The Wizard

 

"50,000? You scored 50,000 on Double Dragon?"

 

I still remember being a kid and telling my parents I wanted to see The Wizard and them responding no, it was just a 90 minute Nintendo commercial. When I did finally see it on video I did discover they were correct. It was about an hour and 40 minutes of shameless Nintendo promotion.  At least it was an entertaining hour and 40 minutes. 

To be fair, in between Nintendo plugs (and later Universal Studios Tour plugs!), there is a reasonably touching story of two brothers reconnecting and traveling cross country to a California. The older brother is Corey (played by Fred Savage), who lives with his dad, Sam (played by Beau Bridges), and older brother Nick (played by Christian Slater). His parents are divorced and his mother, Christine (played by Wendy Phillips) is remarried and takes care of his younger brother, Jimmy (played by Luke Edwards). He suffers from unspecified mental difficulties and his mom decides to put him in a home. The only person who seems to object to this is Corey, who hits the road and rescues Jimmy from the home they've put him in. 

Shortly after, while stopping at a bus station, Corey discovers Jimmy's incredible talent at video games. They also meet up with Haley (played by Jenny Lewis), who after seeing Jimmy's talent suggests taking him to a massive video game competition in Los Angeles. They decide to team up to travel to LA with the understanding they split the winnings if Jimmy wins. Hot on their trail is Sam and Nick as well as a sleazy bounty hunter hired by Christine named Putnam (played by Will Seltzer). The escalating rivalry between Sam and Nick and Putnam provides some of the film's more humorous moments as both sides cars become increasingly smashed up.

Along the way, Corey, Jimmy and Haley encounter another video game whiz kid, Lucas (played by Jackey Vinson), a stereotypical villain character that even has minions (including a very young Tobey Maguire at one point!). He also apparently has the only properly functioning Power Glove in existence (in a metal case no less). It is easily the most ridiculous scene in the film, and the most shameless promotion as well as Lucas proclaims his love for the Power Glove that still makes me twitch 25 years later. You can no doubt find the clip on YouTube. I'll wait here.

This film is a heavy dose of nostalgia. From all the classic Nintendo games I grew up on (including the premiere of Super Mario Bros 3, which made me want to see it as a kid all the more and was no doubt the whole point) to soundtrack offerings such as The New Kids on the Block, it's a time capsule to my childhood. It all helps me overlook some of the more troubling plot aspects that become more apparent with an adult set of eyes, chiefly three unaccompanied kids traveling cross country. Still, it was that element that made the film appeal to me as a kid in the first place. It was a film that empowered kids in a way that the well remembered films from childhood seemed to. While the stunts Corey, Haley or Jimmy pull in the film should in no way be emulated, nor do I think kids actually would, it is a fun adventure film they would certainly enjoy even if they didn't have the same nostalgic ties I do.