The Wizard

The Wizard (1989) is a family adventure directed by Todd Holland — watch it online on iFILM. Brothers Corey and Jimmy run away from home and head across the country toward a video game championship in Los Angeles, picking up a resourceful girl along the way. Fred Savage and Beau Bridges are both in here, Christian Slater too, but the moment the film is genuinely famous for is the first public glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3, months before the game hit US shelves.

That Nintendo showcase made The Wizard a cultural event for a generation of kids in 1989, and the road-trip bones underneath it hold up well enough. Two brothers who need each other driving toward something that matters only to them — it is sentimental, clearly, but the emotion is real rather than manufactured. Stream The Wizard (1989) on iFILM.