BACKGROUND
Being on a long-running television show is said to be steady work to many in the entertainment industry, which can be difficult and fickle at times.
Disney Channel have had their fair share of long-running series, which allow young actors to find their feet and figure out their acting style, ready for when the time comes for them to move on from Disney into more mainstream projects. This is also the same for other children’s networks, such as Nickelodeon or CBBC.
Sometimes, if a television series is popular enough, a television movie, or even a theatrically-released feature film, will be made to extend the reach of the series, push its characters to the brink with a longer, more intricate story, or to wrap up the show after it has ended. I grew up watching Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996-2003) and re-runs of Saved by the Bell (1989-93) and both of these series had two television movies. Sabrina Spellman went off to Rome and the Great Barrier Reef, and Zack Morris and friends went to Hawaii and Las Vegas. I loved all four of these movies, and enjoyed getting the opportunity to see my favourite characters in a new location, dealing with troubles outside their everyday lives.
Wizards of Waverly Place premiered on Disney Channel in 2007. It followed the life of Alex, a teenager and middle child in a family of three kids. Her and her brothers are wizards-in-training, under the supervision of their father. The Russo family also runs a sandwich shop in New York City. The show ran for four seasons, ending in January 2012.
In 2009, the time came for Disney Channel to extend the reach of Wizards of Waverly Place, a very popular series at the time, by giving it the television movie treatment, and adding it to their never-ending list of official Disney Channel Original Movies.
In this case, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was created to allow the characters to delve further into their magical abilities by making a more complex storyline for them. This feature-length movie also moved the Russos to an exotic location as so many TV series-based movies do. That’s right, the Russos were going on vacation: to the Caribbean.
I watched Wizards of Waverly Place when it first premiered on the channel, but I never finished the whole thing. I think I watched most of Season 1 and parts of Season 2 and 3, but it wasn’t something I avidly followed. Come to think of it, I didn’t “finish” all that many Disney Channel series. I watched Lizzie McGuire (2001-04), That’s So Raven (2003-07) and Sonny with a Chance (2009-11) all the way through, but I think that was it.
So that means I’d never seen Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie before. It was quite interesting to be back with the Russos after so many years, and even though I obviously wasn’t a big time fan of the series, I did still like the movie.
PLOT
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie begins at the Russos’ iconic Sub Station restaurant. Alex has discovered her brother Justin’s bag sitting on a table. She decides to have a sneaky look at what he’s got in there, but soon finds herself being sucked into it. Alex’s parents and Justin come into the restaurant and see Alex in some difficulty. It turns out Justin put a spell on his bag to stop people looking through it when he’s not around. Alex begs him to get her out of the bag, so he does. But Alex reveals the family’s magic wand and the Book of Forbidden Spells in there. She reveals her discovery to her parents. Surprisingly, they aren’t bothered, and that’s because Justin had been given them by their father, to allow for further study, because Justin is the most responsible Russo child. This makes Alex jealous.
Alex’s parents then announce they are going out for the evening. Alex’s friend Harper arrives, giving Alex the opportunity to ask her parents if they go can to a party that night. Her parents say she cannot, and that them allowing Alex to stay with Harper whilst Justin, her parents, and Max, her other brother, go on family vacation means she shouldn’t try to push the subject any further; Alex is told to stay inside.
Well, that works for Alex, because she has magic. Using a spell from the Book of Forbidden Spells, which she did not return to Justin, she enchants the subway cart in their restaurant to go on the actual New York City subway to get to the party, with Harper on board. Harper tells Alex that they are going the wrong way, so she attempts to reverse their direction, but unsurprisingly for Alex, her spell isn’t working out the way she hoped. As they are about to crash with real subway trains, Alex attempts to magic them out of there.
Alex and Harper find themselves back at the restaurant; she did it. Except she didn’t – Justin was the one to return them and the subway car with his own magic. The subway car looks a little worse for wear, and as the parents come back home, the whole thing falls apart. Harper goes home, and Alex is ordered to pack for the family vacation; she’ll be going with them now as her punishment. To make matters worse, Alex’s mother bans all magic from this vacation, telling her kids to leave their wands and spell books at home.
On the way to their vacation in the Caribbean, Alex’s mother bores everyone with her stories about how her and their father met at this exact resort they are going to. When they finally arrive at the hotel, Alex wants nothing more than to escape her family. But she’s not allowed. It’s Forced Family Fun Time! In the day, they spend time at the beach and visit the historic sights, but by night, we learn that Justin brought the Family Wand to the vacation, and Alex still has the Book of Forbidden Spells, breaking the no-magic rule.
The next day, as they are at yet another historic sight, Alex tells her mother how bored and annoyed she is that nobody is asking what she wants to do. Her mother promises her they’ll go windsurfing next like Alex wanted. Alex, Justin, and Max then see a magician attempting tricks in front of a small crowd, but he isn’t very good. Max uses some basic “hand magic” to torment this magician and make him look useless. Their parents discover what they are doing and drag the three away. But the magician follows them. His name is Archie, and he asks if the family are wizards. They won’t reveal anything to him, but Archie says he was a wizard too once, but lost out at the Family Wizard Competition. Each wizard family must do this to decide which person in the family will be the Family Wizard; only one can keep their magic. What a rubbish rule. Archie’s parrot sidekick was also a wizard, named Giselle, who was turned into a parrot for misusing her powers. They plan to get their magic back – by finding the Stone of Dreams, a magical object that grants a wizard’s wish. Justin is intrigued but his father tells him he’s probably a con artist and that no-one knows where the Stone actually is, with tourists being sold fake maps to it all over the place.
Back at the resort, the family finally get to do windsurfing, which pleases Alex as she’s hoping to impress the instructor, Javier, with her mad skills. But she doesn’t have any, and Javier is too busy watching Justin who is a natural at windsurfing. This annoys Alex so she casts a spell on him, hoping to make him fall off. Justin manages to counter her spell using his wand, which makes him look even better. The only problem is he doesn’t know how to stop and he slams into Alex, who falls onto some kids’ sandcastle, destroying it.
Later, Javier invites Alex to a party on the beach. Alex asks her mother’s permission to let her go, but she refuses, saying he’s much too old for her and they don’t even know him. Alex tries to convince her mother using magic, but the spell wears off after only a few seconds. Alex then confronts Justin, knowing he was using the wand during his windsurfing lesson. Justin says he knows Alex still has the spell book. Alex confirms she does and that she needs the wand to cast a six-hour agreement spell on their parents. Justin doesn’t want to hand it over and says he’ll cast it himself, but Alex then reminds him that if he does that and gets caught, he’ll no longer be “the perfect son”. He hands the wand to Alex.
As Alex is about to cast the spell, Alex’s mother walks into her room and discovers that she’s been using magic. The two argue, and her mother walks away, with Alex angrily shouting “I wish you and Dad had never even met” at her departing back. Alex quickly realises something is wrong, and thinks she might have accidentally cast a different spell. Alex runs to find her mother. When she does, her mother thinks she’s the concierge. Alex then runs to Justin, who can’t find their father, and when he does, his father doesn’t have a clue who they are. They learn that Alex has messed up their timelines, so their mother and father haven’t met. They are just Jerry and Theresa now. They see that Jerry has magic, something he gave up when he met Theresa since wizards cannot keep their magic if they marry a mortal. The kids also see that Jerry has the Family Wand and the Book of Forbidden Spells. They try to steal it from him, but he notices. He isn’t angry though and is pleased to see some fellow wizards around. He talks to them about this spell and says that it probably needs to be reversed within 48 hours or the kids will lose their memories and vanish forever.
The next day, Justin and Alex decide they have to talk to Archie, the magician, about the Stone of Dreams as they need the wish to turn everything back to normal. Max is tasked with staying at the resort and ensuring that Jerry and Theresa don’t run off and marry someone else in the meantime. As Justin and Alex sit down with Archie to discuss his original, authentic map to the Stone, Jerry comes over and says he’s got that same map, having bought it from some store. Justin and Alex are about to leave, when Archie shows them an additional unique piece of the map. They head off to the first point.
At the edge of the forest, the map tells them that the path will reveal itself to one whose intentions are pure. Justin takes the lead but no path reveals itself. It does, however, reveal itself for Alex, this time making Justin jealous. They enter the forest along with Archie and Giselle the parrot. Back at the resort, Max tries to get Jerry to talk to Theresa. It works momentarily, and there is an attraction there, but Jerry states that he would never give up magic to be with a mortal. Getting their parents together might be harder than Max thought…
Eventually, Justin and Alex get to the edge of a mountain where the map instructs them to build a bridge of stones to get across to the other side. Justin does so with his wand, however, Alex shows him that his bridge is not as good as it looks, crumbling when she throws a pebble on to it. Alex instead uses a levitation spell with two boulders and Justin’s help to get across. This leaves Archie and Giselle on the other side, but there’s no time to help them; Alex and Justin go on ahead. Archie climbs down the mountain with Giselle.
The next morning, Alex and Justin are spooked by Archie and Giselle finding them. But it now means they can go on together again. Max is starting to get worried about Alex and Justin, and asks Jerry to help him find the Stone of Dreams, as well as Alex and Justin. Theresa overhears this and wants to help too, as she has information they might need to find it; she can also speak and read Spanish, to understand the map, which Max and Jerry can’t. They begrudgingly agree to let her come with them.
Justin, Alex, Archie, and Giselle continue their trek and are then told to find a cave, using “the one who knows the least” to lead the way. Alex attempts to communicate with some local farmers, but they think she’s crazy. Alex then comes across a little girl, who takes her to this cave. Archie lets Justin and Alex proceed into the dark cave alone.
They come to an area with a glowing stone within it. Half the floor of this room is missing. Balancing on breaking beams, with pillars crashing down, Justin makes his way over to the Stone. But it falls down a crack in the floor. Alex climbs down to reach it and manages to get it. Justin pulls her back up. As they are about to leave, the Stone is snatched from their hands by Giselle the parrot. Jerry, Theresa, and Max then arrive, and Alex gets excited thinking the spell has reversed. It hasn’t… Alex tries to tell them that Jerry and Theresa are married, and that she, Max, and Justin are their kids. This comes as a shock to Theresa who can’t wrap her head around it and heads back to their resort.
Jerry sticks around though and tries to help them find another way to reverse the spell. He finds something in his spell book, but it says only a full wizard can enact it. Max then begins to forget his life and is swallowed into a vortex. Jerry calls an emergency Wizard Competition for Alex and Justin. The two must compete to gain the wizard power before the other gets there, using only spells that relate to the four basic elements: water, air, fire, earth. Neither are particularly equipped for this contest and the power keeps flying around this make-shift arena. The two mostly just trip each other up as they fight to get to it first. Eventually, Alex, using a spell that transports her as a flower, gains the power – just as Justin begins to forget his life. Alex tearfully tries to get him to remember her, but he is sucked into a vortex, just like Max. Even with all this power, Alex doesn’t know how to reverse the spell, with all of her attempts not working.
But Theresa comes to save the day. She saw Archie and Giselle, now a human, at the resort. Giselle had the Stone of Dreams around her neck and Theresa confronted her. Archie did too, as Giselle now wants nothing more to do with him. Archie steals the Stone back and makes his wish to turn Giselle back into a parrot and then hands it over to Theresa. Theresa passes the Stone to Alex, so she can make her wish. She wishes for everything to go back to the way it was.
Alex then returns back to her room on that fateful day. Her mother comes in and is surprised to find this sudden outpouring of love from Alex, Max, and Justin, who are happy their parents are back together and that they remember who they are now. Alex also tells Justin that as she wished for everything to go back to the way it was, she no longer has the wizard powers and is not the Family Wizard. They’ll have to wait another day to do the competition for real. The Russos can now continue their family vacation in peace.
CHARACTERS & CAST
Alex Russo is the headstrong teenage daughter of Jerry and Theresa Russo, and the one the main series mostly revolves around. Though Alex loves being a wizard, she isn’t particularly careful or studious around learning magic, so she tends to act before she thinks. This is how her parents end up forgetting all about their children – because Alex was being impulsive and reactive as per usual. Alex also hates the fact Justin is considered to be the “perfect child”, having a good grasp of magic spells and having the motivation to study it properly. Well, if Alex weren’t quite so stubborn and didn’t feel like the whole world was against her, maybe she could’ve been given that title too – but that’s teenagers for you.
Alex Russo was played by Selena Gomez. She has a successful career in both music and acting, going back to her “Disney days”. As a singer, some of her earliest hits were “Love You Like a Love Song” and “Who Says”, with some more recent ones being “Wolves” and “Lose You to Love Me”. Around Gomez’ time acting on Disney Channel, she was cast in the DCOM Princess Protection Program (2009) and was cast in other teen movies such as Monte Carlo (2010), playing the leads of GraceAnn and Cordelia; and Ramona and Beezus (2010) as Beezus. In more recent years, Gomez was chosen to voice the character Mavis in the Hotel Transylvania film series and is currently starring as Mabel in the murder-mystery series Only Murders in the Building (2021-present) alongside Steve Martin and Martin Short. Gomez was also cast as Jessi Del Monte in the Oscar-tipped Emilia Pérez (2024). A documentary about Gomez detailing her struggles with her mental and physical health, titled Selena Gomez: My Mind & Me, was released in 2022.
Justin Russo is the most trusted Russo child. He’s very responsible – perhaps a little too much – and likes to stick to the rules his parents have set, although he will bend the rules slightly when it comes to magic. He wants to be the best, he is determined to become the Family Wizard, so when he’s told this is going to be a “magic-free” vacation, Justin doesn’t listen and takes the Family Wand away with him, whilst Alex does the same but with the Book of Forbidden Spells. If both of them had just listened to their parents, then that spell would never have happened. Just saying.
David Henrie was cast as Justin Russo. Some of his earlier acting roles include Luke Mosby in How I Met Your Mother (2005-14); Larry in That’s So Raven (2003-07); and Wheeze in the DCOM Dadnapped (2009). After Wizards of Waverly Place ended in 2012, Henrie then appeared as Frat Boy Zac in Grown Ups 2 (2013) and as Lane in Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 (2015). In more recent years, he directed and starred in the film This Is the Year (2020) as Sebastian; this film also credits Selena Gomez as an executive producer. Henrie was also cast as young Ronald Reagan in the movie Reagan (2024).
Rounding out the three Russo kids is Alex and Justin’s younger brother Max. Naturally, he is the furthest behind his siblings in terms of his magic ability, because of his younger age as well as his short attention span! Actually, in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Max’s magic seems to have improved, and he’s even asked by Justin and Alex to use a levitation spell to try and steal the wand and spell book from their father, Jerry, to find a way of reversing Alex’s spell. Max also uses his magic to mess with the magician that they see entertaining tourists; it’s a bit mean, but it was good magic. However, he is not trusted to go on the journey to find the Stone of Dreams by his brother and sister, instead being given the task of ensuring his parents don’t start flirting with other people…Max definitely got the short end of the stick there.
Jake T. Austin was cast as Max Russo. Prior to Wizards of Waverly Place, Austin voiced the character of Diego in the Dora the Explorer spin-off Go, Diego, Go! (2005-09) and voiced Nicky in The Ant Bully (2006). Around the time of Wizards of Waverly Place, he was cast as Bruce in Hotel for Dogs (2009) and as Chris in the DCOM Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board (2007). Austin went on to voice Fernando in Rio (2011) and its 2014 sequel, and appeared as Jesus Foster in the first two seasons of The Fosters (2013-18). He also played Huckleberry Finn in the live-action adaptation of the Mark Twain novels Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn (2014). In 2016, Austin competed in Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars.
Jerry and Theresa Russo are the parents of Max, Justin, and Alex. Jerry is a former wizard, having given up his magic to marry Theresa, a mortal, so he has been in charge of his children’s wizard training, as well as managing the family’s sub restaurant. Theresa is a cool mum, but she’s also quite strict, not allowing Alex to run off to parties or hang out with much older boys, in the case of the movie’s events – which might seem harsh but it’s really good parenting. After Alex’s spell goes awry, and Jerry and Theresa have no knowledge of each other or their kids, both of them become quite self-absorbed. They spend their time flirting with other hotel guests, with Jerry being kind of obnoxious as well. Whilst Jerry is willing to talk to the Russo kids as fellow wizards, Theresa doesn’t give the impression that she likes the kids at all initially, finding them a nuisance on her lovely vacation. But when Jerry and Theresa spend time together, influenced by Max, it’s clear that they were always destined to be together.
Jerry was played by David DeLuise, son of comedic actor Dom DeLuise, who voiced Fagin in Disney Animation’s Oliver & Company (1988). Early on in his career, David DeLuise appeared as Tony in an episode of Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993-94). I recently watched this back a few months ago for the first time in about twenty years, probably, as it was shown on Nickelodeon when I was younger, and I instantly recognised him! DeLuise also was cast in the recurring role of Bug Pollone in the sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996-2001) and then as Darren Warner in Season 1 of Jesse (1998-2000).
Maria Canals-Bareera was cast as Theresa Russo. Prior to Wizards of Waverly Place, she had voiced the character of Sunset Boulevardez in Disney’s animated series The Proud Family (2001-05). Now she voices the character in its reboot The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (2022-present). Also for Disney, she voiced the character of Paulina in Danny Phantom (2004-07) and was cast as Connie Torres, Mitchie’s mother, in Camp Rock (2008) and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010). Canals-Bareera won an Imagen Award for her performance as Theresa Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, in the category of Best Supporting Actress/Television.
All five of the Russo family were played by the actors from the Disney Channel series. Other than the family, there are few other characters in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie but two worth mentioning are Archie and Giselle. Archie is the magician who Max torments as he’s just trying to do his job, entertaining tourists to try and get some cash. The trouble is Archie isn’t a very good magician so it was only too easy for Max to mess with him. But this meant that Archie managed to find some real wizards on the island. Archie intends to find the Stone of Dreams to help Giselle turn human again, but he needs wizard help, which is why he tells Alex and Justin he knows how to find it. Archie is not the villain here; he is being motivated by his love for Giselle, but knows that the Stone of Dreams can grant more than one wish. Unfortunately, Giselle has her claws in him so deep – or should that be talons? – that she steals the Stone for herself and turns herself human, before casting Archie aside, having used him to get what she wanted. Archie then does the right thing and gives Theresa the Stone so Alex can save her family – but not before turning Giselle back into a parrot with his own wish. That’s karma for you!
Archie was played by Steve Valentine, who went on to appear in other Disney projects: as Mr. Moore in Avalon High (2010) and as Les Camembert in Teen Beach Movie (2013) in two Disney Channel Original Movies, and as Derek Jupiter in I’m in the Band (2009-11). Valentine also has a history in voice work, having voiced the character of Alistair in the Dragon Age series of games; Minister of Spring in Tinker Bell (2008) and its sequel Secret of the Wings (2012); as well as some characters in Jake and the Never Land Pirates (2011-16) and Mickey and the Roadster Racers (2017-21). More recently, Valentine played Dracula in Monster High: The Movie (2022) and its 2023 sequel. Human Giselle was played by Jennifer Alden, who played Christina Cleary in the comedy film Wedding Crashers (2005).
Finally, one other character to mention, who only appears at the beginning of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie is Alex Russo’s incredibly bubbly and positive friend, Harper. Reprising her role from the series is Jennifer Stone. Stone went on to star as Harriet in Harriet the Spy: Blog Wars (2010) and in Mean Girls 2 (2011) as Abby Hanover. After this, she was cast as The Babysitter in the horror-fantasy series Deadtime Stories (2012-14) for Nickelodeon. Most recently, Stone co-wrote and starred in the movie The In-Between, which premiered at the 2019 Twister Alley Film Festival in Oklahoma.
MUSIC
I was surprised to find there weren’t many songs at all Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, despite Selena Gomez’ singing talents.
It was disappointing, for a start, to not hear the original theme song, “Everything Is Not What It Seems”, at the start of the movie, not even an instrumental version of it.
Instead, as the opening song, we hear a section of “Magic” performed by the band Honor Society; the song was originally performed by the rock band The Cars in 1984. I don’t mind it as a song, but I would’ve preferred to have heard the theme song in some form. Around the time of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, in 2009, Honor Society were performing as an opening act for the Jonas Brothers World Tour.
Next, the song “Magic Carpet Ride” performed by KSM plays during a montage of some of the activities that the Russos do early on their vacation, like sightseeing and snorkelling, as Alex frowns and generally looks annoyed at this attempt at family fun! This song is quite nice; it’s a pop version of the original song “Magic Carpet Ride” by the rock band Steppenwolf in 1968. KSM had been one of the opening acts for The Cheetah Girls – One World Tour in 2008; Demi Lovato: Live in Concert in 2009; and even for Honor Society’s Full Moon Crazy Tour in 2009 around this time.
The End Credits song, “Magic”, is a cover by Selena Gomez of the song “Magic” performed by Scottish band Pilot back in 1974. It makes sense to have a song titled “Magic” be used in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, but as much as I like Selena Gomez and her music, honestly, I prefer the original in this case.
All three of these songs can be found on the Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack, along with others that featured in the series or were inspired by the series. Other artists on this soundtrack include Raven-Symoné, Mitchel Musso, and Aly & AJ. As expected, all the songs have something to do with magic.
The score for Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was composed by Kenneth Burgomaster, who also composed the music for the Wizards of Waverly Place 2013 TV special The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex. He had previously composed the score for the Disney Channel movie Halloweentown High (2004) and its sequel Return to Halloweentown (2006), and was credited as the composer on the series Jonas (2009-10).
PRODUCTION
The history of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie begins with the series itself, created by Todd J. Greenwald, which began airing on 12th October 2007, right after the DCOM premiere of Twitches Too (2007).
Disney Channel had released very popular comedy series aimed at children and tweens throughout the 2000s, with shows such as The Suite Life of Zack & Cody (2005-08) and Hannah Montana (2006-11) preceding Wizards of Waverly Place.
Disney Channel aired two seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place prior to the movie being released, with two more seasons following on from it. However, there is some discussion about where the events of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie fit within the overall series. Given the Russos are on a family vacation, it is assumed that this takes place during the summer. But within Season 2 of the series, a four-episode storyline, titled “Wizards vs. Vampires”, apparently takes place in autumn, after a new school year has already started; Season 2 finished airing before Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie even premiered. If you want to try and stick as close as possible to chronological events when watching the show back, many suggest watching Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie before finishing Season 2 of the series, aiming to watch the movie before any of the “Wizards vs. Vampires” episodes. It’s not entirely clear or obvious where the movie fits within Season 2 though, so you can just watch the movie in between Seasons 2 and 3, as events from the movie are referenced within Season 3.
The screenwriter for Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was Dan Berendsen, who had written for numerous Disney Channel Original Movies prior to working on this film. His previous writing credits include working on Twitches (2005) and its 2007 sequel; Stuck in the Suburbs (2004); Eddie’s Million Dollar Cook-Off (2003); and Halloweentown High (2004). After working on Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, Berendsen co-wrote for the Disney Channel’s musical sequel Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam (2010).
Wizards of Waverly Place the series, despite its title, was not filmed in the Waverly Place area of Greenwich Village in New York City, but was filmed in Toronto, Canada. It is meant to be set in that location though. The early scenes within Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie also were shot in Toronto, as the same set of the sub restaurant is used here.
The rest of Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was filmed in Puerto Rico. Princess Protection Program (2009), another DCOM featuring Selena Gomez, along with her Disney bestie at the time, Demi Lovato, was also filmed in Puerto Rico. The hotel scenes were shot at the Caribe Hilton Resort. For some of the more action-filled shots, the emergency Family Wizard competition is held at Castillo San Felipe del Morro in Old San Juan, with the cave that holds the Stone of Dreams being Cueva Ventana in Arecibo. Puerto Rico was also the filming location for other movies. Another DCOM that used the beaches of Puerto Rico for some of its scenes was Teen Beach Movie (2013), as well as its 2015 sequel. Big blockbuster hits such as Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022); James Bond: GoldenEye (1995); Fast Five (2011); and 22 Jump Street (2014) were partially filmed there too[1].
Director Lev L. Spiro loved how they had managed to use a lot of the natural environments of Puerto Rico in their movie, using not only the beach and historical locations, but also the rainforests, which worked well to give Alex and Justin’s quest for the Stone of Dreams some grandeur and a sense of adventure. Spiro had previously directed the DCOM Minutemen (2008) and some episodes of the Disney Channel series Jonas (2009-10). More recently, he directed some episodes of UnReal (2015-18) and Insatiable (2018-19).
To add to this quest, special and visual effects were also used. For the levitating stone “bridge” that Alex and Justin use to get across the two cliff edges, Selena Gomez and David Henrie were jumping across two fake boulders on a golf course, with “movie magic” being used later to make it seem like the rocks were actually floating. Walls of fire, vortexes, and bottomless pits were also created to give a real sense of danger to the mission. It’s also worth noting the effects used in the runaway subway car scene that takes place at the start of the movie whilst the Russos are still in New York.
More gentle actions scenes were also shot, including scenes of windsurfing. Justin is supposed to be struggling against the waves during this scene, however, his scenes were shot on the beach and not in the water, so David Henrie had to pretend to be windsurfing whilst someone threw water in his face. Sounds fun… But the actors were also given proper windsurfing lessons so acting clearly isn’t all bad.
Animal actors were also used here, in the form of macaws. Apparently, there were four different parrots used in total, though Ruby was the friendliest one. Steve Valentine, the actor playing Archie, joked that they had to have four because Ruby needed two stand-ins and a stunt parrot. Though Ruby supposedly liked to snuggle into people’s necks, Selena Gomez and Ruby seemingly did not get on as well as Gomez would’ve hoped; she said the bird freaked her out a bit[2].
RECEPTION
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie premiered on 28th August 2009 on Disney Channel. It did air at a later date on some international channels, but in the US, Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie’s summer vacation setting fit well with the US school summer vacation.
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was popular with its target audience and if you already liked the series, the movie was a good extension of it; a feature-length episode set in an exotic location. I liked the fact the Russos went to the Caribbean, instead of just ending up in a European city as so many other American movies do, like going to Paris, or Rome, or Barcelona. Many viewers liked how the movie allowed for some deeper character development. It also allowed for some deeper moments, like when Alex fears she is all alone in the world, without her parents, without her brothers, with no clue how to bring them back; that part actually made me tear up a bit. Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was seen to be superior to Hannah Montana: The Movie (2009) which had managed to gain itself a theatrical release in April 2009, just a few months earlier, so some were disappointed that Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie did not get the same treatment.
However, as usual, there were some negative comments. The fact that the movie was seen to be a rip-off of Back to the Future, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones was mentioned frequently. It is unlikely this comment came from the target audience of children and teens who previously liked the series though. I don’t think I would’ve accused anything of being a rip-off of anything when I was “Disney Channel” age; I didn’t have the wealth of film experience or knowledge when I was that young. I see the point here, that the magical elements link back to Harry Potter; the quest feels a bit like Indiana Jones; and making your parents accidentally never meet, threatening your entire existence, is the plot of Back to the Future, but this sort of thing doesn’t bother me. I just think “oh, I see where they got that idea from” and move on with my life.
Continuing with some of the less positive reviews, the visual effects were criticised, despite this being a television movie, and the message about loving your parents was seen to be preachy, which it probably wouldn’t have been if you were the right age when you watched it. Something I did agree with though was that there were few additional characters in the movie, beside the five Russo family members. It was really only Archie the magician who got much screen time. He had enough screen presence to be a really good character, but it might have been nice to see a few other new characters as well, just to liven it up a bit.
Really, I think if you are a fan of the series, you’ll like the movie. I was a half-fan of the series, I guess, when I was younger, so I was happy enough watching the film.
Following on from the premiere and the usual second, third, fourth showings of the film, a “What’s What” Edition, where movie facts are displayed on screen during the movie, was released in October 2009. The Extended Edition DVD was then released in December 2009 in the US. Extended edition DVDs were common for DCOMs around this time, although normally they’d feature an unseen song. In this case, with a non-musical movie, the DVD contained a previously cut scene. It showed Alex, Justin, and Max attempting to use magic to get their parents back together, but the spells go wrong, with Theresa and Jerry magically swapping clothes; Jerry turning into a shark; and them turning into kids. It certainly didn’t add anything to the storyline for me, and seemed like a forced comedic scene.
Around 11.4 million viewers were said to have tuned in to the new DCOM on its premiere date, making it the second-most-viewed DCOM film premiere after High School Musical 2 (2007). Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie went on to win the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program in 2010.
LEGACY
As I’ve previously mentioned, four seasons of Wizards of Waverly Place aired on Disney Channel during its run from 2007 to 2012. Two of these seasons aired before Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie, and two afterwards.
Season 4 ended in January 2012, finishing with a two-part finale, which tied up the overall series story of finding out who would become the Family Wizard. The wizard competition that features in Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie was only held in an emergency situation, so the result of Alex winning did not mean anything for the overall series. She wanted things to go back to how they were, so it was like the whole event had never even happened. So, in “Who Will Be the Family Wizard?”, the real result was revealed to the world. The two-part finale averaged just under 9.8 million viewers[3].
I won’t give spoilers, just in case but also because it’s not relevant here, but me being a half-fan of the series, I had clearly forgotten all about Wizards of Waverly Place at some point in my life and only realised when I was watching the movie that I hadn’t even watched the finale to find out who became the real Family Wizard, so I only watched it this week.
After Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie aired in 2009, a sequel movie was apparently in discussion from 2010, probably because of its amazing viewing figures. It never happened, however, the television special “The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex” premiered on the channel on 15th March 2013. All of the Russo family actors, except David Henri, as well as the actors who played Harper and Mason, Alex’s boyfriend from Season 3 onwards, returned to reprise their characters. It saw them all go on vacation to Tuscany for a family reunion, with Alex accidentally creating an evil version of herself which runs amok and tries to destroy her family and friends. “Alex vs. Alex” drew in 5.9 million viewers, which was less than the series’ finale and nowhere close to the number that watched Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie. It did, however, receive more views than some of the then-new Disney Channel Original Movies, like Girl vs. Monster (2012) with 4.9 million, and Let It Shine with 5.7 million (2012)[4]. “Alex vs. Alex” is not classed as an official DCOM though.
After “Alex vs. Alex”, Wizards of Waverly Place was believed to have fully finished. However, on 18th January 2024, it was first announced that a pilot episode for a reboot was being filmed. In March 2024, it was confirmed that a full season of the show would be airing. Named Wizards Beyond Waverly Place, it was soon revealed that the plot would follow Alex bringing a young wizard to her brother, Justin, to train her. Justin Russo had been leading a normal mortal life with his family up until this point. Other members of the Russo family will be returning to the series; however, it is unclear how many episodes they will be in[5]. Two episodes are due to premiere on Disney Channel on 29th October 2024, with two more coming the day after. The first eight episodes will be available on Disney+ on 30th October[6].
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie felt both familiar and different to me. As I hadn’t kept up with the series whilst it was on, it was nice to see the Russo family again by watching the movie fifteen years after it had first aired.
It did what movies based on television series should do: it provided fans with a chance to see their favourite characters cope with a new environment whilst dealing with a more perilous, troubling situation than they might normally face in a regular episode. Overall, it was a pretty good movie and I know fans of the show will have liked it.
As Wizards of Waverly Place had been a popular sitcom for Disney, winning Primetime Emmy awards in 2009 and 2012 for Outstanding Children’s Program, amongst other awards including Kids’ Choice Awards and Teen Choice Awards, it makes good business sense for a reboot to be commissioned for Disney+, as a way of bringing new content to the platform, as well as allowing former fans of the series to revisit the Russo family years after the events of the original series. New viewers can also be introduced to it.
Time will tell if this new series is as bewitching as the original.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Discover Puerto Rico, ‘Seeing is Believing: Experience Film Locations in Puerto Rico’, DiscoverPuertoRico.com, date unknown.
[2] Credit: Disney, ‘Wizards of Waverly Place – The Movie: Extended Edition 2009 DVD Overview’, Diamond Boy’s Disney DVD Overviews YouTube Channel, 31st January 2024.
[3] Credit: Mike Reynolds, ‘‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ Finale Conjures 9.8 Million Viewers’, NextTV.com, 10th January 2012.
[4] Credit: Nellie Andreeva, ‘Disney Channel’s New ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’ TV Movie Draws 5.9 Million Viewers’, Deadline.com, 16th March 2013.
[5] Credit: Briannah Rivera, ‘What We Know About the Wizards of Waverly Place Reboot So Far’, Elle.com, 31st August 2024.
[6] Credit: Disney, ‘‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’ Premieres October 29 on Disney Channel, Next Day on Disney+’. TheWaltDisneyCompany.com, 29th August 2024.
The Disney Purist 