Despite
having some of the most recognizable and popular characters in the industry,
Nintendo has been very shy about adapting their video games into film ever
since the spectacularly awful Super Mario Bros., a live-action
disaster starring a belligerently drunk Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the
titular plumbers. It was the first feature-length film based on a video game, a
trainwreck that set the tone for awful adaptations from other companies for years
to come and turned Nintendo off of the idea of bringing their property to the
big screen for three entire decades (with the exception of Pokémon,
which they only partly control). With Sonic the Hedgehog and Detective
Pikachu reminding us that video game movies don’t have to suck,
Nintendo has finally come out of its Koopa shell by partnering with
Illumination to give us The Super Mario Bros. Movie, a pretty,
fanservice-y romp that is decent fun for fans and kids but ultimately falls
prey to the general mediocrity that plagues most Illumination films.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was
clearly made with a lot of love by people who are fans of the source material,
and this passion is the reason the film works as well as it does. There is an
astounding amount of Easter eggs and references to the video games, be they
visual, spoken, or a part of the fantastic original score that incorporates
tunes from Mario's entire video game history. The voice cast is also very good,
particularly Jack Black as the evil, love-struck Bowser (don’t worry, he sings)
and Charlie Day as the cowardly Luigi. Chris Pratt as Mario isn’t half as bad
as I was expecting him to be, and Anya Taylor-Joy elevates Peach to a level far
beyond that of the Princess’s usual (and outdated) damsel-in-distress role.
Most of the time I was just thrilled to see this colorful world in all of its
glory, a realization of the formative childhood years I spent with a Nintendo
Entertainment System that made the experience of The Super Mario Bros.
Movie that much more gratifying for me.
But if I’m honest with myself, it’s
not that great of a movie on its own merits. The jokes are sometimes lazy,
falling back on eye-rolling Illumination clichés like characters flying through
the air in slow motion with stupid expressions on their faces. The plot is very
thin (which goes along pretty well with a series known from getting from point
A to point B while stomping on stuff, I suppose), and while the original score
is awesome (does it count as an original score if it’s full of music from the
games?), every time a modern licensed track started playing I found myself
wishing they just wouldn’t. As a fan I liked The Super Mario Bros.
Movie, but I can’t help but wonder how much better it would have been if
Pixar or DreamWorks had handled it instead of the studio that cursed the earth
with the advent of Minions.
After 1993’s Super Mario
Bros. the only way for Nintendo movies to go was up. Hopefully they
won’t take another thirty years to make the jump from The Super Mario
Bros. Movie to whatever the next level is.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is
now available in theaters.
This review was first published in
The Keizertimes on April 14th, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
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