Wizards of Waverly Place: How a Sitcom Ends 

RU-vid's copyright system auto-flagged the theme a month later. He's the original opening of this video. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-A1AvCmul2ro.html I made a slightly goofier-than-usual error at then end of the movie. Alex is NOT a full wizard at the end. There's two lines of dialogue in the last minute where Justin realizes Alex surrendered her full powers and Alex says she wanted everything to go back to normal. I completely missed that. I'd edit it out, but then I think the video would re-check for copyright and get claimed again. However, I don't think I properly explained the thing about Alex looking out the window. I'm correct. Geographically, the Window Alex should be looking out is the "4th" wall; a window that doesn't exist. Then, it cuts to her looking out the window of the exact opposite wall. They filmed her looking out the left window (our left), because the right most likely doesn't have an outside part built. (It's never shown in any episode). They absolutely filmed her on one of the left two windows, then showed her looking out the opposite window that the exterior shot showed her looking through. But I've never ever made any other error of any sort at any point in my life, ever.

Max calling Alex mija because he doesn’t speak Spanish but knows Theresa calls her mija is genuinely kinda cute

Wait so Uncle kelbo used his powers to become shakira. In the movie Jerry never gives up his powers, in that weird timeline does shakira not exist?

max's "mom!" while bring physically carried away by his siblings when he realizes his mom doesn't recognize him in the wizards movie breaks my heart every time i hear it

I’d be so incredibly mad if I were Max. It seems like the “only one wizard per family” rule is just 100% flexible and can be changed at any time and yet here he is… the *only* child stripped of his magic and having to run a sandwich shop as a teen.

You know Mason's family being racist make a ton of sense when you consider that he mentioned he was a purebred and not a mutt, his family probably takes pride in that

It’s really weird that the show made a whole point about how Wizard tournaments tear families apart, but then says the person trying to get rid of them is evil

Laritate being the principal while teaching like 4 classes in New York is honestly more impressive than any magic they do in the show

56:14 As a kid I actually got to see this episode taped live (my mom is friends with David Deluise) and there was a cut take of them banging their heads on the pipe walking down stairs and the prop actually broke and fell in Justin's hands leading to the AMAZING improv interaction of: Justin: Shouldn't there be water flowing through these? Jerry: We really need to get that checked out.

I need a movie where Alex, Justin and Max finally realize that the “one wizard per family” rule is wrong and start a mission to overthrow the corrupt wizarding government

Max having a secret girlfriend was a perfect but underwhelming idea. He said he didn’t want someone to compare him to Alex and Justin. Because he feels he can’t live up to being as rebellious as Alex and as responsible as Justin. It’s more proof why the wizard competition shouldn’t exist, Max always deserved better

Jennifer & David's podcast revealed why S4 was different: Just had an interview with Peter Murrietta, who was the major voice of the show and would constantly push back against Disney executives, was the showrunner for S1-3, and was fired after S3 and has to this day not seen anything of S4 at all. He reveals what his ending would have been: Alex wins the wizard competition, but gives the power to Justin to be with Mason and then pan out to reveal Harper's reading it as a story to some kids. They've mentioned this also a couple times that the movie had a horrible first script with characters not being consistent at all and Peter is the one that helped revise the script so the right characters said the right things.

One of the funniest scenes in the whole show is when max says "is it family picture day" while everyone is dressed like Shakira then turns into a trash can and gerry says "ok I have no idea what's going on here."

In an early episode, Jerry said that the reason he was so strict about magic was because he didn't want the kids to become overly reliant on it, since 2/3 of them would lose it, and there was no sure way to know who it would be. So it makes sense that a Jerry who didn't lose his magic, and has no kids to worry about, wouldn't be so concerned, since it's not his problem

I know the creator hated it, but Shakira being Kelbo is a legitimately hilarious idea and a great way to use your guest star. For one, if you only have them for a limited time, it means you can write an in story reason why they aren't currently around (Kelbo tunred back, etc.), but it's also a fun way to make them feel like part of the universe and not just a contrived cameo.

I remember I actually had a headcanon for the wands vs hands thing as a kid. I decided that spells cast with wands were stronger than without, and some spells just needed the stronger magic to use. Which means I put more thought into this show's lore as a ten year old than the writers did. I love it

the amount of times hes said "im sure alex will never use magic irresponsibly again" is hilarious especially after the first 2 seasons and after the movie

cant belive u never took a moment to appreciate how incredibly funny the "shakira was made up by their weird uncle shape-shifting" plotline is like thats insane, top tier concept

The fact that Frankengirl was all adorably like "hi daddy" to Justin, because she was literally his innocent daughter and barely a few days old, before they condemned her to monster jail forever is so evil

I thought that when Alex used the stone to wish for everything to go back to normal it also meant she gave up being a full wizard since everything reverted back. Thus why the show continues. That’s how I always saw it and explains why they have another wizard competition.

Justin calling Stevie evil is the same vibe as paparazzi calling celebrities crazy for raging out on them.

Genuinely, as bad as the special is, Alex asking Justin “Tell me we’ll find normal people” and Justin responding with “We’re not normal people” is so unironically raw and the performances from both of them are so incredible it kinda makes up the whole rest of the special.

It’s really messed up that Justin, a guy who’s dating a VAMPIRE wants to be a monster hunter. Also how come Juliet isn’t…upset that Justin wants to hunt monsters? That feels like a missed opportunity honestly. Could have been this whole character arc for Justin where he has to confront his own prejudice, and realizes how terrible wizard society is to monsters/ magical creatures and try to change it for the better. Just imagine a rewrite of the scene where Juliet learns about Justin’s a monster hunter and accidentally reported her family.

It's actually mildly concerning how horrible Mason is as a character and how they just keep making Alex forgive him. Like he constantly causes scenes and attacks people because he can't control his anger, ate her ex-boyfriend out of jelousy, and despite supposedly being 1000 years old has the emotional maturity of a 12 year old. Like Alex has an excuse as a 16/17 year old girl for the dumb choices she makes, the only excuse he has is 'oh werewolves are angry and dangerous'. Like Alex's constantly told that werewolves are dangerous and uncontrollable and Mason pretty much proves the wizard world right at every turn. Like if he wasn't a werewolf no one would be accepting this crap from him.

I remember the whole Stevie arc made me mad as a kid because I didn’t see why it was a problem, I always thought the wizard tournament was stupid and Stevie was in the right for trying to fix it

I'll say this, Justin forgetting Vampires are monsters isn't dumb. He's been around her so much that he's just like "Oh, that's just Juliette" and doesn't consider her a monster, even though that's her species.

Looking back makes me realised that David was one of the main reasons I loved this series - the fact he wasn't praised more for his acting and hasn't become more of a name is crazy to me. I doubt anyone else playing across from Selena could have made the series what it became.

I love the ending scene of “Promise me we’ll find normal people” “We’re not normal people”

In regards to the finale, I think that hyping the “only one family wizard” thing, but dedicating time to the siblings trying to find ways to circumvent that would have been better. Like if they discovered a loophole to keep magic through getting a job in the wizarding world, and having Justin or Alex aspire to that. Having it just happen to them really did cheapen it

It's such a relief to hear that the cast of Wizards really like each other. It would've been so easy for Selena Gomez to shrug off her Disney Channel past and co-stars, but the fact that they hang out, are actual friends, and love talking about the show is so sweet!

Honestly I think the reason Disney pushed Mason/Alex so hard on its audience was because they noticed the shipping fandom had been looking at the only two characters in the show that had chemistry and plenty of interactions, which were… uh… Justin and Alex.

The fact that they tried to keep topping the tent scene from the movie, almost out of some obligation, is very funny to me. That most of the later episodes were "vs" episodes or multi episode arcs, also very funny. I forgot that the formula of Jerry teaching the kids magic was dropped so early and I got so upset, because as formulaic as it is, it was a draw for the show and gave Jerry his wisdom angle. I think the first two seasons were a bit more authentic to the appeal for kids wanting to learn about magic and see how it can go awry.

Theresa saying “i do remember” and Alex telling Justin her feelings when he’s forgotten makes me cry everytime

It's really messed up how Max is left out of the family dynamic. He rarely goes on the same adventures as Justin and Alex, all the sibling bonding scenes are between Justin and Alex, and then the everyone wins happy ending is Justin and Alex keeping their powers but not Max

I can't believe it took 4 seasons and a 60 minute special for Alex to actually appreciate Harper

I too, also forgot about zeke until i watched these videos, yet remembered minor characters like gigi more. Honestly i think the reason why is purely because zeke rarely forwarded many of the plots or had any significant development in most of the show. Like his character was purely comedic relief for the whole show, and most of the time basically only was in episodes for humor and gags. Which makes him stand out less then those who do foreward plots and get development throughout the show. Dan is such a good actor tho, he has such good energy and expressions i feel bad he got forgotten among the cast. Its not his fault, i think the writers just didn’t handle zeke in a way to make him really make a significant impact on the audience outside of a few good lines.

I love that Wizards of Waverly Place NEVER took themselves to seriously though. They just had fun with it and made a very fun show to watch. It was more of a parody then anything

You really did Bridgit Mendler dirty in that "where are they now" segment by failing to mention she's been taking a break from acting and music because she's been studying for *multiple!!* PHDs at both MIT *and* Harvard

I like the idea that any magic tools, like the magic marker, are invetions that wizards made to keep their magic when they were worried about losing their family wizard duels.

the movie's wizarding competition was like 400x more entertaining than the finale

Someone probably already commented this but to answer the question why Stevie and her brother had their wizard competition much earlier than the russo's could be answered by the episode where Max decided to move up the family wizard competition. Could be that Stevie's brother moved up the competition to give him an advantage, which worked since he won and Stevie lost.

Larry Tate is a really good principal. He took it on himself to make the biggest trouble maker in the school and his positive influence helped make her one of the best students, but didn't force her to change.

Honestly this show’s concept should be redone as a serious drama. The idea of wizard siblings hurting each other to increase their odds of winning the family competition, seeing rebel wizards taking the wizard council down, wizards masking their powers in public, interacting with monsters, etc would all make great stories with higher stakes involved. Great video!

12:42 Maria Canals-Barrera’s acting here is so grounded and makes me forget that I’m watching a Disney Channel show, especially the way Selena plays off her. So many performances in DCOMs or shows are so exaggerated that this feels like such a breath of fresh air and immediately hooks me into the scene.

I always loved the bizarre and comforting scenes between Alex and her school principal. He was charming and goofy.

Stevie questioning the family wizard competition and being seen as evil is perfect reason why Wizards needs a spin-off series to fix that unfair wizard system

I think the friendship David Henrietta and Selena Gomez had really made their conversations really authentic. This movie still could make me cry they both do such a phenomenal job in their roles, David definitely deserved more nominees and awards for his performances as Justin because it couldn’t be authentic without him.

The episode with the country wizards actually does explain why they don't have a portal. They used to have one that was disguised as an outhouse, but it was destroyed by modernization.

If there's ever a revival/reboot, I think Max should actually have a successful business, just to go against the notion that he's an idiot. The random moments where he wasn't were the best part of his character, and I think showing him having a future where he takes Jerry's restaurant and turns it into a successful food chain could be a good outcome for him, instead of the typical "oh well he became a screw-up" like you would expect.

One thing I like about this show is how Alex is a more realistic/relatable portrayal of teenage girls, at least for me

See all these promos with things like “disney summer” and “night of premiers” really takes me back to hot living rooms and no responsibilities but flipping between the same three channels.

I never watched Wizards Of Waverly Place, but I did watch the movie with no knowledge that it was a TV show. Even with no context on the characters relationships or the universe lore, that scene when Justin forgets Alex genuinely made me tear up. (I was 11 at the time, but still)

I have to say “keep it down out here I can’t even hear myself MOVIN ON” is probably one of the best line deliveries from Mason in the whole show. It cracks me up

OH MY GOD the “oh oh oh it’s magic” in the end credits of the movie unlocked something deep within me

what makes me so happy about this show is how the cast actually loved working on it and to this day still want to be a part of it. i swear for a ton of these old kids sitcoms you hear just how awful it was behind the scenes but in this case there was none of that. and to top it all off the show is just actually really good and entertaining

This means Kelbo has committed tax fraud

I love how the movie says Alex is pure hearted only to show her torture her brother by leaving him in quicksand

Theory; Alex almost always has her wand somewhere on her (in her boot), so maybe you can cast "wandless spells" as long as your wand is on your person. Physical separation from the wand (like in the Dollhouse episode) means you can't cast your magic.

The whole Shakira part of this video had me dying the entire time. That episode was also one of the most memorable episodes of this show for me

I actually met Zeke's actor when I was little at this acting scouting thing and he entered by introducing himself as the actor who played Zeke and I was like the only one who really reacted because I did remember the character... But I also only knew the character as "harpers boyfriend" and not "Justin's friend" Its sad how forgettable he is for some reason.

Me as a kid: Harper's outfits are so silly Me as an adult: Harper's outfits are 🔥

The treatment of Stevie was sooooooooo weird. Literally the last season portrays how terrible the magic government is and you would THINK that the show would end with them going hey maybe it’s not fair we have to compete since they kinda set it up like that? They show how the competition has torn families apart (with Stevie AND Jerry) and how generally corrupt the government is but you’re still supposed to be convinced that Stevie was in the wrong despite building her up as a sympathetic character. EDIT: Not to mention that the show legit ends with them all keeping their powers anyway so what was the point really. EDIT 2: OOPS I completely forgot Max didn’t keep his my bad.

The fact that a reboot was just announced and only Selena and David are the official characters. I just wish they would give Max a job giving him an excuse to have powers again and still be somewhat a present character.

Wizards was a HUGE part of my childhood-I've watched this review 2 or 3 times now, and every single time that scene of Justin disappearing and Alex desperately begging him to remember makes me fully start crying!!!

i can't believe this show gaslit me and thousands of other little girls into believing that alex and mason were couple goals back in the day 😭

Looking back on this series for the first time since I was 9. I can’t believe how done dirty Stevie was in this show. She wanted to stop a eugenics programme that has a history of breaking apart families and somehow she’s the villain.

Rewatching the show again has made me realize how much I honestly loved Zeke as a character and wished he became a part of the main cast and found out about magic earlier in the series like Harper. Dan Benson has such good comedic timing and made me laugh pretty much every time Zeke was on screen, and he was honestly just a really wholesome and fun character.

Did I just watch a 9.5 hour video on a Disney sitcom that has been gone for a decade, instead of writing my BA paper? Yeah I did. Would I do it again? Well, I still have to write the BA paper, so yeah I would.

I love that when Mason is in that half-transformed state, you can hear how much difficulty he’s having speaking with the teeth prosthetics in. He’s got a very audible mumbling effect to his voice like a kid wearing those fake vampire teeth.

Zeke's actor explained (I can't remember if it was a tik-tok or twitter post) that his character was not supposed to be permanent. When he came back on the show it seemed everyone forgot that the characters original name was Zack and accidentally wrote him as Zeke and that's how it stayed from there on.

It’s honestly impressive how inconsistent the lore is like somehow every episode contradicts another episode and they just act like it’s totally normal.

Good god. Imagine getting in a car wreck, and your ER nurse is Harper Finkle.

I never gathered that Alex was the full wizard after the movie. I thought when she wished everything was back to normal, it also made her a part-time wizard, which is why her orb was smaller compared to the orb her and Justin fought over and Jerry's orb that he shows in the beginning of the movie.

Listen, I agree with Keyan for most of this retrospective *but* I absolutely *refuse* to take off my nostalgia glasses for the Wizards vs. Werewolves arc. That was peak television for 10-12 year old me and anything saying otherwise is sacrilege.

New Year's Eve and Rio will be the reason why Jake T Austin wasn't in 6 episodes, while Hotel for Dogs is probably the reason for the wizards movie

how a 5hour long video has more than one million views?? The power of “Wizard of Waverley place” holds it’s unmatched

wizards of waverly and good luck charlie are the only disney shows that genuinely felt like a PASSION PROJECT. both casts feel like they wanted to be there and the writers just GET IT. also everyone’s performance in this show (even max i really do love his character) is so genuine, ever since the first episode they understand not just how to portray their respective character but how to BECOME their character.

The way justin in the movie tells Alex “I just wanted to hear it again” really shows how well he knows his sister. He knew she wouldn’t want to be all sappy and played his genuine shock and care off as a joke to make her feel better. It’s little stuff like that I love about this series

Bailee Madison is honestly such a talented actress. She starred in this movie, Brothers, a year or so before wizards s4. Hers was easily the standout performance of the movie to me, which is crazy considering the leads are Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal and Natalie Portman. Anyways she's just really good and I remember being so intrigued by Max getting turned into Maxine at the time, it felt like she was around for much longer than just 6 episodes. I was genuinely concerned, wondering if they were gonna be able to turn him back or not.

Alex isn't a full wizard by the end of the Wizards film. She shows that she's back to normal at the end, and Justin even says that she's not a full wizard anymore.

I always just assumed that wizards needing or not needing wands was based on their experience or on how difficult the spell was.

I think Jake T. Austin did a pretty good job personifying Alex and Justin in the Three Maxs episode. I also remember Maxine being in the show for like 2 seasons??? For some reason?

Justin putting a truth spell on Alex and making her humiliate herself and everyone hating her is honestly so low of him it’s unbelievable

Stevie was only there for 4 episodes??? I coulda sworn she was in like a whole season

I always assumed that when Alex used the stone of dreams “To make everything go back to the way it was”, it also undid the wizard competition and gave the other kids their magic back.

that "i don't like moths they fly like they're broken" line has been eternally etched into my mind ever since i saw it years ago

I gotta say I totally agree with the part at 19:00 when Alex and Justin are talking about natural talent vs learned talent. When I was going through college with my girlfriend at the time we both had the same human anatomy class. She was able to basically sleep through every class and not study for a minute and she'd get As on every test and I'd have to study for hours a night just to get a B. And it was really frustrating for me when we were both sitting in bed before a test and she'd want to play games with me and I'd say "I'm not gifted like you, I need to study or else I'll fail" I get it, that exchange really hits close to home. I'm sure lots of people have had experiences like that

The way they let Justin and Max treat Alex after having to save her friends, and then react to it by shutting down the business instead of finding a healthy way through it and making A led take all the blame is absolutely ridiculous

2:36:20 It's actually explained in the episode that they used to have a portal, and it was at the entrance to their outhouse (like Russo's is at the entrance to the freezer). The authorities bulldozed the outhouse when the family refused to build a running-water toilet in their house.

After rewatching the movie it’s hard to not wonder why Archie didn’t just *dump a bucket of water* on Giselle to reverse the parrot spell

Their dad turning into a cockroach is the thing I remember most vividly from the show. I remember being really disturbed by the fact that it's never resolved by the end of the episode. Also the line "I think this is just how I eat now." really freaked me out as a kid.

Id argue alex's meddling is what causes the future of harpers obsession to change, you could see that as the reason she was so willing to meddle.

The wizards movie seriously is timeless to me idk. I rewatched it a few months ago and I genuinely loved it regardless of some silly plot points and such it’s just a really well made and emotional movie. Awesome video breakdown !

Uncle Kelbo being Shakira implies he married twice and had kids. And this is awesome and wild to think. But this also implies his kids would have the right to participate the family wizard contest.

I stand with the Wizard Rebellion.

"Seriously Justin just stand up" is a quote that could've been used so many times lol

I could understand that jerry is on vacation and just wants to have fun but yeah him using magic casually in public doesn't really fit so it is a bit inconsistent

Jeez I didn’t realize how emotional the Wizards Movie was. Just rewatching these scenes included in this video, I genuinely cried during the scene where Justin forgets who Alex is. As we grow up, yea we notice how silly some of the plot points can be, but we also notice more intently just how much of a family the Russo’s were, just how much they cared for one another, and just how well written that part of the show was. Justin and Alex specifically had the strongest brother sister love in any show I’ve seen Incredibly well done by the creators

I think leaving out the fact that Bridget Mendler is literally getting her PhD from MIT and is getting a JD from Harvard is such a snub. Maria Canals-Barrera also voices Hawk Girl in DC animation and does a fantastic job at it

Hearing the Disney voiceover announcer’s voice was such a familiar comfort I was not expecting. If this guy doesn’t do Cameos, he totally should ahahaha