There are parts of my life that only make sense if I've seen The Wizard. I can't recall going to the movies to see this movie. But I must have. The way I remember it only works that way. The way I play Super Mario Bros 3 only works that way. This movie was darn near formative for me not just as a person but as a video game player. It's just about everything you could want in a kids movie from the late 80s. Fred Savage, Nintendos, the BLOODY POWER GLOVE. Heck Christian Slater too. And at the time I lived in California so I related to this weird kid saying California the way people relate to Ludacris' _Area Codes_. It's the hypest movie of all video game history. I'd argue it's more hype than _Super Mario Bros_ and for all it's flaws the one thing SMB the movie had was hype so much hype.

The movie holds up fairly well. Better than the power glove IRL which I did see as a kid so I have that going for me. It's a story about a kid achieving his dreams and it's a story about family both the ones you start with and the ones you make along the way. All wrapped up in the excitement of the Nintendo Entertainment System. They could not have produced a better vehicle for themselves. It's got solid acting. You may not be getting Oscar material here but everyone is in for the cause. They're putting forth effort. This wasn't a throwaway film. The plot of easy enough for kids to follow and yet not annoying for adults to watch unlike the aforementioned Super Mario Bros. It's bombastic and fun and everything you kinda wanted a Nintendo movie to be.

Fred Savage leads his young half-brother, an 8-bit savant who's disengaged from the world, on a road trip to Los Angeles for an all-star video game competition. It's basically _Rain Man_ meets _Tommy_, with a heaping helping of Nintendo product placement and a sparkling, hand-held promotional tour of Universal Studios. While their family (and a selfish private eye) give chase, the kids coast along on money earned from illicit arcade bets and the generosity of strangers, making friends and enemies alike en-route to that big stage in California.

Although the plot does show occasional signs of heart, it's mostly an awkward blend of childish fantasy and out-of-touch adult posing. Savage, his brother and a wily female friend (Jenny Lewis) essentially wish their way out of the tough situations, and most of the gaming scenes are stuck in a decidedly Atari state of mind. High scores all around, even in games that don't actually track points. It's like talking to a forty-something about the latest middle school trends; the more it tries to prove it's hip and fashionable, the further we get from reality.

A handful of ridiculously silly quotes and moments ("I love the Power Glove, it's so bad") are worth revisiting, and I can still remember the thrill I felt at catching my first glimpse of _Super Mario Bros. 3_ on the big screen, but all that amounts to maybe ten minutes of a drawn out hundred-minute runtime. And to think, the original cut stretched for an extra hour.

Has some heart at times, almost ruined by the blatant and, hate to use this word, cringe-worthy product placement from Hostess to Nintendo to Universal Studios (which makes sense since this was one of their movies). The acting and writing is bad and I'm not quite sure who this movie was made for (there is a joke about a teenage girl accusing a grown man of grabbing her breast) but there are some funny bad moments. **2.75/5**