Review of The Wizard (1989) by Stephen K — 20 Nov 2007
This is by far the greatest advertisement ever! The movie convinces kids they need a Power Glove (they don't*), premiered Super Mario Bros 3 (awesome!), and suggested that Universal Studios theme park is the ultimate haven of fun (it is, but only years later when they added Jurassic Park: The ride).
A young Jenny Lewis (yes THAT Jenny Lewis) joins our two heroes on a wacky road trip that any young runaway would love to be part of. At least when I was 10 I thought it looked like a helluva lot of fun. One day still I might hitch an illegal ride on the Hostess Wonder Bread truck.
Watching it now it still elicits a sense of excitement. Albeit, excitement drenched in gamer nostalgia.
Beau Bridges' development into a Ninja Turtles NES addict is crazy amusing. That game was hard!
I could go on, but were you not smitten with this movie back in 89, it will not win you over now.
Long live The Wizard.
* Look, I've played Rad Racer with the Power Glove and trust me the thing sucks. Of course 18 years later Nintendo did hit a home run with the Wii, so innovation does pave the way to success.
This review of The Wizard (1989) was written by Stephen K on 20 Nov 2007.
The Wizard has generally received mixed reviews.
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