Let's make no bones about this. Nintendo sure didn't. The Wizard was made as a feature-length commercial to promote the NES' "Super Mario Bros. 3". The movie was not a success by Hollywood standards, but the film helped push SMB3's popularity over the edge into a full-on mania. The film was also an advertisement for the "Nintendo World Championships" that was to tour the country around the same time. (Yes, I went- made it to the semi-finals at least.) In response to a reviewer who thought it was dumb that the movie showed people traveling across country to play video games... umm- it happened. I was beat, in Indianapolis, by a guy from New York (and he lost to Thor Aackerlund, another "traveller", at the end of the tournament.) When talking to the kid who beat me, I found out that he had participated in every NWC that had taken place so far.
The movie, as a movie, sucks. There is no other proper description. It's a trite kid's movie, and is as bad as Mac and Me or Slappy and the Stinkers. The actors are all way out of place- anyone could have filled their roles, and the same effect would have been achieved. The only reason to see this theatrically was to see SMB3 in action, and to get the promotional special-edition digest-sized Nintendo Power that theaters gave to patrons. (Similar to the special edition given away at the NWCs... hmm, I sense a pattern.)
So- I trashed the movie. Why do I own it? It's a video game movie, and one of the only ones from the late 80's. When I say video game movie, I don't mean a movie based on a specific game (like Mortal Kombat or Double Dragon), but one of the small group of films that is based around the "drama" and/or "excitement" of playing video games in general. Tron, The Last Starfighter, Cloak & Dagger, Tilt (okay- it's pinball), Joysticks, Arcade... this type of movie has been supplanted by movies based around people getting sucked into virtual reality games (just how many people even PLAY vr games?). The Wizard is one of this genre of film that will probably never really come back... I'm an old-school gamer, and own everything from a Pong to a PSX, plus arcade games and PCs galore. The Wizard may not be very good, but it is one of the few documents of the late 80's video game scene- and for that, it's priceless.
The movie, as a movie, sucks. There is no other proper description. It's a trite kid's movie, and is as bad as Mac and Me or Slappy and the Stinkers. The actors are all way out of place- anyone could have filled their roles, and the same effect would have been achieved. The only reason to see this theatrically was to see SMB3 in action, and to get the promotional special-edition digest-sized Nintendo Power that theaters gave to patrons. (Similar to the special edition given away at the NWCs... hmm, I sense a pattern.)
So- I trashed the movie. Why do I own it? It's a video game movie, and one of the only ones from the late 80's. When I say video game movie, I don't mean a movie based on a specific game (like Mortal Kombat or Double Dragon), but one of the small group of films that is based around the "drama" and/or "excitement" of playing video games in general. Tron, The Last Starfighter, Cloak & Dagger, Tilt (okay- it's pinball), Joysticks, Arcade... this type of movie has been supplanted by movies based around people getting sucked into virtual reality games (just how many people even PLAY vr games?). The Wizard is one of this genre of film that will probably never really come back... I'm an old-school gamer, and own everything from a Pong to a PSX, plus arcade games and PCs galore. The Wizard may not be very good, but it is one of the few documents of the late 80's video game scene- and for that, it's priceless.