Recently, I visited the movie theater with some friends to watch Illumination’s highly anticipated animated film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” The film is a collaboration with Nintendo to bring iconic video game characters such as Mario, Princess Peach, and Bowser to the big screen. If you’re not familiar with the “Super Mario Bros.” games (how is that possible?) don’t fret as the movie recontextualizes Mario’s origins while staying faithful to the games.
The movie begins with our antagonist, Bowser, the king of the Koopa army attacking an ice castle inhabited by the Penguin King and his subjects. After swiftly defeating them, Bowser attains a super star which will give him the power to defeat and rule over all of the kingdoms.
We then cut to our normal world and are introduced to our main protagonist, Mario, and his much clumsier brother, Luigi. We see a charming low-budget commercial for their new plumbing business after quitting their old construction job. They’re seen as failures not only by their old boss and their family, but both brothers are determined to make a name for themselves. After attempting to fix a broken city drain, the two are whisked away through a magic pipe. The brothers are separated as Mario is taken to The Mushroom Kingdom while Luigi is blasted to the Badlands. Mario quickly meets and befriends Toad and Princess Peach, the latter of whom is trying to recruit help from other kingdoms to battle Bowser’s army. Mario joins her on her quest and their journey to defeat Bowser begins.
Prior to the release, fans were skeptical about this film. One of their main concerns was the voice actors selected for the film. These Nintendo characters are incredibly iconic so in turn they have very iconic voices. For the first few minutes of the movie, it was certainly jarring to see Mario with the voice of Chris Pratt doing an Italian/New York accent. It actually gave me and my friend a visible feeling of discomfort, but after about half an hour you get used to it and it wasn’t as bad or distracting as others claimed it would be. The standout, though, in the voice acting cast is undoubtedly Jack Black as Bowser. He kills it the entire movie and even has some amazing musical moments as well.
However, when comparing the story to other acclaimed animated films, it’s pretty lackluster. The story is very straightforward with the protagonist being transported to a brand new world to help a princess save her kingdom from a big bad monster. This isn’t really the fault of Illumination since the story of the game they’re adapting basically boils down to that. One thing you can blame Illumination for, and the biggest issue with the movie for me, is the bad pacing. A lot of things happen just so that the plot can continue to move along. Mario is very eager to go on a journey in a world he’s not familiar with, with people he has just met, to defeat a monster he has never heard of, just to save his brother.
Princess Peach is also very willing to allow a complete stranger, who turns up out of nowhere, to go along with her on a very important diplomatic mission to save her kingdom. It’s all very convenient and done so that the movie can hurry up and move to the next thing.
So, is the film a feat of animated storytelling in the realm of “Puss in Boots” and the original “Toy Story?” The answer is no. But is it an adaptation that Mario and Nintendo fans will enjoy? Very much so. There are easter eggs littered throughout the movie. From callbacks to other Nintendo games such as “Duck Hunt” and “Starfox” to remixed soundtracks from the original “Super Mario Bros.” games, there’s plenty to love. As for those that were upset about the original video game voice actors not being cast, you have a pleasant surprise waiting for you very early in the film.
At the end of the day, the movie is fine and I think Illumination succeeded in what they set out to do; make a fun Mario movie aimed at children. There’s been a ton of critics bashing the movie, but who’s watching “The Super Mario Movie” and expecting true cinema? And I don’t mean the ironic Martin Scorsese cinema memes you see under DiscussingFilms’ Twitter posts. The story is about an Italian plumber that gets transported to a kingdom of walking humanoid mushrooms that now has to battle a giant turtle to save a princess. What were you expecting?
Want my suggestion? Grab a few friends, drive down to the Regal Cinemas at Atlantic Station, get a few drinks (they actually have some “Super Mario Bros.” themed ones right now which is pretty cool), and have a good time!
