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Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

Family · TV Movie · Comedy · 2009

During a family vacation, Alex, a young witch, accidentally casts a curse on her loved ones. To reverse this, she tries to find a magical stone while her brother tries to keep their parents together.

Movie details

Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie

“Family vacations can be tricky.”

2009 Family · TV Movie · Comedy 1h 34m

Critical arithmetic

The consensus, allegedly.

IMDb

6.2 / 10

23.5K votes

TMDB

7.3 / 10

Community rating

External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.

During a family vacation, Alex, a young witch, accidentally casts a curse on her loved ones. To reverse this, she tries to find a magical stone while her brother tries to keep their parents together.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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The Wizards Return: Alex vs. Alex

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While trying to prove to her family she can be mature and responsible, teen wizard Alex Russo conjures up a spell to rid herself of her bad qualities, unintentionally creating a Good and Evil Alex. When Evil Alex gets involved in a plan to take over the world by a dark wizard, Good Alex must find a way to save her family, humankind, and ultimately herself in an epic Good vs. Evil battle.

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Where it lives

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Lev L. Spiro

Written by

Dan Berendsen

Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez

Alex Russo

David Henrie

David Henrie

Justin Russo

Jake T. Austin

Jake T. Austin

Max Russo

Maria Canals-Barrera

Maria Canals-Barrera

Theresa Russo

David DeLuise

David DeLuise

Jerry Russo

Steve Valentine

Steve Valentine

Archie

Jennifer Alden

Jennifer Alden

Giselle

Court is in session

Put Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.