Review of The Wizard (1989) by Jason V — 19 Jan 2012

Silly, stupid and morally unsound, The Wizard is a commercial for Nintendo. And Universal Studios. And 7-11. And Pepsi. I'm sure I'm missing at least one piece of product placement there, but so be it.

Even for the gamers in the audience back in 1989-when the hook of seeing the new Super Mario Brothers 3 game would lure in the box office money-this film can't be anything more than a let down. The story is paper thin, the characters (especially the adults) don't do anything that requires them to be smart and none of the stories are wrapped up in any satisfying way.

But who cares. The Wizard is in the same category as the live action Mario Brothers and Street Fighter flicks: terrible filmmaking and uninvolving. The latter may be the worst thing you can say about a movie.