For anyone wanting to witness
the life-affirming sight of Beau Bridges connecting with his estranged
kids thanks to the joys of videogaming,
there’s really only one option – this shameless feature length
informercial for the Nintendo Entertainment System, which arrived in
theaters cunningly disguised as a saccharine family drama.
Young Jimmy Woods is a withdrawn and troubled lad. Ever since his twin
sister died in front of him, in a freak drowning accident, he’s
stopped talking and taken to running away from home at every opportunity,
attempting to walk from his home in Utah to the magical land of California.
His fragmented family hasn’t fared much better. Mum has remarried
an uptight prig, while Dad (Beau Bridges) struggles to keep his other
two sons Corey (Fred Savage) and Nick (Christian Slater) on the straight
and narrow. When the decision is made to put Jimmy in a home for his
own good, Corey wanders into the clearly understaffed home and busts
his brother out, promising to finally get him to California.
Kid road movie hijinks promptly ensue, and along the way Corey discovers
that Jimmy has a natural gift for playing videogames. “50,000 on
Double Dragon?” he gasps, as Jimmy effortlessly clocks up a high
score on the classic fighting game. Teaming up with a streetwise young
girl called Haley, they formulate a plan – to get Jimmy to Los
Angeles to compete in Video Armageddon and win $50,000.
The trio then
embark on an adventure best described as Rain Man Jr, with a parade of
exciting new Nintendo products in place of gambling and the kid from
The Wonder Years instead of Tom Cruise.
Hot on their trail is Putnam, a sinister runaway-catching bounty hunter,
and an unspeakably cocky rival videogame expert named Lucas who reveals
just how awesome he is by using the new Nintendo Powerglove to dominate
his chosen field. Also tracking the plucky kids are Jimmy and Corey’s
Dad and Nick, both of whom bond on the road because – hey! – they
also happen to have a Nintendo Entertainment System stashed in their
pick-up truck.
After surviving the usual array of kid flick setbacks, and making a point
of practising all of the 97 Nintendo games available from all good stockists
(a montage that also makes a point of showcasing the usefulness of the
Nintendo tips hotline) Jimmy, Corey and Haley arrive at Universal Studios
where the videogame showdown is taking place. Naturally, Jimmy waltzes
into the final round with ease – but the organisers have a trick
up their sleeve. The final game will be one that nobody has played before.
As everyone converges on the theme park, Lucas – that arrogant
little bastard – tips off Putnam to Jimmy’s whereabouts.
Our pint-sized heroes flee into the wonderland of Universal Studios (which
also gets a prolonged advertisement as their chase conveniently takes
them through just some of the wonderful sights awaiting eager tourists
on the Studio Tour) as time ticks away to the start of the big $50,000
showdown.
But wait. Let’s rewind a little. Just as Lucas is gleefully attempting
to remove his only serious rival from the contest (the other finalist
is, after all, just a girl) let’s hit the pause button and pay
special attention to the fresh-faced accomplice to the left of the screen.
Yes, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it big screen debut, it’s
here that we find an impossibly tiny 14-year-old Tobey Maguire, his feeble
teenaged torso almost lost in a voluminous pink t-shirt, his flyaway
fringe flapping gently in the breeze.
He doesn’t speak, he doesn’t
move, and he doesn’t appear in the credits – but there he
is all the same. The future Spider-Man, party to outrageous skulduggery
at a noble videogames competition.
It won’t come as a surprise to learn that Jimmy escapes the clutches
of Putnam, and makes it to the stage just in time to take on Lucas at
the secret climactic game – the newly released Super Mario Bros
3, the playing of which makes up a hefty five minute chunk of the running
time. Any subsequent boost in sales was surely unintentional. Jimmy,
of course, wins the match (he finds the magic flute and warps to level
8, fact fans) and his prowess on the joypad is enough to instantly eradicate
bitter rivalries, spark romances and heal family wounds, as the once-fractured
Woods clan is reunited via the transcendental power of being totally
rad at Nintendo.
Need to know: When The Wizard opened, theaters were even given special
editions of Nintendo Power magazine to hand out to eager young consumers
- sorry, audience members – just in case they missed the subtle
Nintendo Is Awesome subtext. Jenny Lewis, the young actress who played
Haley, would go on to spend a little more screen time with Tobey Maguire – she
appeared in Pleasantville with him in 1998. For some rather older actors
who embarrassed themselves in related videogame movies, see: Bob
Hoskins,
Robert Patrick.
