Does anybody remember a bad movie about a Super Mario Competition?

[cardsunsfan]

And no I don't mean the one on the everything else board... I just remember this boy who went around to competitions to play against other players....

 

[Ryanwb]

Yeah, they introduced Super mario 3 in that movie.... I couldn't tell you what it was called though

 

[Ryanwb]

Woo Hoo!! I called my brother, he remembers **** like this


It was called "The Wizard" came out in 1989, I was 12
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/

 

[cardsunsfan]

Same here...

 

[cardsunsfan]

 

[HeavyB3]

Woo Hoo!! I called my brother, he remembers **** like this


It was called "The Wizard" came out in 1989, I was 12
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098663/

I was like 5. I barely remember seeing it in the theater. It was cool from what I remember. I was like "MAN I wish I was that good at video games"

:stillwisheshewasgoodatvideogames:

 

[Assface]

That was also where they introduced the power glove, the worst piece of crap ever invented.

 

[Ryanwb]

That was also where they introduced the power glove, the worst piece of crap ever invented.

We had one of those, it was like 100 bucks.... I couldn't even get mario to work. I also had "Gyro" the robot.... it came out with the early nintendo's in like 85 or something like that. He had like 2 games he played along with you

 

[Brian in Mesa]

Oh man...I was 18 when this came out, saw it in the theater, but only vaguely remember it. Definitely could not have come up with the title without searching for it.

:feelingold:

Trivia

• The sounds made by Lucas' Power Glove as he punches its keys are the famous five tones from Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).
• Marked the first public unveiling of EAD's then-anticipated (but still popular) Super Mario Bros. 3.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The Wizard

12/15/1989
By Roger Ebert

"The Wizard" is one of those movies that provokes the Hey, Wait a Minute Syndrome - you know, the kind where you keep saying things like, "Hey, wait a minute. How could a 9-year-old boy walk miles along a desert highway without being noticed?" Or "Wait a minute. Do you mean to say a trucker wouldn't even stop if he saw two little kids coasting down an interstate highway on a skateboard?" Or "Wait a minute. Do businessmen on their lunch hours really gamble on video games with little kids?" Or "Wait a minute. Could three little kids (for their ranks have swelled by now) really make it from Utah to Los Angeles without anything terrible happening to them?"

But wait a minute. I know, I know, "The Wizard" is only a silly Christmas kiddie movie, and we aren't supposed to ask questions like that. But we must. In an age when child abduction is the subject of half the TV docudramas and all of the milk cartons, how are we supposed to blind ourselves to the central fact of this movie, which is that a 13-year-old boy and his 9-year-old brother, accompanied part of the way by a 13-year-old girl, manage to walk, hitchhike and con themselves all the way from Utah to the National Video Game Championships in L.A.?

The movie is filled with shots of these little kids walking down highways, and hitching rides, and walking into bars and video parlors and Reno gambling casinos, and there wasn't a moment when I didn't question the sanity of the film and fear for their safety. It was only after the three kids arrived safely at the championships that I began to question the ethics of the film, which is, among other things, a thinly disguised commercial for Nintendo video games and the Universal studio tour.

For, make no mistake, it is Nintendo games that these kids are experts on, and a lot of them are mentioned by name in the movie, along with lots of shots of the Nintendo trademark and various Nintendo game screens in action. And the movie's big chase scene is backstage at the Universal tour, where King Kong and a lot of complicated machinery cause various kinds of problems.

The plot of the movie involves the youngest kid's desire to walk to California. His brother decides to help him do it, and along the way the kid reveals a talent at video games that not only allows them to support themselves, but suggests the goal of the world championship and its $50,000 first prize. Those are only the headlines; a full plot description would make this movie sound like a nasty pileup down at the screenplay factory.

"The Wizard" is the kind of movie where every adult role is hapless, but the adults are rarely as plumb imbecilic as they are this time. The movie's hero, played by young Fred Savage, kidnaps his younger half brother from an institution and helps him realize his dream of going to California, and the kids are chased by Savage's father (Beau Bridges) as well as an older brother and an evil man who tracks down missing kids for a living.

This leads to idiotic scenes in which the father and the child-chaser ram into each other's vehicles and other examples of heartrending goofiness in which the older brother complains that he can't communicate with his father. There is also another subplot involving the little kid's mother and her current husband and yet another villain in the shape of a mean little Nintendo expert.

Who was this movie intended for? No one above the age of reason will be able to abide it. Of those below that age, the studio may have targeted kids who are Nintendo fans. But here the problem is that the movie doesn't have much Nintendo in it, and some of that is wrong (when it's announced, for example, that the third level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been reached, the movie screen clearly shows the first level). "The Wizard" is finally just a cynical exploitation film with a lot of commercial plugs in it, and it is so insanely overwritten and ineptly directed that it will disappoint just about everybody and serve them right for going in the first place.

 

[cardsunsfan]

The Wizard

12/15/1989
By Roger Ebert

"The Wizard" is one of those movies that provokes the Hey, Wait a Minute Syndrome - you know, the kind where you keep saying things like, "Hey, wait a minute. How could a 9-year-old boy walk miles along a desert highway without being noticed?" Or "Wait a minute. Do you mean to say a trucker wouldn't even stop if he saw two little kids coasting down an interstate highway on a skateboard?" Or "Wait a minute. Do businessmen on their lunch hours really gamble on video games with little kids?" Or "Wait a minute. Could three little kids (for their ranks have swelled by now) really make it from Utah to Los Angeles without anything terrible happening to them?"

But wait a minute. I know, I know, "The Wizard" is only a silly Christmas kiddie movie, and we aren't supposed to ask questions like that. But we must. In an age when child abduction is the subject of half the TV docudramas and all of the milk cartons, how are we supposed to blind ourselves to the central fact of this movie, which is that a 13-year-old boy and his 9-year-old brother, accompanied part of the way by a 13-year-old girl, manage to walk, hitchhike and con themselves all the way from Utah to the National Video Game Championships in L.A.?

The movie is filled with shots of these little kids walking down highways, and hitching rides, and walking into bars and video parlors and Reno gambling casinos, and there wasn't a moment when I didn't question the sanity of the film and fear for their safety. It was only after the three kids arrived safely at the championships that I began to question the ethics of the film, which is, among other things, a thinly disguised commercial for Nintendo video games and the Universal studio tour.

For, make no mistake, it is Nintendo games that these kids are experts on, and a lot of them are mentioned by name in the movie, along with lots of shots of the Nintendo trademark and various Nintendo game screens in action. And the movie's big chase scene is backstage at the Universal tour, where King Kong and a lot of complicated machinery cause various kinds of problems.

The plot of the movie involves the youngest kid's desire to walk to California. His brother decides to help him do it, and along the way the kid reveals a talent at video games that not only allows them to support themselves, but suggests the goal of the world championship and its $50,000 first prize. Those are only the headlines; a full plot description would make this movie sound like a nasty pileup down at the screenplay factory.

"The Wizard" is the kind of movie where every adult role is hapless, but the adults are rarely as plumb imbecilic as they are this time. The movie's hero, played by young Fred Savage, kidnaps his younger half brother from an institution and helps him realize his dream of going to California, and the kids are chased by Savage's father (Beau Bridges) as well as an older brother and an evil man who tracks down missing kids for a living.

This leads to idiotic scenes in which the father and the child-chaser ram into each other's vehicles and other examples of heartrending goofiness in which the older brother complains that he can't communicate with his father. There is also another subplot involving the little kid's mother and her current husband and yet another villain in the shape of a mean little Nintendo expert.

Who was this movie intended for? No one above the age of reason will be able to abide it. Of those below that age, the studio may have targeted kids who are Nintendo fans. But here the problem is that the movie doesn't have much Nintendo in it, and some of that is wrong (when it's announced, for example, that the third level of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been reached, the movie screen clearly shows the first level). "The Wizard" is finally just a cynical exploitation film with a lot of commercial plugs in it, and it is so insanely overwritten and ineptly directed that it will disappoint just about everybody and serve them right for going in the first place.

Guess he didn't like it

 

[vince56]

I remember that film. I was about 10 or so and we were just dying for Mario 3 to come out. It seemed like it was taking forever for them to release that game. I only saw the movie once, and I saw it for the same reason everyone else saw it... to see Mario 3. The movie itself I'm sure sucked, but I can't remember much of it. I do remember it spawned a ton of video game competitions nationwide, and I took part in one in about 1990 or 91 down at the Phoenix Civic Center. Fun stuff.

 

[former user 1]

Help.

Okay, there is this movie I saw when I was a kid. It was about these kids who played Nintendo on huge giant screens for a competition. I can't even begin to remember the name of that movie. I think either Ben or Fred Savage was in it. Any ideas?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Brian in Mesa]

The Wizard

Discussed here: http://www.arizonasportsfans.com/vb/showthread.php?t=38601

 

[former user 1]

You rule!!

That's the movie.

Now, I just need to find it on DVD.


EDIT: Wow, sorry for starting a thread about it. I didn't see that thread. Thanks though.

 

[Linderbee]

you will soon learn, BIM is the MAN when it comes to finding threads!!

 

[Jersey Girl]

you will soon learn, BIM is the MAN when it comes to finding threads!!

Heck yeah!

 

[jenna2891]

You rule!!

That's the movie.

Now, I just need to find it on DVD.


EDIT: Wow, sorry for starting a thread about it. I didn't see that thread. Thanks though.

i saw it at fry's electronics a couple of weeks ago.

 

[jenna2891]

That was also where they introduced the power glove, the worst piece of crap ever invented.

i love the power glove. it's so bad.

 

[former user 1]

i saw it at fry's electronics a couple of weeks ago.

Thanks Jenna.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

That was also where they introduced the power glove, the worst piece of crap ever invented.

You must not have ever played the Virtual Boy

We had one of those, it was like 100 bucks.... I couldn't even get mario to work. I also had "Gyro" the robot.... it came out with the early nintendo's in like 85 or something like that. He had like 2 games he played along with you

Gyro was pretty cool. Gyromite was actually fun, using that little robot to open blue and red doors.

 

[jenna2891]

Thanks Jenna.

no prob. i remember because i turned to my brother and said, "holy crap, they have the wizard for sale?!?!"

 

[former user 1]

no prob. i remember because i turned to my brother and said, "holy crap, they have the wizard for sale?!?!"

It was one of my favorite movies when I was a kid. My brother and I were, well still are, Super Mario freaks. lol I miss the old Nintendo.

 

[Ryanwb]

This movie was so bad I think this is one of those movies that was so cool when you were 7-13 years old but if you watched it today you would be embarassed

 

[Bada0Bing]

I’ll watch this with my kids and they’ll prolly love it. It’s so fun to watch these types of movies with kids because they think they’re so cool. Sometimes I have more fun watching them, than the actual movie (Drake and Josh Go Hollywood).