To say I was excited about the new Super Mario Bros. Movie would be a massive understatement.
I’ve never really been the type to get so excited for a movie that I had to see it in the theatre. In fact, the last time I went to the movies was to see Avengers: Endgame, and I can’t remember the last time before that. It was most likely the final Harry Potter movie. However, when the Super Mario Bros. Movie was announced, I was immediately excited and knew I would be in that theatre on opening day. Before we get into the review, I’ll begin with how my love for Mario began.
Growing up in the mid-90’s, there really wasn’t much going on in the world of video games. At least for me. For me, there was one game and one game only. Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. I spent countless hours playing the game as a child, even making the grave mistake of accidentally deleting my mom’s saved game which nearly ended my life at an early age. From there, I worked backwards Benjamin Button-style once I discovered there was more to this Mario world.
I fell in love with the first Mario stand-alone game ever released in the West, Super Mario Bros. I didn’t really love the second Super Mario Bros. game, however. To me, that game didn’t feel like a Mario game at all. Turns out, as I found out years later in life, that game was never meant to be an actual Mario game. However, the creators decided the actual sequel was too difficult for the West, so they essientially copy and pasted Mario and his friends into an already made game entitled Doki Doki Panic. The actual sequel was released later, entitled Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels, which I loved. Then, for me, I found the greatest Mario game ever made. For this Mario-loving kid, it was Super Mario Bros. 3. I can still remember that game vividly and to this day, it remains my favoritre Mario game ever.
Since then, Mario has not let up at all when it comes to video game releases, and even though I may not have time to play them these days, Mario still remains one of my favorite childhood memories.
Needless to say, I was beyond excited to watch the Super Mario Bros. Movie with my kids on opening day. To share that experience with them was so nice for me, especially explaining why certain moments of the movie meant so much to me, considering they are far too young to understand certain references.
Let’s begin the movie review, and warning, SPOILERS AHEAD.
The movie decides to go in a different route than any video game adaptation in the past. Which makes sense, afterall, movies flow entirely different than video games so things need to be presented differently, and I actually love what this movie decided to do.
In this film, Mario is just your friendly neighborhood plumber serving the Brooklyn community with his brother, Luigi. The movie begins with one of the highlights of the film, showing Mario and Luigi in a plumbing commercial, where they are both fully performing the actual Mario and Luigi voices we all know and love. Shortly after, they effortlessly merge into the actual normalized accents, which is explained in a perfect way. From there, the two find themselves getting sucked into the magical world known as the Mushroom Kingdom.
Unfortunately, they get split during the process, seeing Luigi land in the grasp of the ultimate bag guy, Bowser. Mario lands successfully in the Mushroom Kingdom and quickly finds Toad, and later Princess Peach. So, in this film, it is actually Luigi who is taken hostage by Bowser (as well as many other favorites including Cranky Kong and a scene stealing Luma Star) and not Princess Peach. Naturally, Mario is just an average plumber at this point, and not the fire-wielding, turtle-thumping hero we all know and love. Luckily for Mario, this film’s Princess Peach turns out to be a freaking Ninja Warrior who definitely doesn’t even need Mario to take on Bowser.
However, Mario needs Princess Peach to save his brother from Bowser, so they both work together to achieve their respective goals. There are a lot of angry reviews out there when it comes to that last point, but personally, I don’t have any issues with it. The film is essentially Peach vs. Bowser, until the final sequence where the brothers reunite and finish the job. Oh, and in this film, Bowser is obsessed with Princess Peach and his ultimate desire is to marry her.
I just realized I essentially spent this entire review recapping the movie, and that’s not what I intended so I’ll get right back on track.
There are so many things to love about this film, from the oldest of Mario fans to the youngest. Here’s a list of the many things I loved:
- The voice acting was simply top-notch by all involved, which the exception of one caracter which I will get back to later.
- The Easter Eggs in this film come early and often, and feels like a love-letter to Mario fans (and Nintendo fans) around the world.
- Jack Black is the ultimate star of this film. He stole the show and considering how great every actor portayed their respective roles, that’s really saying something.
- This film spent most if it’s time getting plumber Mario to become Mushroom Kingdom-saving Mario, and I’m excited to see the next installment which should feel much more like a Mario story.
- RAINBOW ROAD!
Now, like with anything in life, where there are pros, there are cons. For me, I loved far more than I didn’t in this movie, but there were things I didn’t like very much. I’ll list those below:
- Cranky Kong. Don’t get me wrong, I love the character and his involvement in this film, but I can’t believe they messed the casting up this badly for this character. The voice did not match the character at all, which is a shame because every other character was cast to perfection.
- The pacing in this film felt very, very rushed. I know they had a lot of story to tell, but this film could have easily made it to the two-hour mark comfortably. 90 minutes just felt entirely too short and rushed.
- NO YOSHI??? (Until the post-credit scene)
Believe it or not, those are my only two complaints about this film.
In short, you will LOVE this film, and your kids will love it too. If you grew up int he Mario world like I did, this film is made for you, and will leave you googling for information on the sequel, which will no-doubt come in due time.
