The Case for Remakes: The Wizard

In our remake happy culture, I don't tend to get upset about remakes as much as many others do. If a property I loved as a kid is being remade it doesn't mean that if it sucks it's going to have any bearing on how I feel about the original. However I do think that there are certain films that should, nay, deserve to be remade. Thus I present you with the first in a new series about just that.


Now Showing:

The Wizard (1989)

Starring: 
Fred Savage, Beau Bridges, Christian Slater, Jenny Lewis, Luke Edwards, and in the most small and background of roles, Toby Maguire

The plot:
Two brothers, Jimmy (Luke Edwards) and Corey (Fred Savage) are facing being separated due to their parents divorce. Jimmy has become a quiet, mentally unbalanced child since his twin sister died. Wanting to stay together, the two run away. While on the road Corey discovers Jimmy has an amazing talent for video games. The two along with Haley (Jenny Lewis) a girl who they befriend, decide to head out to California to a video game championship. While on the road they have to dodge a private detective who has been hired by their mother to find them as well as dodging their father (Beau Bridges) and brother (Christian Slater) who are also on the hunt for them.

My Case:
I loved the film as a kid even though I knew at the time it wasn't a good movie. I recently watched it again after more than a decade and it's still not a good movie. It's cheesy, it's stupid and yet at the same time, in the most guilty pleasure of ways, it's thoroughly enjoyable.

The thing is, this film came on the scene when the world of video games was still young. It had yet to become the culture eclipsing movement it is today. Those who were gamers back then will also recognize a lot of stupidity on the portrayal of gaming itself. When I first saw it I thought the power glove was the coolest thing in the world. But anyone who really played with one will tell you that it was absolute crap. Completely worthless for most games. Though I will say that kind of innovative thinking is what led to the Wii, so for that I suppose it was a necessary evil.

And yeah it was essentially one giant commercial for NES. But that's alright with me, I was a Nintendo kid myself.

Video games now though really do carry a large culture with it. People take them very seriously and the market is there for a movie that focuses on playing in tournaments. So from that angle alone a remake would be able to create a more real environment for the characters to interact within. And let's face it, in our current online gaming universe, a kid having the nickname 'The Wizard' doesn't seem quite as unreal anymore. Pretty tame actually.

As for the rest of the film, there were some real issues that could have been dealt with in a realistic way that were just kind of silly. Jimmy's psychosis is played more as a MacGuffin when it could have carried some substance to it. A slightly more realistic approach could create the potential for a heck of a character.

Then there's the detective who is stupid in the classic kids movie kind of way. If you replaced him with someone that was actually intimidating and not just for slapstick, the presence would carry some weight and not just feel like extra minutes ticking down the film.

Not everything from the original should be completely retooled. The war between Beau Bridges and the detective is still great as a comical aside. Fact is it's the only real role I've ever cared for Beau Bridges in. As I've said before, Jeff is the money Bridges. But again, this would be better if the detective was somewhat realistic and cutthroat.

Ultimately it's a film that has a lot of good ideas that are just laying around going to waste in a mostly forgettable 80's film. This is exactly the kind of movie that should be getting a remake, something that wasn't that good to begin with but has the potential to be with a little maturity behind the helm.

And that's my case for remaking The Wizard.