My thoughts on Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie
Okay, that was one of the best DCOMs ever. The cast and crew where awesome, of course. The script was very well done. This was one of those films where you knew the basic plot outline from the very beginning, so what was most important thing was to keep the audience engaged and interested. And in that respect, I think they did a great job.
It was obvious that the crew had a pretty decent budget. There was some serious magic in this film, which was a very nice change from the last few episodes of the series.
I totally did not see the whole wizards competition part coming. I mean, yes it was kinda in the previews, but I was still surprised when it happened! And I must admit, I was rooting for Alex. 
And despite the fact that she gave it up (a bit of a cop out so they could make season three) you have to admit she certainly has an advantage for when they have the real wizards competition.
My minute by minute commentary follows:
0:00 LOL That bag really sucks.
0:02 Alex really is a good pick pocket.
0:03 Are they on a new set? There are a lot of other camera angels.
0:05 How is she steering it? … Oh, it’s magic and knows where it’s going. Right.
0:07 “Seriously! Who designed this subway?”
0:10 “They where supposed to be tigers”
0:11 “Sticky note to self: Do not forget sticky notes.”
0:13 That was a great shot of Alex diving out of the car.
0:16 Check out Alex’s sunglasses.:)
0:18 Wow, Max did magic that didn’t go terribly wrong.
0:20 How many people in the world are wizards and/or former wizards.
0:24 “Well, every castle needs a princess” You can be my princess Alex.
– commercial –
0:29 “More like a never ending photo shoot”
0:32 “…like you’re actually pleasant to be around”
0:35 “So you’re admitting this is kinda your fault”
0:37 Why are they having Max do the magic?
0:41 LOL Alex sleeping face down in the hammock.
0:42 That guy is back. Okay. Glad to see that wasn’t a dead end.
– commercial –
0:50 “That doesn’t count. I actually am a little girl”
0:51 Okay, that guy is up to something. We get it already
0:53 That was mean, even for Alex.
0:55 That really didn’t go as expected. But maybe it worked.
0:59 Wow. that was dramatic.
1:00 Pay attention Guys!
1:04 He sank the boat! Maybe Max has a chance of winning the wizards competition after all
1:05 It’s the campfire scene that Selena was talking about.
1:07 You’re the boy, you go check it.
1:08 “Oh, there it is again. So close”
– commercial –
1:15 More goats.
1:17 I want one of those floating captions!
1:18 Looks like the cavalry is coming. Probably too late, but whatever.
1:19 The quicksand claims another victim.
1:20 I think it’s the right cave.
1:24 “Hold on the the torch thing, but not the hot part”
1:25 don’t step on the crumbly parts!
1:30: Why was Max the first to go? I would have thought Justin would be as he is the oldest.
1:31 Okay, it’s wizard competition time. This is starting to make sense.
1:34 Holy sh*t! This competition is intense!
1:36 She’s the bird! What a bitch!
1:37 Go Theressa! Too bad she’s a wizard.
1:38 He used his one wish to turn her back into a bird? What a waste.
1:40 Alex did it! I’m shockingly not surprised.
1:41 “I taunt you and I tease you but you love me anyway.”
1:42 Now Justin’s gone that doesn’t make a lot of sense.
1:43 Universal undo button for the win!
1:45 So much hugging
1:46 And end credits. Wow, that was something!
August 29th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
heres some of my thoughts, if you dont mind,
max was sort of written out of the adventure, you know? he was the first to get sucked up and didnt get to go with alex and justin..
ever noticed disney does alot of the “bad guys isnt really the bad guy” they always hae some sort of higher power like in the hannah montana movie..
also technically justin and alex have an advamtage when the REAL battle comes, they dont have to tell max the rules..
in my opinion justin should be the wizard, he just deserves it more than alex, but im glad there left it open ended.
i thought it was great though and yeah the magic was different like with all the purple wavy bits, haha! cant wait for the next series!
August 30th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
I was rooting for Justin in the wizard competition
. I think he deserves it more because he tries harder.
August 30th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
I really enjoyed the movie. It almost seemed weird, though, that I felt like I was watching WOWP without the laugh track. I appreciated the friction between mother and daughter in the movie. I hope to see more in the series. It added a realistic touch to family life, especially since Teresa doesn’t like Alex using magic to make life easier.
What I didn’t like is that the movie seems dependent on the series. If the series was never shown again, and 10 years from now the movie was aired, it wouldn’t make sense.
As for Oisin’s response, if he/she watched the episode where the older Harper comes back from the future to write books about wizard adventures, the story leaves a pretty good clue about who gets to be the family wizard.
August 30th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I am a he =)
sorry i only saw a bit of that episode.. what happens?
August 30th, 2009 at 11:26 pm
They really did write Max out of the main story.
I don’t think Justin or anyone else knows what happened. Because once Alex reversed it, none of it ever happened.
August 31st, 2009 at 11:09 am
Well all yall points are valid. Great DCOM, more realistic, weird for Alex to give up power to only keep in series logic and Max not really involved. All in all a fantastic movie.
September 1st, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Eh, Alex was ready to give up any and everything to get her life back. If she was really thinking she might have made a different wish but she was way beyond where she cared about keeping her powers.
September 3rd, 2009 at 12:16 am
Yeah I did kinda see that higher power thing in Alex as she was crying and saying it is more than that. But it would still be cool for Jerry’s misfit daughter to win and carry on the family tradition of wizardery.