Who's
In It: Fred Savage, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater Who Directed It:
Todd Holland
When Can I Buy It: NOW (Region 1)
The Wizard
- Reviewed by: Paul Heath
No
extras
Corey
Woods' (Fred Savage) little brother Jimmy is taken away to an institution. So
Corey breaks him out and sets off on a cross-country trip to 'California'. Along
the way, they meet a young lady called Jennifer who comes along for the ride.
When the three happen upon video game in a small ton bus station, they discover
that young Jimmy is pretty good, so they head to Video Armageddon, a video game
tournament which happens to be taking in Los Angeles, California with a grand
prize of $50,000. All is not too good though, as the trio have no money, and Corey's
other brother (played by a young Christian Slater), and father (played by a young
Beau Bridges) are in pursuit of them, trying to find them before a sleazy bounty
hunter, hired by Bridges' estranged missus (and Corey and Jimmy's mother) gets
to them first.
It's
eighties nostalgia at its best baby! Well, almost. Man, this movie took me back.
The clothes, the hair, the video games (Super Mario Brothers) and little Fred
Savage from The Wonder Years. What more could you ask for? Well, some extra features
for a start, but more on that in a minute.
It's
one of those films that I loved as a kid, and I was probably the right age to
enjoy this movie back when it first came out. Boom, twenty years on, and it's
a little dated, but it's certainly one of those films that you look back at with
great fondness. I always find that movie that I loved as a kid, will always have
a special little place in my DVD collection, and this is no exception. They really
have a job making them like this nowadays don't they?
This
film is almost like a RAIN MAN, or even THE COLOR OF MONEY for kids (Jimmy hustles
some big video gamers to get money to get to California). It also shares a resemblance
to other great movies of the eighties, including the daddy of them all, STAND
BY ME.
I
loved this trip back down memory lane, and the film stands up really well, even
in today's X-Box world of video games, although younger viewers are bound to look
down upon little Jimmy playing the then very new Super Mario Brothers 3. Hey,
it was good for it's day, and I can still remember the buzz of getting to see
the game for the first time in this flick (I owned a NES you see). The story is
strong enough to keep you glued, even though the plot is far fetched in places.
Good clean family fun!
The
big disappointment is the lack of extras. Not even a trailer. Nada. The film also
gives just a two channel stereo mix too (no Super Mario in 5.2 - sorry), although
the picture is nice and a huge improvement on the old VHS copy that I have knocking
around somewhere!
Who's
In It: Fred Savage, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater
