The Wizard

1989 "It's more than a game...it's the chance of a lifetime."
6.1| 1h40m| PG| en| More Info
Released: 15 December 1989 Released
Producted By: Universal Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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A boy and his brother run away from home and hitch cross-country, with help from a girl they meet, to compete in the ultimate video-game championship.

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Director

Todd Holland

Production Companies

Universal Pictures

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The Wizard Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
HomeyTao For having a relatively low budget, the film's style and overall art direction are immensely impressive.
Abbigail Bush what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Mr-Fusion I imagine that if I'd had a stronger childhood connection to "The Wizard", then I'd be better able to appreciate it as an adult. I did see this movie in the theater - I was 9, so naturally I gravitated toward the Nintendo aspect - but no further rewatches until many years later. But it feels like a movie at odds with itself. You've got the competing interests of a family drama (and there's some fairly serious stuff going on here) with a branded product designed to sell NES games and a trip to Universal Studios. They don't gel. There's a "Karate Kid" feel with our contender training and strolling into the tournament, but once he's won (because he's supposed to), then we've got that whole family subplot we still have to sort out in the closing moments. Almost as an afterthought.I know this is a kids' movie and I have no problem with that. But the toy commercial cheapens the serious stuff. Although I do think it's very funny that Lucas Barton has attained his own Internet fame.5/10
mattboy07 There's a lot of things this movie is and isn't. It is a great trip down memory lane, a blast from the past, a reminder of all things late 80s and early 90s, and a shameless Nintendo promo. It isn't a work of art, a plausible scenario, or even a decent movie by its own standards.If you were born before 1994, this movie is pretty much a love letter to ye olden days when Nintendo was king of the living room and emotional strife was brewing in 9/10 American families. This has all the components of a story that could draw in kids at the time. Our story features Corey (Fred Savage) who steals away with his younger and emotionally disturbed brother Jimmy (Luke Edwards) to escape the mounting tension of their family that is falling apart around them. Along the way they encounter a feisty red-headed girl named Haley (Jenny Lewis) and discover that Jimmy has a natural talent for playing video games and beating anyone that he faces. Soon they devise a plan to escape to L.A. to compete in a video game contest for $50,000 and in doing so prove that Jimmmy isn't a lost cause and possibly saving their family in the process. However, they have to dodge the boys' father and older brother (played by Beau Bridges and Christan Slater), a kid bounty hunter, and beat the competition.Yeah, the plot is seemingly ridiculous, and it really is. At one point the kids resort to hustling money in arcades to pay for their cross country trip. Then they encounter the a 13 year old boy who lives by himself and only plays video games for sustenance (with the aid of the Power Glove) who plays the evil foil for the main characters. And finally, they go into a casino complete with preteen girls in full showgirl uniform selling concessions.As mentioned before, this is for people who were kids and remember the Nintendo Era in all its splendor. If you missed this gem growing up or don't care at all, you won't change your mind and should avoid this corny rose-tinted film at all costs. But if you want to inject some nostalgia into your eyes or haven't seen this since you were a kid, rent it off Amazon or track down a copy and have a laugh. We were dumb kids.
ehrldawg I was at truck stop shop in northeast Ohio getting a brake chamber replaced. Swapping stories with the other truckers. One was telling us about being around Reno. He heard Spanky over the c.b. "Haley says a grown man touched her in an inappropriate manner. Im gonna find this creep and kick his ass! Who's with me!!". About a dozen replied and said they were in,to include the gear jammer talking to us now. F.Y.I. ,the red Autocar Frank McRae drives is the same Autocar that Stallone drives in "Over The Top".Frank McRae drives the Autocar big rig.Frank McRae is a permanent A list actor!!Wendy Phillips is hot!!---One Truck Drivers' Opinion---erldwgstruckermovies.com
Lilith Hexus Was there a single positive to this film? Critics who knew nothing of video games could spot the gaming errors made. No damage taken with damage clearly visible towards the beginning being a primary example.And I may have missed something, but wasn't Super Mario Bros. 3 suppose to be a game that had never played before? Well if that IS the case, and I did not miss anything... how did Fred Savage's character, and even the girl, know so much about the game already? We're talking things that some people don't know about by their second or third play-through.Beyond the factual and gaming errors there is the general low quality of the film itself. Nothing here is honestly very memorable. The kid wasn't even that good at playing video games in the footage they showed. A lot of kids I knew way back in those days were significantly more experienced. On top of all this the acting and storyline are just mediocre at their strongest points. The characters are bland and completely uninteresting, the 'Wizard' (the youngest child) is a very silent, completely dry child cliché of a little kid who almost never talks because of a trauma. It isn't that this is unrealistic, it's the fact that it had to be thrown into the movie to actually even begin to form a plot that would exceed even 30 minutes.Honestly, the only value that is to be found here is that of a nostalgic nature. If you grew up with this movie you're going to like it whether it was good or not. It was about kids playing video games, and at the time you saw it you likely had an obsession with the NES as well. But unless you loved it as a kid there just isn't anything that's going to keep you interested, and very little that will prevent you from turning it off.No sir, I didn't like it.