History Film / TheWizard

* BrokenAesop: The reason Haley's family is poor is that her mother was a gambling addict - so naturally the kids use Jimmy's gaming abilities and her own knowledge of craps to gamble their way to California.

* ProductPlacement: The Movie.

But none of this is what the movie is well-known for. The film is a fairly blatant MerchandiseDriven affair, made to sell Nintendo products and the Universal Studios tour. In fact, the film's appeal was that it had a sneak peek of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' (for North America; it had been available in Japan for more than a year). Earlier in the decade, Universal had sued Nintendo over ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''; the cooperation between the two on ''The Wizard'' was seen as a sign that they had patched things up ( today, there's even theme park attractions based on Nintendo properties, and their Creator/{{Illumination}} division made ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', which was released in 2023).

But none of this is what the movie is well-known for. The film is a fairly blatant MerchandiseDriven affair, made to sell Nintendo products and the Universal Studios tour. In fact, the film's appeal was that it had a sneak peek of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' (for North America; it had been available in Japan for more than a year). Earlier in the decade, Universal had sued Nintendo over ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''; the cooperation between the two on ''The Wizard'' was seen as a sign that they had patched things up (as of 2020, Universal also plans on theme park attractions based on Nintendo properties, and their Creator/{{Illumination}} division made ''WesternAnimation/TheSuperMarioBrosMovie'', which was released in 2023).

* PlotHole: While Jimmy plays [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 SUPER! MARIO BROTHERS!]] ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 3!!]]'' at the tournament, Corey and Haley both shout tips at him to help him find a hidden WarpWhistle early in the game, even though ''[=SMB3=]'''s reveal is a surprise in and out of universe, and the kids specifically complained that it was a new game they had no prior chances to study up on.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "SO I GIVE YOU!... [[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 SUPER! MARIO BROTHERS!]] ''[[VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3 3!!!!]]''

But none of this is what the movie is well-known for. The film is a fairly blatant MerchandiseDriven affair, made to sell Nintendo products and the Universal Studios tour. In fact, the film's appeal was that it had a sneak peek of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' (for North America; it had been available in Japan for more than a year). Earlier in the decade, Universal had sued Nintendo over ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong''; the cooperation between the two on ''The Wizard'' was seen as a sign that they had patched things up (as of 2020, Universal also plans on theme park attractions based on Nintendo properties, and their Creator/{{Illumination}} division is planning an animated ''Mario'' movie).

* HollywoodPsychology: Apparently going through a traumatic incident gives you severe autism or [[AmbiguousDisorder something like it]]. ''Yeah''. [[https://www.ptsduk.org/can-childhood-ptsd-be-mistaken-for-autism/ While some cases of PTSD do resemble autism and are often misdiagnosed as that]], those cases aren't quite the same as it's portrayed here.

* DanBrowned: Nearly every video game that's played for any length of time in this movie is depicted [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrIn8hklG-I incorrectly.]] And this as ProductPlacement paid for ''by Nintendo''. Probably the most egregious are the ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' mistakes, since it was the centerpiece of the climax while most of the other games were only shown for a few seconds each and not in a formal setting. In ''[=SMB3=]'', since they were competing on pure points, Jimmy finding and using the Warp Whistle is not only not a good move, it should have completely taken him out of competition. Picking up the whistle ends the stage without killing the boss and with no bonus, meaning that Jimmy first didn't get the 7k points for killing the Boom Boom, but he ALSO didn't get the stage clear time bonus of approx. 15k. Meanwhile warping to another world actively wastes time without doing ANYTHING to actually increase your score.

''The Wizard'' is a 1989 film starring Creator/FredSavage, Music/JennyLewis, Creator/ChristianSlater, and Creator/BeauBridges. It is about Jimmy Woods, a young boy who suffers from a serious mental disorder reminiscent of HollywoodAutism after a traumatic incident. After Jimmy is put in an institution, Corey (Savage), one of his older brothers, breaks him out. They decide to run away to "[[UsefulNotes/{{California}} Cawwwifffohneeeyaaaa]]" together, as Jimmy is for some reason fixated on the place. They soon learn that [[IdiotSavant Jimmy is a godlike entity around video games]], which is noticed by Haley Brooks (Lewis). Haley convinces the brothers to enter Jimmy into a video game tournament in Los Angeles, and helps them grift gamers to pay for the trip. Along the way, they meet with some other kids that eerily seem to [[ParentalAbandonment lack parental supervision]].

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* HollywoodPsychology: Apparently going through a traumatic incident gives you severe autism or [[AmbiguousDisorder something like it]]. ''Yeah''. While some cases of PTSD do resemble autism and are often misdiagnosed as that, those cases aren't quite the same as it's portrayed here.

* HollywoodPsychology: Apparently going through a traumatic incident gives you severe autism or [[AmbiguousDisorder something like it]]. ''Yeah''.

* BlendedFamilyDrama: Downplayed with Jimmy's mother. Corey says that during the time she was his stepmother, she did not really view Corey or Nick at stepkids, and in particular didn't get along with Nick. [[spoiler:At the end, she specifically tells Sam he can take their kids home, implying that now she thinks of Corey and Sam as her children, even if they are no longer her stepchildren.]]

-->'''Haley''': You're a quitter Corey! And I don't care if you did like me! Your attitude sucks!"
-->'''Corey''': "You wanted me to like you?"
-->'''Haley''': "Not anymore."

* AwardBaitSong: Sally Dworsky's "I Found My Way" which was written for the film to the point that ''no other recording exists anywhere else''.

-->'''Haley: You're a quitter Corey! And I don't care if you did like me! Your attitude sucks!"

* AwardBaitSong: Sally Dworsky's "I Found My Way" which was written for the film to the point that '''no other recording exists anywhere else'''.

* AwardBaitSong: Sally Dworsky's "I Found My Way".

* AbsenteeParent:
** It's briefly said that Corey and Nick's mother passed away long before the events of the movie.
** Christine herself abandoned her husband and stepsons after her daughter's untimely death and now is gonna let her own son be put in an institution rather than actually try to dig deeper to get to the root of the problem.
** Haley's mother is implied to not be around at all by the time the events of the movie comes, be it whether she's actually still alive or not.
* AdultsAreUseless: Pretty much the whole driving point of the film is that every adult is either uncaring, evil, or incompetent: The kids run through ''half of Universal's backlot'' without being halted by the tour guide they're disrupting or caught by studio security (who should be much more familiar with the layout of the studio; they ''work'' there, after all).