The Wizard (1989)
Plot outline:
Corey and Jimmy Woods are two brothers who are being separated due to their parents divorcing. Jimmy is a mentally unstable kid that has had problems ever since his sister died at a young age. One day, Corey discovers that Jimmy has a natural talent for playing video games. He is one of the best around, and the two journey to the West Coast to compete in a video game championship, but along the way, they must avoid the adults, who are trying to take Jimmy away.
IMO, the best videogame to movie port would have to be The Wizard. I used to play The Wizard on my Intellivision religiously, and when I heard they were finally making a movie (before Fred Savage was attached to the project) I got chills. Finally, I would be able to beat Lucas Barton (a feat I could not do in the game for the life of me!) merely by kicking back with a tub of popcorn in one hand and a pack of Goobers in the other.
I think this film was excellent, though they strayed away from the Intellivision motif (I.E. Instead of the Intellivision paddle Lucas uses in the game, he uses a Powerglove) the characters remained faithful. I can understand why they would need to cater to the Nintendo generation by switching the movie up a little from the game, so I don't see it as a flaw of the movie but a warm welcome and a fresh approach, not to mention smart marketing. The actors who stand out in this movie, are most notably Fred Savage, Jenny Lewis, Christian Slater, Beau Bridges, and Jackey Vinson.
The Wizard wasn't only an excellent film, but also a launching pad for these up and comers in hollywood. You can see Fred Savage today mugging it up in Austin Powers 3, While Jenny Lewis rocks and indeed rolls in her band Rilo Kiley (featuring another famous child actor, Pinsky from Salute Your Shorts) and most notably, Jackey Vinson chewing the scenery in the 1992 sleeper hit "Breaking the Rules" starring along side the always charming and hard working actor Jason Bateman (of Teen Wolf 2 fame). Christian Slater and Beau Bridges can still be seen sometimes today as well. Oh, did I forget to mention that everyone's friendly neighborhood spider-man, Tobey Maguire, is in this gem of a movie uncredited as one of Lucas Barton's goons(one of the only characters that was actually created solely for the movie, but worked well)? Also, let's not forget, this was the vehicle for the highly anticipated Super Mario Bros. 3. Without this film, none of you Xboxers or PS2rs would even be around because this movie helped revitalize the dying video game industry into the thriving empire it is today.
So please, if you can, check out this late 80's cinema nugget of gold, and learn a little bit of history about how you're still able to play video games to this day!
I gave this film 4 1/2 mops out of a possible 5, losing half of point because they could have very well stuck with the intellivision paddle for Lucas' weapon of choice, but still forgivable.
****1/2
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