Movie review: The Super Mario Bros Movie
When it was revealed that a Super Mario Bros. movie was in production, it was met with an extremely high level of cynicism from fans, who could hardly be blamed for the skepticism: the film was being made by Illumination—a notoriously lifeless animation studio—and was set to star Chris Pratt in the title role, so most people were expecting a generic animated film where the beloved video game character makes fart jokes and cheesy pop culture references. Well, I’m happy to report that The Super Mario Bros. Movie defies those expectations and is a fantastic movie.
Right from the film’s first scene, you can tell that it is going to be a love letter to the fans. This movie doesn’t pretend to be anything it isn’t; it knows it is not Oscar-bait, so it just focuses on being fun. Scenes are packed with references to the Mario games through dialogue, music, and visual references. If you’ve ever played a Mario game, this film likely has something for you to enjoy. My personal favorite is the way that the movie incorporates classic Mario music into its score, including the infamous 1999 “DK Rap.”
The all-star voice acting cast proved itself as well. Early on in the film they explain why Mario and Luigi don’t have the thick Italian accents they have in the games, and with that context, I actually never had an issue with Chris Pratt’s voice acting as Mario. Charlie Day as Luigi was fantastic, and I wish we had gotten to see more of him. Anya Taylor-Joy, Keegan Michael Key, and the rest of the cast also do a great job of bringing these beloved characters to life.
To me, the two performances that stand above all of the others are Jack Black as Bowser and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. Black brings an incredible amount of energy to his performance, and even sings at various points throughout the film. My enjoyment of Rogen’s performance might be personal bias, but it was also a lot of fun to experience the character of Donkey Kong on the silver screen. Something about Donkey Kong doing the classic “Seth Rogen laugh” just makes perfect sense.
Something notable that the film adapted well from the Mario mythos is the age-old “damsel in distress” trope. For decades, the Super Mario Bros. games have endured criticism for perpetuating the trope that women like Princess Peach and Pauline always need to be saved by men. The Super Mario Bros. Movie subverts this by having Mario team up with Princess Peach to save Luigi. It worked really well in the film and gave Peach more depth than we’ve seen from her in probably any of the games. I wouldn’t be surprised if future Mario games use this updated version of Peach.
The film is not without its flaws, though—it falls into the modern Hollywood cliché of being packed with random 1980s rock songs, something that most people have no reason to associate with Mario. The story itself is also pretty shallow. Ultimately, though, it is a movie about Mario—something that me and countless others have been wishing for as long as we can remember; and on the whole, it doesn’t disappoint.
If you’re thinking about seeing The Super Mario Bros. Movie any time soon, do it. Fans of the franchise will be grinning ear-to-ear the whole time, and will probably spend the rest of their evening on a Nintendo console, grinding through any Mario games they can get their hands on. Don’t expect high art, but if you’re looking for pure unadulterated fun, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is for you.
Thumbnail Photo via Wikimedia Commons