|
Actors: Fred Savage, Luke Edwards, Christian Slater, Beau Bridges, Jenny Lewis
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about The Wizard |
|---|
Young Jimmy lives with his mother and stepfather. He doesn't speak and keeps leaving his rural Utah home and attempting to walk to California. Losing patience, his stepfather talks his wife into institutionalizing him. Sam, his non-custodial father, opposes this but is helpless to do anything about it. Corey, the younger of Sam's two sons by a prior marriage decides to take matters into his own hands and rescue Jimmy from the institution.
In typical Hollywood fashion, Corey packs his backpack, a sleeping bag and skateboard and simply walks into the institution and takes Jimmy out without being detected. The two then try to make their way to California. Along the way they meet Haley, a streetwise girl their age whose single parent father is a long haul trucker who often leaves her alone. They also discover that Jimmy is a genius at playing video games. Haley sees an ad in a game magazine for a game tournament in Los Angeles that has a $50,000 grand prize for the winner. The three make their way to California while being pressed by both a detective hired by Jimmy's stepfather and by Sam and his older son Nick.
--Chuck Nugent, Resident Scholar
|
A better than average movie about a young teen (Fred Savage) who is fed up with his bickering, divorced parents and decides to rescue his mentally ill younger brother and take him on a fun-filled road trip. Little Jimmy (Luke Edwards) has always wanted to go to California, and that's where his older brother Corey decides to take him. Jimmy is also a Nintendo phenom and they are going to compete in a huge competition at Universal Studios. They finance the trip hustling with Jimmy's abilities, and on the way meet up with a street-wise girl who befriends them and accompanies them(Jenny Lewis). However, their parents and stepfather search for them. Their father (Beau Bridges) and older brother (Christian Slater) decide to personally track down the boys, while their mother and stepfather hire a maniacal private investigator to track them down. This is an amusing, heartening story of two kids overcoming the odds, having fun, bringing a family together and coming of age.
--Danielle Petty, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of The Wizard |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1980's-1999
Kids growing up/acting up?
Yes
Kids:
- developing special abilities
- runaways!
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- a kid
Eccentric:
Yes
- mentally ill
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) very skinny
Events of movie makes character more...
- happy
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- soggy whimpering jelly muffin
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other characters
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair style
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) very skinny
How much in movie?
- 80%
- 90%-100%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
- 40's-50's
Profession/status:
- private investigator
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 40%
Hair color
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Dumb
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- West
- California
Desert?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- no torture/death
Movie makes you feel...
- very happy
- encouraged
Any profanity?
- None
If this is a kid's movie...
- Ages 10-15
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Little Man Tate
starring Jodie Foster, Dianne Wiest
|
| Searching for Bobby Fischer
starring Joe Mantegna, Joan Allen, Lawrence Fishburne, Ben Kingsley
|
| Together
starring Yun Tang, Peiqi Liu, Hong Chen, Zhiwen Wang, Kaige Chen
|
| The Sixth Sense
starring Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette
|
| Élisa
starring Vanessa Paradis, Gérard Depardieu, Clotilde Courau, Florence Thomassin, Michel Bouquet, Philippe Léotard
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Chuck Nugent
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
