Film The Wizard

[Kanisha Marchant]

TheWizard is a 1989 American family film directed by Todd Holland (in his directorial debut), written by David Chisholm, and starring Fred Savage, Jenny Lewis, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater, and Luke Edwards. It was also Tobey Maguire's uncredited film debut.[3]

The film follows three children, the youngest of whom is emotionally withdrawn but gifted at playing video games, as they travel to California to compete in a video game tournament. Known for its extensive product placement of Nintendo material, it also officially introduced Super Mario Bros. 3 to North America.[4] Despite receiving generally negative reviews upon its initial release, the film has garnered a cult following.[5][6]

Seven-year-old Jimmy Woods lives with PTSD after his twin sister, Jennifer, drowned two years earlier. Prone to randomly wandering away from home, he perpetually carries around a lunchbox while frequently repeating the word "California".

Jennifer's death caused Jimmy's family to split: he lives with his mother Christine and stepfather Mr. Bateman while his older half-brothers Nick and Corey live with their father Sam. Exasperated by Jimmy's behavior, Christine and Mr. Bateman decide to commit Jimmy to an institution. Unwilling to allow it, Corey sneaks Jimmy out and they start traveling on foot for Los Angeles. Nick and Sam resolve to bring the boys back while competing with Mr. Putnam, a greedy bounty hunter hired by Mr. Bateman and Christine to find Jimmy.

At a bus station, Jimmy and Corey meet Haley Brooks, a teenager on her way home to Reno. When they discover that Jimmy is innately talented at playing video games, Haley informs Corey of "Video Armageddon", a gaming tournament being held at Universal Studios Hollywood, with a grand prize of $50,000. Corey sees the tournament as an opportunity to avert Jimmy's institutionalization by showcasing his talent, and Haley agrees to help take Jimmy there in return for a share of the winnings.

As the entire family heads home, accompanied by Haley, Jimmy suddenly becomes restless upon spotting the Cabazon Dinosaurs, causing them to stop the car. They follow him inside, and Corey finds Jimmy looking at his photos of the family, one of which was taken at the tourist trap. They realize that Jimmy only sought closure where Jennifer was happy. Jimmy leaves his lunchbox at the site and the family resumes the car trip. Jimmy kisses Haley, who laughs along with Corey in the back of the truck as they ride off into the sunset.

During 1988, a shortage of ROM chips and the preparation of a version of Super Mario Bros. 2 for the west delayed several of Nintendo's game releases in North America. One such product was Super Mario Bros. 3.[8] The delay presented Nintendo with an opportunity to promote the game in a feature film. In 1989, Tom Pollack of Universal Studios approached Nintendo of America's marketing department about a video game film; inspired by Nintendo video game competitions, Pollack envisioned a video game version of Tommy for younger audiences. Nintendo licensed its products for inclusion in the film. During production, the filmmakers were granted approval from Nintendo regarding the script and portrayal of its games.[9] Super Mario Bros. 3 was one of the products shown in the film and was used in a final scene involving a video game competition.[9][10] Despite the film touting itself as featuring the first public reveal of Super Mario Bros. 3, the game had already been released in Japan during the previous year, with U.S. magazines such as Electronic Gaming Monthly and GamePro having already covered the Japanese version.[11][12][13]

Filming took place between June 5 and July 25, 1989.[1] In a 2008 reunion,[14] as well in an interview in 2014,[15] Todd Holland revealed that the original cut of the film was 2.5 hours long and included an extended backstory for Jimmy and Corey.

The Wizard debuted at No. 5,[16] earning $2,142,525 in the domestic box office.[17] At the end of its run, the film had grossed $14,278,900.[2] Based on an estimated $6 million budget, the film was a moderate box office success, after which it became a cult film.[1]

The film received negative reviews from critics. Multiple newspaper critics labeled it a feature-length commercial for Universal Studios Hollywood and Nintendo. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times called the film "a cynical exploitation film with a lot of commercial plugs" and "insanely overwritten and ineptly filmed". He later called it one of the worst films of 1989.[18] Washington Post staff writer Rita Kempley wrote that the movie was "tacky and moribund", plagiarizing heavily from the 1988 film Rain Man.[19] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 27% score, based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10.[20] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 9 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[21]

Despite the negative reviews, the film was still popular enough to achieve cult film status and to receive a reunion screening from Ain't It Cool News at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz in Austin, Texas, on February 8, 2008. Director Holland and stars Savage and Edwards were in attendance to take questions from fans.[24]

It was first released on DVD in Region 2 on February 2, 2001 and finally in the US and Canada (Region 1) on August 22, 2006.[26] The Blu-ray version was released on May 15, 2018,[27] and a special edition Blu-ray was released by Shout! Factory on March 24, 2020,[28] with a new 4K remaster, audio commentary with director Todd Holland, never-before-seen deleted scenes, and more.[29]

Wizards is a 1977 American animated post-apocalyptic science fantasy film written, directed and produced by Ralph Bakshi and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The film follows a battle between two wizards of opposing powers, one representing the forces of magic and the other representing the forces of technology.

While her people celebrate 3,000 years of peace, Delia, queen of the fairies, falls into a trance and gives birth to twin wizards: the kindhearted Avatar and his evil, mutated brother Blackwolf. After Delia's death years later, Blackwolf attempts to usurp her leadership, but Avatar defeats him in a magical duel. Blackwolf leaves Montagar, vowing to return and "make this a planet where mutants rule".

Three thousand years later, Blackwolf leads the dark land of Scortch, where he and his army of mutants and other evil creatures (orcs, goblins, trolls, satyrs, dragons, etc.) salvage and restore ancient technology. He tries to attack Montagar twice, but is foiled when his mutant warriors become bored or sidetracked in the midst of battle. Blackwolf then discovers an old projector and reels of Nazi propaganda footage from World War II, using his magic to enhance it for psychological warfare: inspiring his own soldiers while horrifying enemy troops into submission.

In a forest inhabited by fairies, the group is accosted by their leader, Sean. Weehawk realizes that Peace is missing, when an unseen assassin kills Sean and kidnaps Elinore. Avatar and Weehawk begin to search for Elinore in the forbidden Fairy Sanctuary, but Weehawk falls into a chasm and insists that Avatar leave him and find the girl. Avatar locates her, captured by fairies and small human-like creatures, just as she is about to be killed. Avatar attempts to explain that they did not kill Sean, but the fairies do not believe him and shoot him with an arrow. Wounded in the shoulder, Avatar refuses to fight back, which impresses the fairy king. Instead of executing them, he merely teleports Avatar and Elinore to a snowy mountaintop. Avatar and Elinore resume their journey, but they soon realize that they are wandering in circles. Peace and Weehawk (whom Peace saved from a vicious monster in the chasm) find Avatar and Elinore. Together, they find their way out of the mountains. Soon, Avatar and the others encounter the encamped army of an elf General who is preparing to attack Scortch the following day, but Blackwolf launches a sneak attack that night.

Elinore and Peace are attacked by one of Blackwolf's demons which Avatar quickly dispatches. When one of Blackwolf's battle tanks arrives to destroy the camp, Elinore unexpectedly kills Peace and climbs into the tank as it drives off.

The next day, Avatar and Weehawk enter Scortch by ship and make for Blackwolf's castle, while the General leads his elf warriors in a bloody battle to distract Blackwolf's forces. The pair split up, Weehawk tracking Elinore while Avatar goes after Blackwolf. Weehawk nearly kills Elinore, but she explains that Blackwolf had taken control of her mind after she touched Peace. Blackwolf declares his magic superior to Avatar's and demands his surrender. Avatar admits that he has not practiced magic for some time, but offers to show Blackwolf a trick that their mother taught him; Avatar then pulls a pistol from his sleeve and shoots Blackwolf dead. Weehawk destroys the projector, leaving the mutants leaderless and helpless as the General's army defeats them. With Montagar's safety secured, Weehawk returns home as its new ruler, while Avatar and Elinore decide to start their own kingdom elsewhere.

Ralph Bakshi had long had an interest in fantasy and had been drawing fantasy artwork as far back as 1955, while he was still in high school.[4] Wizards originated in the concept for Tee-Witt, an unproduced television series Bakshi developed and pitched to CBS in 1967.[4] In 1976, Bakshi pitched War Wizards, which he wrote in only two weeks, to 20th Century-Fox, returning to the fantasy drawings he had created in high school for inspiration. To make the film PG-rated, Bakshi sought to depart from his more urban-oriented films that deal with topics of sex and drugs but still have a similar impact.[5]

The film is an allegorical comment on the moral ambiguity of technology and the potentially destructive powers of propaganda.[6] Blackwolf's secret weapon is propaganda, used to incite his legions and terrorize the fairy folk of Montagar; but Avatar's willingness to use a technological tool (a handgun pulled from "up his sleeve") destroys his evil twin. Bakshi also states that Wizards "was about the creation of the state of Israel and the Holocaust, about the Jews looking for a homeland, and about the fact that fascism was on the rise again".[7]

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