THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE (2023)
The first video game I ever played was Super Mario Bros. for the NES Nintendo Entertainment System. For Christmas my dad purchased the big Nintendo bundle with the triple cart containing Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and World Class Track & Field. The bundle came with the console, two controllers, the Nintendo Zapper and the Power Pad too! This was either 1988 or 1989 and from that moment onward a lifetime of video gaming began!
Mario and Nintendo have been with me nearly all of my life and I have played the first Super Mario Bros. game quite a lot. After the Super Nintendo though, I haven't played many Mario games and, admittedly, I wouldn't call myself that big of a Mario fan. But I do respect and appreciate Mario. He's the face of Nintendo and the original Nintendo and SNES are huge parts of my gaming life that I love dearly.
I wasn't going to see THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE initially, though I hoped for the best for it. Then a close friend reached out and said that his son really wanted to see it. And then my son said he really wanted to see it. Getting together with them, we all went out to the movie theater. And I'm glad we did. Not only have I now seen both Super Mario movies in a theater (yes, the 1993 movie), but I had a really good time with my friends and the movie!
I was pleasantly surprised with this movie and enjoyed it quite a lot.
THE SYNOPSIS
Mario and Luigi, two brothers from Brooklyn struggling to make it on their own as plumbers, are sucked down through a mysterious tunnel and transported to another world. Luigi lands in a land of darkness and despair while Mario arrives in the bright and cheery Mushroom Kingdom. To save Luigi, Mario joins forces with Princess Peach to help unite the kingdoms and defeat the evil conqueror, Bowser.
INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
The look of this movie is absolutely perfect. The CGI animation is beautiful, bright, and deep and so amazingly colorful. The visual spectacle of this film stuck with me afterwards as so stunning and bright; masterfully done. Although I don't watch a whole lot of kids films, so maybe this is fairly common (like with the movies Trolls and Inside Out, both of which I haven't seen).
The characters look exactly how I pictured them. Their designs feel perfect for the characters, representing how I remember them or imagine them from the games. I look at these renderings and designs and they perfectly capture the characters as they should be. In this day and age of adaptations of books, comic books, video games, and so many other established and known properties, there have been many films that attempt different takes, deviating from the source material, and a small percentage of which actually work. I'm so very glad to see an adaptation that sticks close to the source material and succeeds so very well.
Mario and Luigi, the brothers themselves, are done very well. Both characters have so much heart and come across so endearing. You can't help but root for Mario. He's a man whose not a natural winner, success coming rarely and difficultly when it does. Life is tough for Mario, as it is for most of us, but he never gives up. No matter how many times Mario gets knocked down, he always gets up and tries again. Mario is humble, kind, dedicated to his family, and a man of his word. He's inspiring in the way that Rocky (Sylvester Stallone) is and has so much heart. He is the heart of the movie (as it should be) and is a great role model in many respects.
Continuing with the characters, Luigi, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Cranky Kong are all fun. Bowser and his kin are fun too. The voice acting surprised me. Chris Pratt actually does a pretty good job and you forget its him after a while. And I was pleasantly surprised with Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong as I really feared that he was going to sound exactly like himself. Jack Black as Bowser was really good... until they gave him random songs.
Bowser's "Peaches" song felt completely out of character and shattered the illusion of Jack Black as Bowser. At this point it was purely Jack Black. I like Jack Black. I like Tenacious D. But as Bowser this completely took me out of the film and undercut Jack Black's strong performance as Bowser. If they cut out these two songs it would make the movie stronger. I asked my son about this and, him being seven years old, liked these songs. So, maybe these songs hit the mark with their intended audience.
And then there's Princess Peach. She's the complete antithesis of Mario. Confident, strong, skilled, capable, and perfect in everything that she does. And lacking any charm or warmth whatsoever. She has no character growth nor an arc of her own (even Donkey Kong, as small as his role was, had a character arc) and she's arguably the second lead. Anya Taylor-Joy, an actress who is very good and likeable in most roles, really felt flat and one-note. In a few cases she comes across as cocky, egotistical, and condescending to Mario. Now, I don't know what Nintendo has done with her character beyond the Super Nintendo days, so maybe this is spot on for her. But the movie succeeds despite her.
The movie has many fun sequences that keeps the pace moving fast. The Donkey Kong fight was fun, really showcasing Mario's indominable spirit. The Mario Kart sequence was so very colorful and exciting. And the wedding crashing scene by Mario and Donkey Kong, segueing into the epic finale was very well done and left me feeling good at the end of the film. Ending on such a high note, the movie comes across very satisfying and strong.
Lastly I loved the music and the fan-service/nostalgia drops. Music themes from across the entire Mario franchise pop up here and there to great effect and just warm your heart when you hear them. And there's lots of fun easter eggs for the longtime fans that had us dads pointing at the screen and chuckling. All in all, there's a lot of love for Mario and Nintendo fans in this movie.
THE VERDICT
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023 not 1993) is a fun family film with an endearing hero and pure heart. Visually beautiful, faithful to the source material, and mostly well-voiced acted. There's a lot of love for Nintendo and the Mario franchise baked herein and Mario himself steals the show. There's a lot of fun sequences that keep the movie moving and keeping the kids' attention. It was better than I expected it to be and I left the movie far more satisfied than I thought I would be.
Overall Ranking: 7 out of 10
Nintendo and I go way back and the original Nintendo NES is my favorite video game console. For more of my love for Nintendo and video games in general, check out these other posts below!
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