The Wizard

Rarely does a movie come along that touches your life so intensely, it feels as if the movie was made for you. Well, in 1989, I thought my Casablanca came out.

The remainder of the Los Angeles Times quote - “Bright, fast and energetic was the flow of diarrhea that came out of my asshole after viewing this awful film. Uch, I feel weird using the word film to describe this shitfest.”

I remember the Wizard being about a young boy who is amazing at video games. With the help of Fred Savage, the boy travels to the West Coast to compete in the biggest video game tournament in the world, where he gets to play the newest Nintendo game Super Mario Brothers 3 and try out the Powerglove.

Well, it appears I skipped over some vital parts of the plot line. Here is the description of the movie from imdb.com -

Corey and Jimmy Woods are two brothers who are being separated due to their parents divorcing. Jimmy is a mentally unstable kid that has had problems ever since his sister died at a young age. One day, Corey discovers that Jimmy has a natural talent for playing video games. He is one of the best around, and the two journey to the West Coast to compete in a video game championship, but along the way, they must avoid the adults, who are trying to take Jimmy away.

Death, mental illness, divorce…how did I miss all that as a kid? I feel cheated. How do I have so little in common with the movie that I thought was a mirror image of my life? Fred Savage…you really hurt me this time.

Also, don’t you feel like that’s a tough plot line to swallow for the key demographic of this movie - 11 year old boys who want to see the new Mario Bros. game and catch a glimpse of the Powerglove because they will never have one of their own? Obviously the writer brought some of his own issues into this movie. Perhaps therapist fees were too high at the time and he needed a different outlet for his frustrations because there is no other explanation for adding all of that misfortune into a children’s movie about video games.

It would be dangerous if other late 80’s early 90’s movies added peculiar plot twists that relate to their own personal misfortunes. Like if the writer of Encino man added that Brendan Frasier’s character had such a hard time assimilating to the modern world because he was raped as a caveboy.

Regardless, I guess I should watch a movie more than once before I call it my Casablanca. Lesson learned. In the meantime, enjoy the trailer for the movie the Wizard and notice how they totally avoid mentioning divorce, death and mental instability.


Tagline - “It’s more than a game…It’s the chance of a lifetime.”