", 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- During the tournament, the withdrawn kid displays that he has psychic powers by just randomly coming across the Warp Zone Whistle in the world 1 fortress of Super Mario Bros. 3, one of the least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 only, oh, I don't know... in a competition?
- Did we mention this was the frist time the game has been seem
- 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 really don't know any better.
This film provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: 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.
- Did Not Do The Research: As explained above.
- Dead Little Sister: Rather sickeningly used as just another plot point and implied to be the reason why Jimmy is on the Autism Spectrum. Seriously.
- Family Unfriendly Aesop: 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.
- Gamer Chick: The early prototype of this stock character was born from this film.
- Informed Ability: 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.
- Inspirationally Disabled: Jimmy
- Merchandise Driven: To the point where it can give Mac And Me a run for its' (sponsors') money.
- Moral Dissonance: The father tries to run Putnam off the road several times, and in ways that could easily cause flaming wreckage.
- Most Writers Are Male: Quite blatant here in that 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!", Lucas and the Power Glove, Officer Putnam complaining that "it's very hot" before getting the crap beaten out of him, Fred freakin' Savage...
- Road Movie
- Pac Man Fever: See main article text.
- So Bad Its Good: And we're not talking about the Power Glove.
- That One Guy: Lucas. Jimmy's skill was more or less an Excuse Plot device.
- Totally Radical: Most of the film.
- Tournament Play: Oh, how many ways we can pick apart this sequence.
- Video Game Movies Suck: One of the originators, and it's not even directly based on any one game.
