VOD film review: The Super Mario Bros Movie
Review Overview
Expectation
8Execution
7Jack Black's Peaches
8Laurence Boyce | On 03, Jun 2023
Director: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
Cast: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen
Certificate: PG
Let’s face it. The majority of video-game-to-film adaptations have been garbage. The list of these adaptations read like the programme of the Hell International Film Festival, with House of the Dead, Doom, Max Payne and Pixels (which manages to ruin several games rather than just one) all proving consoles and cinema don’t always mix. But when a new Super Mario movie was announced there was cautious optimism. Maybe it was because it would be an animated affair, allowing the aesthetics of the beloved game franchise to translate to the big screen. Maybe it was the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog had shown that game adaptations could still be – if not world-beating – fun. Maybe it was the knowledge that there is no way it could be as bad as the infamous 1993 live-action film with Bob Hoskins in the lead role and Dennis Hopper playing a lizard. Given that 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie is currently the highest-grossing video game adaptation of all time – and one of the highest-grossing animations of all time – it seems that the cautious optimism was founded.
Brothers Mario (Chris Pratt, who does a fine job, albeit one where he is basically Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) prepare to strike out on their own with their own plumbing business in their native Brooklyn. But after a massive water leak threatens the city, they find themselves transported to a mysterious new world and are promptly split up.
Searching for his brother, Mario ends up at the colourful Mushroom Kingdom where he meets Princess Peach (Anna Taylor Joy), who reveals that the evil Bowser (Jack Black) – now in possession of a powerful Super Star – will destroy everything in his path to gain her hand in marriage. The two head off to stop Bowser and find Luigi, meeting Donkey Kong (Seth Rogan) and a whole host of others on the way.
Some films trade in nostalgia. This film trades it, puts it in a bank account, lets it accrue in value and then trades it in again for even more nostalgia. From the very beginning, the film is reference after reference to the franchise and related games. A Jump Man console (Jump Man being one of the original monikers of Mario). A ‘Punch Out’ diner (referring to the classic Nintendo boxing game). A sequence showing off Mario’s athleticism, which mirrors the classic first level of the original Super Mario Bros game. Charles Martinet (the original voice of Mario) showing up twice, with one of his roles as Mario’s father. And all that is in the first 10 minutes of the movie. It’s manna from Heaven (or mushrooms from blocks) for fans looking for nods to the games they grew up with.
One can’t help feel that the non-stop fan service pushes some important elements – such as character development – out of the way. Compared to other animated movies that are entertaining and emotional, The Super Mario Bros Movie sometimes feels a bit thin. There are basic beats – Mario’s desire to be taken seriously, Peach’s search for belonging – but they are never really fully explored. The film lurches from one set-piece to another without much time for reflection. We’re never really told how this world – full of blocks that float in mid-air and mushrooms that give magic powers – has come into being or who the inhabitants really are.
Thankfully, those sequences are done really well, capturing the exhilaration that one gets from playing the Mario game, a sense of freedom and discovery found in both the 2D and 3D games as well as the thrills and spills of Mario Kart. With plenty of gorgeous visuals and plenty of sight gags, the plentiful set-pieces shine.
While perhaps not a richly satisfying as it could have been, The Super Mario Bros Movie is still a barrel load of enormous fun that does the world’s most famous plumbers – and the video game pantheon – some much needed cinematic justice. As Mario would say: woo-hoo!