The Wizard

Three children travel from Utah to California: Corey, his younger half-brother Jimmy, and Haley, a girl they meet along the way. The boys' parents have separated, and Jimmy, who has difficulties with communication, has been living in an institution. After he leaves it, Corey sets out to find him, recalling that Jimmy kept saying the word California. Once they are together again, the three discover that Jimmy has an unusual gift for video games. That leads them to head for Los Angeles, where a national video game championship is being held, and to enter him in it.

The film was directed by Todd Holland, his first feature, from a screenplay by David Chisholm, who also produced with Ken Topolsky. Beau Bridges plays Sam, with Luke Edwards as Jimmy, Vince Trankina as Tate, Wendy Phillips as Christine, Dea McAllister as Counselor and Sam McMurray as Bateman, among a credited cast of 41 and a credited crew of 142. Made for about 6 million dollars, it took roughly 14 million worldwide.

On IMDb it holds 6.1/10 from around 18,000 votes, and on TMDB 6/10 from 359 votes. A critics' rating of 4.6/10 from 24 reviews places it below both audience scores. Released in December 1989, it runs 100 minutes and mixes adventure, comedy, drama and family material. Holland went on to direct Firehouse Dog and Fugly, both in 2007, and later the two Monster High films.