Follow Us
Join UsStar Cast: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Seth Rogen, Kevin Michael Richardson
Director: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
What’s Good: Mario finally has a film that doesn’t suck as much as 1993’s Bob Hoskins starrer, but that’s not a compliment, though!
What’s Bad: It’s not as bad as I would make this out to be in my review, but it has hurt my feelings
Loo Break: Nope, you’ll either switch this off midway or watch it till the end with the hope of it getting better
Watch or Not?: Only if you’re below 12 or a die-hard Mario fanatic
Available On: Theatrical release
Runtime: 104 Minutes
User Rating:
Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) & Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day) are two endeavouring PlumBros (Plumber Brothers) living in Brooklyn, who one day jump in a pipe only to find themselves in a different universe, i.e. the Mushroom Kingdom.
Luigi finds himself in Dark Lands, ruled by the Koopa King Bowser (voiced by Jack Black), who now has the ‘star’ to power up and destroy the Mushroom Kingdom if its Princess Peach doesn’t agree to marry him.
So, of course, as Mario has to save his brother from the baddie, Princess wants to save herself & her kingdom, and they both unite to make the plot even more predictable than it already is.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review: Script Analysis
Matthew Fogel, one of the three writers from The Lego Movie, fails to carry forward the intelligent humour and instead does a fan service, and that’s the problem; you may ask why? Because the fans of this game are either kids or humans who have lost their childhood. This doesn’t justify Shigeru Miyamoto’s (Mario’s creator) age-old vision of visualising the Mushroom Kingdom. That deserves Pixar-like sensibilities. Though the movie stays true to the game by using many nerdy references (like the ‘question mark’ boxes, the bullet bill, and power-ups), it isn’t backed by an equally intriguing narrative for the characters.
Iconic keyphrases like “Sorry Mario, the princess is in another castle” are thrown away only to get a bland outcome as a result. For those who are unaware, Mario wasn’t supposed to be a plumber at first, he was a carpenter & he made his debut in the classic arcade game Donkey Kong as the protagonist trying to save his girlfriend from the Ape. Taking a similar template, making Mario the Italian plumber, which became his permanent identity, Miyamoto separated it from Donkey Kong only to reunite them once again for this film. They deserved a much better-written frenemy subplot to celebrate the reunion properly.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review: Star Performance
There was something about Chris Pratt‘s voice in The Lego Movie, or maybe it was just a good story, which he failed to replicate and instead gave a generic sh*t-load of crap. Apart from the stereotypical Italian traits like saying ‘Mamma-Mia’, Pratt butchers the iconic phrases “It’s-a me, Mario! & Let’s-a go!”.
Charles Martinet was RIGHT THERE! He has been the official voice of Mario since forever & in 2022, he also stopped posting his voice videos (he started from Vine) after Nintendo apparently asked him to. How do we know? A fan texted Charles asking if he was asked to do so, to which he said, “Thanks for understanding”, only proving he could’ve brought it back if the studio could’ve made one right decision in favour of the film.
Seth Rogen said the 1993’s live-action version of Super Mario Bros. is ‘one of the worst films ever made’; that’s his opinion, but he says that after watching the generic mess they’ve made with this one, that’s the contract speaking. Jack Black is the only one who got the assignment right, lending his eccentric voice to Browser, the evil Turtle. Anya Taylor-Joy and Charlie Day are just about okay.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review: Direction, Music
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic bring back the nostalgia but at what cost? It’s harmless fun, which is at the bottom of the expectations meter we, as the fans, had from the film. Mario, Luigi’s half-baked bond remains the primary reason you couldn’t connect with the protagonist’s emotional journey of freeing his brother.
Brian Tyler has brilliantly recreated Koji Kondo’s original theme, but it’s constrained. There’s a great scene in which Bowser plays the Piano on Mario’s underground theme, which makes you feel to plead for more such moments.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, dear multimillion-dollar money-grabbing studios, kindly stop ruining our childhood! (which is already gone!)
Two stars!
The Super Mario Bros. Movie Trailer
The Super Mario Bros. Movie releases on 07th April 2023.
Share with us your experience of watching The Super Mario Bros Movie
For more recommendations, read our John Wick: Chapter 4 movie review here.
Trending
Follow Us: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube | Google News
