There’s no question that the Mario franchise is not only Nintendo’s crowning achievement but also has some of the most beloved and impactful characters of all-time. Mario is a property whose reach stretches multiple generations — whether you grew up in the ’80s when Mario first fought Donkey Kong on an arcade cabinet or were introduced to Mario on a whirlwind journey through the universe in Super Mario Odyssey. Now, Nintendo partners with Illumination to take Mario, his friends, and his world to the big screen and chart a new path in his legacy in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie instantly stands out its opening moments as it establishes a legitimate origin story for Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and his brother Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day). Normally, Mario and Luigi are just seen starting their journey in Mushroom Kingdom, but here the film shows them in their native world – Brooklyn.
While it might seem bizarre to see Mario and Luigi running around the streets of Brooklyn as failing handymen, it’s actually a lot of fun. There are a lot of laughs to be had seeing the brothers struggle in their line of work and take guff from their family. There are some amazing nods to not just Mario, but other beloved Nintendo games that fans will love – including a side-scrolling sequence that’s awesome to watch. They also establish lore that ties to the games and even brings in a small, but meaningful nod to Odyssey with the appearance of a particular mayor. Mario and Luigi are a lot of fun to watch as underdogs in their own neighborhood, but it doesn’t even compare to when they enter the real world of Mario.
After Mario and Luigi are sucked into a mysterious green pipe they find underground, they’re transported into a wild new world. Luigi is warped to the Koopa Kingdom ruled by the fearsome Bowser (voiced by Jack Black). Mario is taken to the Mushroom Kingdom and now must work alongside Princess Peach (voiced Anya Taylor-Joy) and Toad (voiced by Keegan Michael-Key) to stop Bowser’s plans The Mushroom Kingdom being brought to life on the big screen will evoke some surreal feelings for fans that are totally unmatched by any video game movie that’s come before.
Illumination has already shown themselves to be in the same leagues of top animation studios with the stunning visuals of their animated worlds and characters. In The Super Mario Bros. Movie though, Illumination reaches whole new levels of visual flair with the worlds that Mario, Peach, and Toad explore. It feels more vast and grander than even in the modern games with moments that’ll leave fans awe-struck. From Mario, Peach, and Toad standing in a beautiful field of fire flowers to everyone racing across Rainbow Road, Illumination has really gone above and beyond to make The Super Mario Bros. Movie world feel bigger on the silver screen. Even the way that Donkey Kong’s (voiced by Seth Rogen) world comes to life is genuinely impressive with Illumination showing painstaking attention to detail with the smaller aspects of Mario.
It’s a ton of fun to see how Illumination plays with some of Mario’s most iconic items and it often results in comedic and thrilling action. The addition of Mario Kart as a key story moment feels forced and unnecessary but it’s hard to deny how awesome it is to see characters create their own Karts and watch a blue shell get used on the track. The different mushroom power ups within the world create some funny moments in the action and the entire final battle has some memorable moments that seasoned and new Mario alike fans can enjoy. There are just so many little references and blink and you’ll miss it nods that make the Mario movie an absolute love letter to fans, so rewatching it sheerly for that almost feels like a requirement.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie even surpass one of its biggest hurdles leading up to its release – its potentially disastrous voice cast. Ever since the voice cast for this film was revealed, it’s essentially been the internet’s punching bag. But to be honest, the film gets the last laugh as it actually assembles some good new voices for these iconic characters. Pratt and Day make for a surprisingly solid Mario and Luigi, respectively, and easily give the brothers some good charm and humor that works well in this new vision for the franchise.
Taylor-Joy is equally solid as Peach and adds to the energy of her more active role in the story. As expected though, Black’s version of Bowser reigns supreme for the near endless hilarity and incredibly fun songs he provides as the character. Frankly, fans will be wanting a Bowser solo film after seeing his antics here and the sudden reveal of his actual plans makes things so much funnier. The only one who sticks out badly is Rogen’s Donkey Kong and it’s simply a case of bad casting. Donkey Kong really needs a deeper voice akin to someone like John Cena to really feel like you’re watching the character on-screen, and Rogen just isn’t the right fit – which makes the impending Donkey Kong solo film a little worrisome.
As for its story, well, the Mario movie is definitely a Mario story – a basic one at that. Given that most people’s knowledge of a Mario story stems from the main side-scroller games where he simply goes on an adventure to save Peach from Bowser, this film basically offers a gateway story that audiences of all ages will have fun with and easily engage with. There are definitely some issues with the rushed nature of its third act and weak character arc for Mario dealing with his father’s approval that it didn’t really need. However, it’s more than enough to entertain viewers and be a solid starting point for the franchise to improve on with future films.
The 3D Mario and even Paper Mario games have shown that there can be more ambitious and wildly entertaining things done with the “Mario saving the day from Bowser” story, and hopefully Illumination can take some inspiration from those stories for their future Mario movies. Also, hopefully they can be a little more ambitious with their post-credit scenes because the two that are there are uninspired and not all that exciting. But for now, The Super Mario Bros Movie’s story does plenty to get the hook in audiences and make them more than thrilled to be in this often funny and colorful world.
Illumination and Nintendo make it official that a new era of video game adaptations is dawning and now the most iconic and beloved franchise in all of gaming has an incredibly fun and lively animated adventure of its own on the big screen that boasts big franchise potential.
