Does Mario really need an introduction? Based on the highest-selling video game franchise of all time, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” brings the Mushroom Kingdom to life. Thirty years after the failed live-action adaptation, “Super Mario Bros.” in 1993, Mario, Luigi and the rest of the Mario gang finally get a worthy adaptation to film.
There are two directions one can realistically take with a review of a film like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” I could be overly critical and cynical about the lack of story, logic and overall absence of a creative identity. However, it is a “Super Mario” movie at the end of the day. It is supposed to be an extremely fun, high-energy romp that can be enjoyed by both children and their parents. When I consider the target audience and general respect for its source material, I can’t help but appreciate the film.
It’s abundantly apparent that directors, Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath, along with writer Matthew Fogel, have an extreme love for the “Mario” franchise. For fans of the character and games, the film is chock-full of fun references and nods to characters, locations, power-ups and music throughout the film. As an avid “Mario” fan growing up, I had an absolute blast watching the Mushroom Kingdom come to life in this admittedly extremely simple film.
The attention to detail is quite honestly incredible. There are so many small details and characters from the games included in some capacity throughout the film. While this may come off as nostalgia bait for some, I found it extremely enjoyable and faithful to the “Mario” franchise.
I absolutely loved the score throughout the film. There are quite a few iconic pieces of music throughout the “Mario” games. Whether it is Mario’s main theme or some musical cues for power-ups, the franchise has extremely recognizable and memorable music in the gaming world. Composer Brian Tyler does an incredible job incorporating these musical pieces throughout the film. He takes these instantly-recognizable compositions and tweaks them just enough to sound fresh and serve the film while simultaneously keeping the core identity of the piece recognizable.
As I alluded to earlier, the film is about as basic as you can get. This is mainly due to the fact that it barely has a story to tell. With a video game franchise that has never had a complex story, or much of a story at all for a matter of fact, it was going to be a challenge to make the film a compelling one. It’s very understandable when the plot of nearly every “Mario” game goes as follows: “Bowser kidnaps Princess Peach from the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario goes on an adventure to defeat Bowser and save Princess Peach.” It’s really that simple. This is totally fine, but I couldn’t help but want a little more given that this is a film, not a game.
The attempts at humor were also admittedly quite bad. Much of it boiled down to extremely basic and childish humor that you would expect in an Illumination animated film. There are fart jokes and other pretty low-hanging fruit-type jokes pulled throughout. While I fully understand it’s a film for children, I again can’t help but ask for a bit more.
I could have easily taken the cynical route to this review and torn it apart. However, my love and nostalgia for the “Super Mario” franchise were simply too strong to hate this. The animation is great, the passion for the character is felt and the pacing is perfect for a film of this type. These positives outweigh the negatives such as a barebones plot and generally weak humor. I can’t see any fans of the “Mario” games disliking this film.
6.5/10
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