Released on April 5, The Super Mario Bros. movie became the highest grossing video game film of all time in just two weeks. The film was considered to be one of the biggest movie releases in 2023, and it’s clearly lived up to its title.
The big question is, is it actually worth watching, or is it just another boring, “aimed entirely at kids” movie?
The iconic mustached plumber made his first debut in 1981 in the well-renowned arcade game “Donkey Kong”. As the title suggests, Mario wasn’t the main focus in this game. However in 1983, Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of the franchise, created a sequel starring Mario as the titular character, changing video game history forever.
Announced in 2018, the highly anticipated Super Mario Bros. movie came out just two weeks ago, and as someone who became familiar with the franchise at a young age, it’s definitely worth a watch.
We all know how movie adaptations of video games tend to be–awful, both to fans new and old–but the Mario movie didn’t fail into that trope. Of course, that isn’t to say it was perfect, but it was good enough to leave you entertained for an hour and a half.
One thing the movie had going for it was the many references to other Mario related media. The ad for the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing company, the song used was a reference to the 1989 show “The Super Mario Bros. Super Show”, which was really fun to see. Giuseppe, seen playing Jump Man (the original name for the Mario game), is seen in the beginning telling Mario and Luigi that their accents are perfect. He’s voiced by Charles Martinet, the original voice actor of Mario! Even Luigi’s ringtone is the GameCube startup sound.
These references make it clear that the film was made with a lot of love and respect for the franchise, which is always nice to see, especially with movie adaptations of video games.
Voice actors like Jack Black (who plays Bowser) and Charlie Day (who plays Luigi) absolutely killed it. Their voices breathed life into the iconic characters in a way that fit the big screen rather than short quips like they normally use in the games. Anya Taylor-Joy (Peach), Seth Rogan (Donkey Kong), and Keegan-Michael Key (Toad) also gave great performances.
The art and animation of the movie was phenomenal, with the backgrounds of the film being especially astonishing. Each background was beautiful to look at and the art style was crisp and smooth.
One thing the film lacked in, though, was writing. At times the dialogue felt clunky and awkward, like a seemingly important discovery would be made only for it to never be brought up for the rest of the film.
Mario felt very flat overall. There wasn’t anything in particular that stood out about him, he just felt very one dimensional despite being the main character. Luigi, who didn’t have nearly as much screen time as his brother, felt like he had more to offer as a character than Mario did. Despite the title of the film, the movie focused more on the shorter, stockier brother rather than both of them together. Although you could argue this is because Mario is the titular character of the franchise, fans, including myself, were still left wanting more with Luigi and what he had to offer.
Though the movie isn’t above criticism, it’s an enjoyable watch and if you’re thinking of watching it, I highly recommend doing so with friends or family to make the experience all the better.
