My review of the Super Mario Bros. Movie

My review of the Super Mario Bros. Movie

Intro: Disney better watch their backs.  

The Super Mario Bros Movie: This movie is centered on two brothers name Mario and Luigi who are struggling plumbers. One day they get separated when they are transported to a different world, Mario is sent to the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi is sent to the dark land. In order to save his brother Mario has to aid the Princess to stop Bowser from taking over her kingdom.  

After 30 years we finally got a good video game movie based on a video game. Oh, the sweet smell of irony. Sorry Sonic you would have been fast enough if your movies were like the Prime series. What I appreciate about this movie is that it’s not about saving a princess. If you’re going to have the brothers save a princess let it be Roseline because she’s better looking than Peach, but I digress. This movie is surprisingly funny, both kids and adults will get laughs out of this film. It even has dark humor. You can’t have a movie like this without references and easter eggs. Those things are used to complement the Mushroom Kingdom. Heck, the movie even references how kids use to blow into game cartridges. (Don’t do that.) There are moments where the movie captures us playing Mario games for the first time. The voice acting is fine for the most part. I have nothing new to say about the animation that has already been said. I’m also fine with the characterizations in this movie because these characters don’t have much of that in the games.

Mario is courageous, noble and ambitious. The writers tried to give him an underdog ARC, but it feels bland. 

Luigi is timid. What bugs me about him is that he doesn’t get a lot of screen time. Why is this movie called Super Mario Brothers if it’s not focused on both of them?  

Toad is the comic relief in this movie.

Princess Peach is not a damsel in distress in this movie she’s hands-on and guides, Mario. I’m not crazy about her backstory in this movie. I can’t get into that without spoiling it.  

Donkey Kong is an egotistical jock. DK being in this movie bothers me because he has his own franchise that's separate from Mario’s. To be fair Nintendo hasn’t done anything with the DK I.P. in nine years. Plus, he fills in Luigi's role in the movie if he wasn't kidnapped. Mario and DK act like the type of brothers who are at odds with each other.  

Bowser (the main villain) is both menacing and funny. What ruins this for me is his motivation, I mean it makes him look pathetic. I know this is part of the Mario brother's lore, but it doesn't make me less sick. 

One of the problems I have with this movie is that it tried too hard to make the Mario brothers appeal to kids. The movie could have done a better job of incorporating Mario Kart into the film. Toadsworth should have been the one that ended up in the dark land instead of Luigi. By doing that you make both brothers a part of the story. This movie feels like it has scenes that are missing. I'm surprised that certain things are not mentioned or referenced. 

Overall, this is an excellent love letter to the fan despite that it could have been better in some areas.  

Rating = Worth Seeing 

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