The Wizard
A
young boy walks alone down a desert road. We soon discover he’s being looked
for, as a search and rescue plane flies low overhead and radios in they’ve
spotted him. Not phased by the loud noise of the plane, the boy continues
walking. Soon enough, the local sheriff drives along and pulls over. He asks
the boy where he’s going. His one response “California” said in the most
hopeful way, as if it were some magical destination, over the mountains and
beyond the bright sunset. Turns out this boy’s less than present parents don’t
know what to do with him, as he’s aimless wonderings are a common thing. They
decide on the last resort – put him into an institution.
Then
we meet Corey (Fred Savage of “The Wonder Years” fame) who lives with his
older, rebellious brother Nick (Christian Slater), and their overworked,
burnt-out dad(Beau Bridges). Their little family is struggling; man, teen, and
boy butting heads and disagreeing on everything. Corey speaks up on behalf of
his half brother Jimmy, the little wonderer, angry that he will be put away.
Deciding he’s had enough of his older brother and dad arguing, Corey decides he
will run away. To choose his destination, he throws darts at a map of the
United States on his wall. After hitting a few states he’s not interested in,
it lands on the one that catches his attention. “California” he says in
curiosity. He grabs his backpack and skateboard and hits the road to rescue his
younger, and much quieter brother, Jimmy.
Sneaking
into the institution where he’s being held, Corey finds his brother Jimmy,
sitting alone in a room. “We’re gonna go travelling. Just you and me” he says
to Jimmy, who replies with just one word “California?” Corey smiles and agrees.
By the end of The Wizard, you will have heard this boy say the word California
dozens of times.
While
the boys get a head start on their journey, both sides of parents argue about
how to find them. Jimmy’s adoptive parents hire a Kid Finder; a sleazy, slimy
looking guy who should be selling used cars instead of searching for runaway
kids. Corey’s dad and brother deicide they’ll bring the boys home themselves,
and set out on their own road trip to find them.
After
they’ve walked far enough, Corey and Jimmy try to buy some bus tickets. While
Corey goes to the counter, Jimmy plays an arcade game. Looking like he’s never
seen one before, he takes to it quickly, and then Corey comes back just a few
minutes later to see that Jimmy has achieved a ridiculously high score. Bumping
into a fiery young girl called Hayley. Corey challenges her to bet her bus
ticket that Jimmy can’t beat her at the arcade game, Double Dragon. The game is
on, and she does alright, but like he’s played it all his life, Jimmy takes the
joystick and beats her score in no time. Corey and Hayley fight over the bus
ticket, despite him winning the bet, and in their clash, the bus leaves without
them. Now two become a trio, and hit the road together to help each other out.
Hayley can see Jimmy’s potential as a video games Wizard and tells the boys
about a big competition in California where Jimmy could play and win a lot of
money. The stage is set for a long road trip, as the dodgy Kid Finder closes in
on the boys along the way.
Paying
their way across the country with Jimmy’s amazing video game skills, the young
trio show how running away as kids is done successfully. But this was the 80’s;
hitchhiking was safe and an effective way to get a long distance, and them
grown ups were all stupid and too involved in themselves to keep up with the
smarts of these kids.
Nintendo struck gold in the late 80’s when they let this movie
endorse them. Pushing every arcade game on the circuit, they also unveiled something
not seen before this movie. The Power Glove. In a scene where Jimmy meets his
match, teenager Lucas proves he’s just as good at video games as the quiet
tyke. Using the glove as a remote to kill it in some car racing game, he puts
Jimmy to shame and to top it off in the cheesiest bad guy way he says, “I love
the power glove…it’s so bad”. Geez! The promotion just gets bigger from here
on, as Corey’s older brother and dad play the console during one of their hotel
stops, and the kids make a pit stop in Reno to play up to 70 games in three
days to get Jimmy up to scratch before the big competition. While he plays,
Hayley calls the Nintendo Play Centre, where adults are on standby to answer
any questions about any video game. What a cool job. I don’t know if that
actually existed back then. Of course, all this Nintendo prime promotion
in the story builds up to the Video Game Championship and the first
reveal of a very special game, that would take the world by storm and go on to
become a classic, thanks in huge part to this movie.
Once
the kids reach California and Universal Studios in particular, they race into
the competition called Video Armageddon. It’s a cool site; colourful,
futuristic and full of kids playing video games for glory. Jimmy takes to the
stage, competing against kids from across the country. He ascends each level,
nearing in on his opponent Lucas (The Power Glove Kid). But trouble is stirring
on the Universal Studios back lot. That creepy Kid Finder is back, having
tracked the kids down and will do whatever it takes to grab Jimmy and claim his
paycheque, chasing our little heroes through every ride and amusement of the
theme park (more clever promotion there). So what’s the real message of The
Wizard? “Hey kids! Tell your parents to drag you to Universal Studios. And
while you’re at it ask them for a Nintendo. And you MUST have all 97
games”
But
before the film finishes, we reach our climatic finale. The moment little Jimmy
had been working hard for in all those arcades. Nintendo’s moment to shine.
Video Armageddon! The new game Jimmy and his two opponents
will play is Super Mario Brothers 3. As the game starts, each kid plays on
their own jumbo TV screen. To measure their progress in the game, a robotic
voice reads out their scores. Surprisingly, all three kids know how to play the
game very well, given its brand new. But hey, this is a movie. And because
Jimmy is a prodigy he works out all the games cheats, warps, secret passages
and scores over 80,000 points in only ten minutes. Twenty five years after this
game came out and I still can’t get past level 2!
Super
Mario Brothers 3 was the biggest game in the world upon its release. My sisters
and I were not lucky enough to ever own a Nintendo, as our parents didn’t agree
with them. That bothered me a little bit as a kid, because it seemed every
other kid I knew owned a Nintendo. In particular, a kid I went to school with
and lived across the road from me owned one, as well as his very own copy of
Super Mario Brothers 3. After school and on some weekends, I would run over to
his place to hang out, and wait patiently for him to offer me a go on his
Nintendo. That wasn’t my only reason for going over there, he was my mate too
;-) You could say not owning my own Nintendo as a kid, left me with some
catching up to do. My wife still has her old Nintendo, and occasionally I’ll
hook it up to the TV and play a bit of Mario Brothers. I still see the third
game as one of the best video games ever made. Even compared to today’s over the
top games that are so realistic they blur the lines between fantasy and life,
Super Mario Brothers 3 takes me back to a simpler time, where your mission was
just to run and jump, collect coins and get addicted, thanks to that now iconic
music. Do-do-do-dado-dado-do-dada-do-dadada-dada-do… or something like that.
You know what I’m talking about.
Aside
from the majority of the movie being about a video game competition obviously
designed to help Nintendo take over the world, The Wizard has a nice little
story at its heart. The reason Jimmy doesn’t talk much is due to some past
trauma. Turns out he had a twin sister, Jennifer, who tragically died the year
before. Jimmy carries some items of hers and a few photos in a yellow lunchbox.
The real reason he wants to get to
California, is to revisit the place where he, his twin sister and the rest of
the family spent a special day. Jimmy finally gets there and is able to move on
from the death of his sister. It’s a nice ending to a movie otherwise occupied
with trying to sell every kid in the world a Nintendo and the game to top it
off, Super Mario Brothers. Either way, The Wizard is a fun ride, and if you
don’t mind I’m off to play some Nintendo. In fact, I might go up to the next
level consol that is really cool. It’s the latest thing, called the Nintendo 64
I think. ;-)
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