To us oldsters, it may seem like having a sequel reboot series for Wizards Of Waverly Place may feel strange because it seems like that series just ended. But it actually ended 12 years ago, and its breakout star, Selena Gomez, is now keeping company with comedy legends like Steve Martin and Martin Short. So the idea that she and fellow Wizards co-star David Henrie being the executive producers of a sequel series where she’s a grown-up wizard and he’s a mortal dad of two who gave up conjuring makes for an interesting watch.
WIZARDS BEYOND WAVERLY PLACE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: A shot of the Staten Island Ferry to establish that, well, the Russo family lives on Staten Island.
The Gist: Milo Russo (Max Matenko) scares the daylights out of his high-strung older brother Roman (Alkaio Thiele) by sneaking up on him while wearing a monster mask. Milo insists there is a monster in the closet, while Roman says there’s no such thing. As Roman goes to their parents to request his own room, girl Roman’s age pops out of the mirror. Her name is Billie (Janice LeAnn Brown), and she says she’s a wizard. Milo tells Roman and of course his older brother is skeptical.
The boys’ dad, Justin (David Henrie) is excited to celebrate his 34th birthday, and his wife (and the boys’ mom) Giada (Mimi Gianopulos) tells her she has a surprise for him. Then Billie rings the doorbell, chagrined that she has to walk through a door like a mortal. She’s trailed by Justin’s younger sister Alex (Selena Gomez).
While Justin is no longer in the wizarding business — Giada and the boys don’t even know about his past — but Alex is still conjuring. In fact, she’s a part of the ruling tribunal, and they’re trying to figure out what to do about Billie. She’s a really powerful wizard, but undisciplined. She was kicked out of WizTech, and Alex thinks that Justin is the best person to mentor her.
But Justin hasn’t taught any wizardry since he was booted from WizTech and became a school principal on Staten Island, and he’s not about to start. But when Billie unleashes a floogie in the Russo house as a way to show Roman that monsters exist, but then can’t get rid of it, it’s up to Alex and Justin to find it and banish it from the house. That is, if the floogie doesn’t freeze everyone first.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is a sequel series to the 2007-12 Disney Channel kidcom Wizards Of Waverly Place.
Our Take: Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas created the spinoff series, with Gomez and Henrie on board as executive producers; they capture the silliness and family vibe of the original Wizards Of Waverly Place, but there were a few things we noticed as we watched the show’s first episode.
One of the things we noticed is that it felt that Gomez was acting in a different sitcom than the rest of the cast. Yes, Gomez first came to most people’s attention through the original Wizards, but it seems that her comedic timing has been refined over the four seasons of being in the presence of Steve Martin and Martin Short on Only Murders In The Building. Not one of her reactions was over the top, they were much more subtle in nature and pretty darn funny because of it.
Everyone else in the cast, including Wizards vet Henrie, were acting like they were in a sitcom for kids. That’s not a bad thing, because the Wizards franchise is for kids. We fully expect to see things like Thiele, who plays Roman, react with voice cracks and exaggerated, almost bug-eyed reactions, and for Henrie and Gianopulos to be amiably goofy as the parents. But we love that Gomez brings her more nuanced take on adult Alex to balance things out, and we hope that she pops up a few more times during the show’s first season.
The show is mainly going to be about Billie fitting into the mortal world, how she might be the key to saving the entirety of human experience, and how Justin teaches her to harness her power. But it’s also going to be a nostalgia trip for fans of the original series, with Maria Canals-Barrera, David DeLuise and Jake T. Austin also reprising their roles from the first series. So both aspects should be able to rope in the young Millennials and older Gen Zers who grew up with the show, as well as the Alpha kids who are just looking for goofy physical comedy and silly-looking monsters.
What Age Group Is This For?: Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is appropriate for all ages.
Parting Shot: Justin and Bobbie get started studying in the old lair where he and Alex studied wizardry.
Sleeper Star: The VFX team who created the floogie did a nice job of making it cute and creepy at first, then scary-but-not-really later on.
Most Pilot-y Line: “This is not a laughing matter! Ugh, you make me sound like my mother,” says Alex to Billie.
Our Call: STREAM IT. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place will give the adults who were fans of the original series the proper nostalgia hit, but it also has more than enough laughs for the kids who are entering this world for the first time.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.
The post Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’ On Disney+, A Sequel To The Kidcom That Gave Selena Gomez Her Start appeared first on Decider.
