Wizards of Waverly Place - The Movie

 There's been a long tradition of 'magical' family sitcoms in the US. 'Bewitched', 'I Dream of Jeannie', 'My Favorite Martian' and so on. So you can't entirely blame 'Harry Potter' for the Disney Channel's popular 'Wizards of Waverly Place' though it's hard to drop the inevitable comparisons.
 
There's no doubting the show's popularity. Now in its third season (the first in HD), and boasting at least one Emmy, the show looks set to rival even the evergreen 'Hannah Montana'.  It can boast something else of significance too. It is the first series on the Disney Channel to feature a multi-ethnic family.
 
So when the movie was release at the tail end of last year (and on steady rotation thereafter) it gave The Disney Channel some viewing figures to rival 'High School Musical'. (Nearly 14 million in the US). And the good news was that the movie was even better than the show.  Bigger production budgets, room to breathe and better displays of magic than ever before.  At last - the series was free of the studio and large chunks of the movie were filmed on location in Puerto Rico.


 
 So that leads us to the DVD release. Apparently it is an 'extended edition' though my two daughters struggled to tell me what was different about the version they had seen on the Disney Channel. So if you've seen this on the Disney Channel already, why buy the DVD? There is a brief 'behind the scenes' featurette too, as well as a 'limited edition' colour changing stone which comes wrapped with the DVD. (I haven't seen this so cannot comment on its quality).  Also - it's a great chance for people who don't have access to the channel to catch up with their kids and see what the fuss is about.
 
The series was created by former Hannah Montana consulting producer and was possibly a brave move, given the success of his previous series. However, despite starting with the premise of a half-Italian, half-Mexican family, and a liberal sprinkling of magic, the series quickly descends into the popular formula of 'sarcastic, wise-cracking teenage girl battles rest of family, though they all love each other really'.

Of course, there's more than a little bibbity-bobbity-boo to the magic (I guess Disney invented the sparkling wand that we now associate with it) though for the most part, this is just a vehicle for lots of teen angst and hilarious drama.  


 Normally based  in New York,  the show centers around three siblings though Selena Gomez (a 'star' from Disney Radio) is obviously the principal lead. (You may recognize her from the 'Princess Protection Program' movie on the Disney Channel).
 
In common with Miley Cyrus, Gomez is fast becoming something of a pop star in the USA but in Waverly, she's plain old Jan Brady. Both she and her younger brother Max (Jake T. Austin) resent the amount of attention that her goody-two-shoes 'do no wrong' older brother Justin (David Henrie) gets from her parents.

The show's twist is that only one wizard can emerge from each family, and when the three Russo siblings reach adulthood they'll have to compete in order to see who gets to stay a wizard and who reverts to being mere mortals, a choice their father took in order to marry their mere mortal mother.  In "Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie," a spell-gone-wrong forces the two older siblings to compete for wizard powers immediately, not later as pre-destined.


Alex Russo (Selena Gomez) is a teen like every other - doing anything to avoid tidying up, arguing with her parents and fighting with her brothers.  She errs a little on the 'talk to the hand' brigade which may prove irksome for parents but is probably one of the keys to her popularity.

The film starts when Alex uses her magic to attend a party that her mum told her not to, and she ends up in a high-speed tube ride through New York City's underground catacombs. (Plenty of CGI to enjoy here if that's your bag).
 
When she gets back home she discovers that her parents really want a vacation though naturally, Alex doesn't want to go. What could be more boring than two weeks with just your family for company?  However, she meets a local boy on the island but when he mum tells her she can't see him she has a tantrum and, waving her wand, declares 'I wish you weren't my mother!'. Oh dear. Guess what happens next?
 
Yes - it's time travel mayhem as one parent may not meet the other (remember 'Back to the Future' and 'Groundhog Day'?).


 The whole thing is done with great aplomb and the picture is a satisfyingly high quality affair making this feel like a movie that has had some serious bucks spent on it, rather than just being an extended episode of the TV series. It really is much better than that.
 
My teenage daughters clearly enjoyed this tremendously and, if I can just push my natural cynicism about 'Disney Channel' teen shows to one side, I have to confess that this was actually a lot of fun for me too. The sort of film that, as it's so predictable anyway, will bear up to repeated viewings.