The Movie!
By MATTHEW LUECKE
I have a six year old son which means I don’t get out much. When I do watch a movie, it’s not Inglorious Basterds or The Time Traveler’s Wife. It is Cars, Wall*E or The Hannah Montana Movie. Thus, my “summer” movie for this year was the Disney Channel premier of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie.
Why should you care? Well, it was the second most watched Disney movie of all time, behind only High School Musical 2: Musicalier. (This franchise even has an ice show!) Eleven million people tuned in for the premier, including Yours Truly.
The premise of the series: a wizard (“Jerry Russo”) falls in love with a mortal (“Theresa”), has to give up his powers, and raises 3 teenage kids (“Justin,” “Alex,” and “Max”), who are wizards in training. Eventually, the kids will be in some sort of contest to determine which of them will become the family wizard while the other two lose their powers forever. The set-up for the movie is that the family goes on vacation to a Caribbean Island where their parents met, noted for famous magic/wizard stuff.
Let me start by saying, I like this show, and I like this movie. But, there are plot holes a truck could drive through. For instance, Justin’s (David Henrie) best friend “Zeke” is referred to as “Zack” for an entire episode. Sometimes Jerry (David Deluise) is aware of magic related stuff other mortals aren’t and sometimes he isn’t. There are spells and magic objects that do the exact same thing, but only referred to in different episodes. In the movie, Alex (Selena Gomez) and her mother (Maria Canals Barrera) have mother-daughter problems as set-up for the movie; but they’ve never had any of these problems in the show.
Because of these problems, Alex, while holding the family’s magic wand (1st time mentioned) and The Book of Forbidden Spells (1st time mentioned) wishes her parents never met. Reality goes all squiggly and the parents don’t know each other and don’t know the kids. The kids have to figure out a way to reverse Alex’s spell before they disappear (not Back to the Future disappear, but Twister disappear). So, Alex and Justin go on a quest to find the Stone of Dreams, which grants any wizard one wish. Hi-jinks ensue, including being thwarted by a wizard-turned-into-a-parrot and the early commencement of the family wizard contest between Justin and Alex only because Max (Jake T. Austin) has already disappeared.
Why does the movie work? For the same reason the show works so well: David Henrie and Selena Gomez have such amazing chemistry together. They are as good as a combo as I have ever seen act together, and I have watched a lot of TV. The show started getting really good when the powers that be recognized the chemistry. The movie wisely spent a good deal of time focusing on Alex and Justin. The special effects are much better for the movie, especially during the rock levitating scene (they have to cross a large canyon). But the interaction between Alex and Justin and how they resolve their brother/sister issues makes the show and movie worthwhile. Overall, I would score the movie a 7 out of 10. But, the plot holes reduce it to a 5 or 5.5.
By MATTHEW LUECKE
I have a six year old son which means I don’t get out much. When I do watch a movie, it’s not Inglorious Basterds or The Time Traveler’s Wife. It is Cars, Wall*E or The Hannah Montana Movie. Thus, my “summer” movie for this year was the Disney Channel premier of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie.
Why should you care? Well, it was the second most watched Disney movie of all time, behind only High School Musical 2: Musicalier. (This franchise even has an ice show!) Eleven million people tuned in for the premier, including Yours Truly.The premise of the series: a wizard (“Jerry Russo”) falls in love with a mortal (“Theresa”), has to give up his powers, and raises 3 teenage kids (“Justin,” “Alex,” and “Max”), who are wizards in training. Eventually, the kids will be in some sort of contest to determine which of them will become the family wizard while the other two lose their powers forever. The set-up for the movie is that the family goes on vacation to a Caribbean Island where their parents met, noted for famous magic/wizard stuff.
Let me start by saying, I like this show, and I like this movie. But, there are plot holes a truck could drive through. For instance, Justin’s (David Henrie) best friend “Zeke” is referred to as “Zack” for an entire episode. Sometimes Jerry (David Deluise) is aware of magic related stuff other mortals aren’t and sometimes he isn’t. There are spells and magic objects that do the exact same thing, but only referred to in different episodes. In the movie, Alex (Selena Gomez) and her mother (Maria Canals Barrera) have mother-daughter problems as set-up for the movie; but they’ve never had any of these problems in the show.
Because of these problems, Alex, while holding the family’s magic wand (1st time mentioned) and The Book of Forbidden Spells (1st time mentioned) wishes her parents never met. Reality goes all squiggly and the parents don’t know each other and don’t know the kids. The kids have to figure out a way to reverse Alex’s spell before they disappear (not Back to the Future disappear, but Twister disappear). So, Alex and Justin go on a quest to find the Stone of Dreams, which grants any wizard one wish. Hi-jinks ensue, including being thwarted by a wizard-turned-into-a-parrot and the early commencement of the family wizard contest between Justin and Alex only because Max (Jake T. Austin) has already disappeared.
Why does the movie work? For the same reason the show works so well: David Henrie and Selena Gomez have such amazing chemistry together. They are as good as a combo as I have ever seen act together, and I have watched a lot of TV. The show started getting really good when the powers that be recognized the chemistry. The movie wisely spent a good deal of time focusing on Alex and Justin. The special effects are much better for the movie, especially during the rock levitating scene (they have to cross a large canyon). But the interaction between Alex and Justin and how they resolve their brother/sister issues makes the show and movie worthwhile. Overall, I would score the movie a 7 out of 10. But, the plot holes reduce it to a 5 or 5.5.
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