Having done a couple video game movie reviews, now for something similar but different. A movie about video games.

The Wizard is not a movie however. The Wizard is a 90 minute Nintendo commercial showing off all their wares. The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), their games, peripherals (we’ll get to one in particular later on), magazines and the Nintendo hotline (a gaming advice phone number) are all present. Nintendo were going to use this opportunity to the fullest.

Movies about people playing video games are a rarity and probably with good reason. Video games are an insular activity generally played at home, usually alone.  In movie terms, getting the last hit on the final boss is not as cinematic as the spiralling pass for the match winning touchdown.

Nintendo had a trick up their sleeve though, for 1990 was the year they held the Nintendo World Championships at Universal Studios in California (the films other major sponsor). As you would imagine, the aim was to find the world’s best Nintendo player (who lived in America). Special Nintendo World Championship NES game cartridges were given to some of the contestants who took part. These cartridges are extremely valuable for retro collectors and have sold for as much as $100,000.

Compared to its rivals in the video game industry, Nintendo has a far cuddlier, family friendly image. Cutesy even. With that in mind, The Wizard starts with 8 year old Jimmy who has been put in a mental institution following the death of his twin sister who drowned two years previously and his parents have now divorced. The only word he seems able to say is ‘California’.

His elder brother, Corey (played by Fred Savage from The Wonder Years) busts him out of the institution and they plan to run away. Unfortunately, they don’t have any money and it’s at the bus station where they meet Hayley, another young runaway. They discover Jimmy’s natural talent for video games and Hayley tells them about the ‘Video Games Armageddon’ event taking place in, you guessed it…California! What an amazing coincidence.

Jimmy’s mum hires a bounty hunter to find the boys and bring them back. The father (Beau Bridges) isn’t happy about this and sets off with his other son, Nick (Christian Slater) to find them himself. As you would for any long road trip, Nick remembers to pack his NES and all his games. This leads to the father-son bonding over video games we’ve all experienced in our lives.

They also get into comedic scrapes with the bounty hunter as they try to sabotage the others attempts to find the boys. Dog the Bounty Hunter he ain’t.

Meanwhile, the children are making their way across the country earning money by beating truckers and businessmen at various arcade machine games (Nintendo ones obviously, sorry Sega). Then they meet Lucas leading to what is possibly the most remembered thing in the whole movie: the Power Glove. And it’s bad. So bad.

Many people think motion control is a new innovation but actually Nintendo were developing it back in the 80’s. The Wizard might be the only place you ever see the power glove actually work but it shows even back then Nintendo were innovating with new things.

After a demonstration of Lucas’s skills with the glove, the trio realise they might have bitten off more they can chew. And Lucas likes his Power Glove, he really likes it.

Anyway, after a few mishaps including a near escape from the bounty hunter, the kids eventually make it to California and enter the tournament. And who should they see there but Lucas, unfortunately he is sans glove.

After playing through some Nintendo games, Jimmy wins through to the final. Before that takes place there is time for a quick tour of Universal Studios courtesy of being chased by the bounty hunter. Jimmy eventually makes it back in time for the final where he will be facing, of course, Lucas. There’s a girl there as well, who may well have had a name but she obviously wasn’t going to win so she doesn’t really need one.

There’s a twist though, they’ll be playing a new game. One never seen before. Not just any game though, this is Super Mario Bros. 3. This was actually quite a big deal. Nintendo had been very tight-lipped about their next Mario game and being the pre-internet age, this was as much a surprise for the audience as it was for the characters in the film. And there it was, Mario in all his raccoon-suit wearing glory.

All of Jimmy’s family, including his mother, have now arrived in the audience and are there to shout out advice on a game they’ve never seen before. Which is probably the most accurate thing in the whole film.

In the end, Jimmy comes from behind to beat Lucas and win the $50,000 prize. Lucas was playing with a handicap though, using those antiquated controllers. If he’d had his Power Glove he blatantly would have won.

Jimmy then goes to celebrate with his now reunited family. Nintendo, bringing broken families back together for 25 years.

The Wizard isn’t an especially bad movie, it’s very much your standard family film of the period but the proliferation of Nintendo products throughout is a distraction. Product placement in films is one thing but The Wizard takes it to another level.

It’s also interesting to see for the then rising stars of Christian Slater and Fred Savage. Though if you ever saw an episode of The Wonder Years, you know what you’re getting from Savage.

Now I’m going to look on ebay for a Power Glove. It’s so bad.

Trailer:

The Power Glove: