The Super Mario Bros Movie

When I first learned that Nintendo was doing an animated movie with the help of Illumination, I was both excited and skeptical. I was excited because maybe it could wash the taste of the 1993 film out of the mouths of audiences, but nervous because Illumination wasn't known for quality films. When I saw the first trailer, I was hyped, and so, for all of you, I am going to be doing a day one review of a film I have waited my entire life to see on the big screen.

So, the story follows the brothers Mario and Luigi, voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, who end up being transported to the Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Realm respectively after finding an odd pipe underneath Brooklyn. Luigi, unfortunately, gets captured by the evil Bowser, voiced by Jack Black, who wants to take over the universe. Mario therefore goes on a quest to stop Bowser and save his brother, with the help of many characters including Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, Toad, voiced by Keegan Michael-Key, and Donkey Kong, voiced by Seth Rogen.

The plot, as you can see, is simple enough, but it did its job well. Best of all, this was a lot more respectful to the source material, with an enjoyable and fun atmosphere going through the entire movie. Not only that, but this movie is a Nintendo fan's dream. It is packed, and I mean packed, with references to almost every Mario game in existence as well as even some small references to other Nintendo properties as well.

The acting was fantastic, and I never once stopped and said, "Oh, this is X voicing Y character." To me, each actor embodied their character perfectly. Also, for an Illumination movie, I found myself actually laughing at quite a few of the jokes, which was an amazing feat on the part of the studio. My personal favorite characters were Luigi, naturally, because he's my favorite character, as well as Donkey Kong for his funny lines. But above all, this movie made me care about Mario by actually giving him a compelling character arc.

Overall, this was a fantastic second try for Nintendo at adapting the Mario property to film. I had such a blast watching this film, and honestly, the faithfulness to the source material proves to me that this is a masterclass in how you do a video game movie. Good job to everyone involved, and I look forward to the future of Nintendo at the movies.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mario Marathon Part 6: Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins

I have to say, Mario way back in the early days of gaming used to be so creative, and this game is no exception. I mean, just like its predecessor, it's very weird, but that's what makes it so charming and fun to play. As with the first Mario Land title, this game was released on the Game Boy, but for being a game on such a simple console, they did quite a lot with the visuals and world designs. In fact, I'd even go so far as to say that this game makes the first Super Mario Land look like a tech demo by comparison. The story is the usual flavor of weird that the first game had as well. Mario's castle that he just...has for some reason, has been taken over by the evil Wario and the door to the castle can only be unlocked by going to six zones and finding the golden coins that reside in each. Yeah, this game has a weird story. The six zones are really where the game shines, in my opinion. There is the tree zone, which is a grassland type area that takes place in a giant ...
Read more

Mario Marathon Part 4: Super Mario Land

Well, this was certainly a game, or at least, a good demonstration of one. This is one of the more bizarre Mario games out there, so let's talk about why that is. Super Mario Land was the first portable mainline Mario game, released for Nintendo's black and white Game Boy. So how did Mario on the go end up doing? Well, quite weirdly as mentioned earlier. While it is a 2D platformer like the other games reviewed so far, this game definitely tried to stand out in ways no other Mario game really has done before. The story follows Mario as he tries to save the kingdom of Sarasaland and its princess, Daisy, from the evil alien Tatanga. Already a departure from the norm for sure, but even the enemies are weird. For example, Koopas now turn into bombs when you jump on them instead of just hiding in their shells so you can kick them later on. The game plays like the first Mario game, but in black and white, with more bizarre enemies like the aforementioned Bombshell Koopas, and actual ...
Read more

Mario Marathon Part 1: Super Mario Bros

I like Mario, that much is clear from the random beginning of this specific marathon, but regardless, there has been so much Mario content that has come out over the last few years that a review of all the Mario games I consider important sounds like a no-brainer. Well, after a couple weeks of thinking about this, that's exactly what I am doing, and what better place than the game that started it all? That, of course, is Super Mario Bros. Now, this game is hardly the most complex thing out there. It's a sidescrolling platformer where you play as a plumber named Mario who has to save the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom from the villainous turtle dragon thing known as Bowser. But even this simple plot was revolutionary for gaming. You see, prior to this game, video games didn't have any sort of story to them and really were just things made to rack up high scores. This was the first game to really give a more fleshed out story than "Get as much points and then, I don...
Read more