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 Everything is not what it seems...
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Wizards of Waverly Place is an American fantasy teen sitcom which ran from October 12, 2007 to January 6, 2012 on Disney Channel. The series was created by Todd J. Greenwald. Twelve years after Wizards of Waverly Place's cancellation, a reboot named Wizards Beyond Waverly Place was announced in March 2024 which premiered on October 29th 2024.
Plot
Alex Russo and her brothers Justin and Max come from a long line of wizards and now must master their newly learned powers or lose them forever. Their dad, Jerry, gave up his powers when he married their mortal mom. The family business is Waverly Sub Station in busy Manhattan, and the three young wizards get into all sorts of crazy situations as they grow up facing typical teen challenges like school, friends, family and magic.
Why It Magically Rocks
- Great acting, most notably from Selena Gomez, Jake T. Austin and David Henrie.
- Memorable and likable characters such as: The Russo Family (most of the time), Harper and Mason.
- Unique and interesting concept about a family wizard with unique powers.
- It promotes cultural diversity and often uses accurate representations of Latin culture.
- Great chemistry between the characters, especially the intense brother-sister relationship between Alex and Justin.
- The spells are very creative and unique.
- The plots are very inventive and exciting.
- The character development is great
- Most of the special effects are convincing and look great.
- Memorable soundtrack, especially the theme song.
- Teaches awesome lessons, such as "like who you are" and "stick up for your family".
- It spawned great four TV Specials/Movies such as: Wizards of Waverly Place: Wizard School, Wizards on Deck with Hannah Montana (The crossover with Hannah Montana and The Suite Life on Deck), Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie and The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex (Which serves as a great finale to the series)
- The series finale, Who Will Be the Family Wizard is a decent way to end the series (even if has its share of issues).
Bad Qualities
- Some of the CGI effects are terrible, such as the zit or the trophy statuette that Alex brings to life in "Pop Me and We Both Go Down".
- Everyone in the Russo family has their share of unlikable moments over the course of the series.
- Alex is the most constant target for this due to occasionally mistreating Harper, and tending to show complete apathy over others' suffering. Not to mention she's a terrible role model for the viewers, especially in the later seasons.
- Justin would occasionally have his own mean streak, and has some suffer jerkish moments of being an insufferable know-it-all, despite supposedly being the "responsible" sibling. This is especially the case in episodes like "Wizard of the Year", "Alex's Logo", "Justin's Back In" and "Who will be the Family Wizard?".
- Max is a controversial character due to his presence causing some tonal change, and often not being very relevant, also he doesn't get better during Season 4.
- Not even the parents, Theresa and Jerry, are safe from this, considering their less than stellar parenting skills with Alex and (to a lesser extent) Max, and clear favoritism towards Justin.
- With Alex, they're either unnecessarily controlling or give her no guidance, only lashing out when she screws up. While her screw-ups would make most parents angry, they don't seem to consider their hands-off approach with her is why she looks for shortcuts in everything when they didn't do the same to Justin and he turned out much better.
- This is another reason why "Alex's Logo" is so despised by fans. In that episode Alex received the Citizenship Award, but then said hurtful things towards everyone because Justin put a truth spell on her but deliberately didn't take it off, which in turn caused the whole student body to hate and ignore her. Not only did they not try to stop Alex from saying all that stuff or console Alex after she does, or even punish Justin for what he did, despite having full permission to, Theresa's "advice" she gave Alex to help her in this situation -- which basically amounts to gloating about how popular she was in school, and telling Alex to find a popular girl to help her out-- isn’t just stupid, it’s also self-centered. Mother of the year, ladies and gentleman!
- With Max, they just brush off his lack of intelligence as a mild quirk, even when it gets to the age when they should start being concerned. In "Western Snow", where Laritate leaves, Jerry is actually angry that Max is starting to shape up with the superintendent in charge.
- With Alex, they're either unnecessarily controlling or give her no guidance, only lashing out when she screws up. While her screw-ups would make most parents angry, they don't seem to consider their hands-off approach with her is why she looks for shortcuts in everything when they didn't do the same to Justin and he turned out much better.
- Stevie Nichols from Season 3 is a wasted character with great potential, due to also being a rebellious, mischievous teenage wizard like Alex, and eventually being revealed to have lost the Wizard Competition and ran away due to not wanting to give up her powers. And yet despite this, and her reasonably wanting to destroy the Wizard Competition so wizards wouldn't have to give their powers up, the show tries to portray Stevie as an unambiguous villain for essentially trying to fight against a corrupt system --especially since it had been established up to that point that the Wizard Competition had torn numerous wizard families, including the Jerry Russo and his siblings -- so painting her as the so-called "bad guy" is not only uncalled for, it's tasteless. If there was a specific reason that establishes why the competition had to remain intact, that would be a different story, but that never happens
- On top of that, Stevie's "accidently" killed by the Russo siblings (as in, turned into a statue, and then shattered into pieces) at the end of her arc, and nobody show any concern over killing a teenage girl, and fellow student. Again, Stevie didn't deserve that due to her good intentions, and it makes Alex, Justin, Max, Harper, and even Warren (Stevie's brother) come across as callous and sadistic.
- A surprisingly large number of plot holes and inconsistencies.
- In "First Kiss", Alex reversed time so Justin could have a perfect first kiss with his crush, Miranda. It seems like Miranda and Justin are a couple by the end of that episode, but in a later episode, "Pop Me and We Both Go Down", Miranda is introduced as the hot new girl that is assigned to be Justin’s lab partner who Justin then asks to prom. This doesn’t make sense because how could Justin and Miranda just met if they were dating just a few episodes ago?
- In "Movies", Zeke is first introduced as Zeke Rosenblatt, Justin’s smart and energetic friend who is at least a couple of grades above Justin. However, when Zeke appears in "Report Card", his name is suddenly Zeke Beakerman and he suddenly becomes the same age as Justin as seen when Justin and Zeke both graduate together.
- There’s clearly an age difference of a couple of years between Justin and Alex, but the show seems to forget that sometimes. In "Wizard School Part I" and "Alex Russo, Matchmaker?", Justin and Alex are in the same class, which really doesn’t make any sense as Justin’s very smart and would probably be in advanced classes whereas Alex hates school.
- In "Art Teacher," Jerry teaches his kids about "undo dust", magic dust that undoes a spell when a wizard forgets to reverse it. While the powder's used in that episode, it's never used, seen or even mentioned again, despite the fact that it could have gotten the Russos out of a lot of jams (i.e.: causing their dad to transform into a bug in "Dad's Buggin' Out", or turning Max into a little girl during season 4)
- The show's made it clear several times that wizards need to keep magic a secret from mortals, and yet the Russo kids often perform spells in public around lots of people. Not only that, there are a several episodes like "Alex’s Choice" where under the truth spell, Alex admits she’s a wizard to her classmates at a tea party, "Back to Max" where Maxine and Professor Crum are both magically reverted back to their real ages in front of lots of people or "Harper Knows" where Alex confesses to her best friend and mortal, Harper that she’s a wizard.
- The one time there are consequences for exposing magic is in "Wizards Exposed" (the season 3 finale) and "Alex Tells the World" (the season 4 premiere) when Justin and Alex expose the wizarding world because they believe the world is under attack or that their wizard friends are being held against their will by the government. But then it's revealed it was all a fake situation created to test the Russo siblings. It feels hypocritical that during all the times the Russo family actually expose magic they never get never punished but when they are pressured under terrifying circumstances in a test, Justin and Alex are forced to start at level one in their family’s wizard competition.
- In "Beware Wolf," Justin starts dating Isabella, a girl he met online who turns out to be a werewolf who basically acts like a dog by drinking water with her tongue and grabbing a frisbee with her mouth. Then, when she kisses Justin, he turns into a werewolf too. However, later in the series, we are introduced to Alex’s new love interest, Mason, who turns out to be a werewolf as well but acts nothing like Isabella. While Mason explains that he is nothing like Isabella because he’s a purebred wolf and she’s a mutt, this explanation feels a little weak. It just feels a little far-fetched as it is so easy for Mason to get angry and lose control in "Alex Gives Up" and how in "Meet the Werewolves", Mason and his family love looking for the squeaky bone toy every year at the Autumn Moon Feast. Also, in "Wizards vs. Werewolves," we learn that Justin’s vampire girlfriend, Juliet, used to date Mason. While vampires do not age, it is never explained why Mason, 300 years later, still looks the exact same.
- In "Wizards vs. Werewolves," Juliet is scratched by Mason, causing her to lose her vampire powers and turn into an old woman. She decides to leave Justin and hobble off into the woods, leaving Justin heartbroken. Then in "Wizards vs. Everything," Juliet comes back and looks young again. Despite being under Gorog’s dark mind control and trying to get Justin to join the dark side, Gorog is eventually defeated and Justin and Juliet end up getting back together. However, it is never explained how Gorog knew about Justin and Juliet’s relationship or how he turned Juliet back into a young woman.
- Considering he does well in school and is involved in lots of extracurricular activities like Student Council and Alien Language League, it's stranger that Justin or even his friend Zeke, wouldn’t go to college. In "Delinquent Justin," Alex explains that four years ago, she made a duplicate of Justin and sent him away to college so that way Justin wouldn’t have to go. Even at the end of the episode when Justin decides to go to medical school instead, we never actually see him pursue that. It just seems unlikely that someone as smart as Justin wouldn’t pursue post-secondary education in any way.
- In "Wizards vs. Asteroid," Alex’s principal, Mr. Laritate, tells Alex that she doesn’t have enough credits to graduate. By the end of the episode though, she ends up graduating because a small asteroid hit her school and destroyed all her documents. It seems weird and unlikely that this is the only reason she’s allowed to graduate. Also, in "Wizards of Apartment 13B," Alex and Harper move out into an apartment of their own. But as they aren’t in college and don’t have a well-paying jobs, it just seems weird that they look for an apartment. While they try to raise money by putting on puppets shows in "Alex the Puppetmaster" and try to get another roommate to help with the rent in "Ghost Roommate," it still just doesn’t seem like they would have enough money.
- In the made-for-TV film, Justin and Alex have a family competition to save Max and themselves, and said competition takes place on an old battlefield of ruins and Justin and Alex are only allowed to use the four elements of fire, water, earth and air against their opponent, making all of their intense training for years useless. Yet somehow in the finale of the TV show, the competition is completely different: from game show trivia rounds, a potion-making round and a maze round. Plus, the show throws in some curves balls like the level system seen in "Alex tells the world" or Justin’s opportunity to do an independent study in "Monster Hunter." Plus, in "The Good, the Bad, and the Alex," it is revealed that Stevie is a wizard and after her brother won their family’s wizard competition, she leaves the Hall of Transfers before he could become a full wizard. However, both in the movie and in the series finale, the Russo siblings get their full wizard powers right on the spot without ever having to go the Hall of Transfers.
- There are quite a bit of bad episodes such as:
Reception
Wizards of Waverly Place was a highly successful Disney Channel show that garnered widespread acclaim for its unique mix of magic, humor, and family dynamics. Starring Selena Gomez, David Henrie, and Jake T. Austin, the series followed three wizard siblings navigating everyday life while learning magic, with Gomez's portrayal of Alex Russo praised for her comedic timing and rebellious charm. The show resonated with both kids and older audiences, becoming a fan favorite and winning multiple awards, including two Primetime Emmys. Its series finale drew over 9.8 million viewers, solidifying its place as one of Disney's most iconic shows. Wizards also made a cultural impact with its diverse representation and remains beloved by fans on streaming platforms today.
It received 6.9/10 on imdb.
Trivia
- Some of the spells are created by using the names of the producers. (E.g. Murrieta Animata is Peter Murrieta, Executive Producer.)
- The show was originally called "The Amazing Hannigans," then it was changed to "The Amazing O'Malleys," then it was changed to "Wizards of Waverly Place," then to "Disney's Wizards," and finally back to "Wizards of Waverly Place."
- Selena Gomez's character was originally named Brooke O'Malley.
- David Henrie wrote some episodes.
- The part of Professor Crumbs was the last on screen role for Ian Abercrombie who died shortly after the airing of the series finale.
- Selena Gomez and David Henrie dated for a while during the show's run, but they felt it was too awkward, so they called it quits.
- The hardware store is called Greenwald's Hardware, which is a reference to creator Todd J. Greenwald.
- The show was originally going to take place in Ireland.
- Every Disney Channel movie based on a TV show (excluding Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension) had the characters on vacation, including the Wizards of Waverly Place movie.
- The show was so successful that the show earned an Malaysian adaptation called Wizards of Warna Walk.
- The older wiki Terrible TV Shows & Episodes stated that the fourth season was bad, this has now been fixed.
- Selena Gomez & David Henrie Reunite are returning for ‘Wizards Of Waverly Place’ Sequel Pilot For Disney Channel.
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