Mario Movie

In this article, Amber talks about the newly released Super Mario Bros Movie!

Super Mario Bros Movie Review

By Amber Medina-Montoya

The Super Mario Bros Movie has finally been released in theaters after months of anticipation, and it has seen huge success in its opening week. In less than a week, it became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, beating Frozen 2. With references to past games in the Super Mario Bros franchise and even other Nintendo games, this movie is jam-packed with little throwbacks to nostalgic memories for many people. In this article, I am going to do a deep dive into the movie, so let’s-a go!

Synopsis

This movie breaks the “damsel in distress” trend that is normally used in Mario games, instead choosing to have Mario’s brother Luigi as the victim. Mario and Luigi have recently started a plumbing business in Brooklyn, New York, in hopes of becoming the best plumbing business in the state. Unfortunately, the brothers messed up their first-ever job, and go home defeated. Their family appears to be unsupportive of their new job, and their father goes as far as telling Mario that he is only dragging Luigi down with him. Later that night, on a mission to fix a huge water issue in downtown Brooklyn the brothers end up in the pipe systems of the city. The brothers come across a quite recognizable green pipe, and after falling through it, end up in the Mushroom Kingdom. Or, at least Mario does. Luigi ends up in the “Badlands”, a place that has fallen under Bowser’s control. This leads Mario to meet Toad, who tells him to go find Princess Peach to help save Luigi. Upon meeting the Princess, they both embark on a journey to not only save Luigi, but the entire Mushroom Kingdom. You can also read a breakdown of the movie at the Official Super Mario Bros website.

This movie is a feel-good movie for most people that have seen it. I personally have not enjoyed an animated movie so much since The Lego Movie came out years ago (both movies feature Chris Pratt and Charlie Day voicing major characters so I think there’s some kind of effect that is included with this) and many people agree. The incredible voice acting behind the movie includes Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Micheal Key as Toad, and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.

Photo Credit: Official Super Mario Bros website

References

Many fans of the movie share interest points throughout the film, a lot of which stem from the music featured in the film, such as Bowser’s love song to Peach called “Peaches”, the DK Rap that originally comes from Donkey Kong 64, and the instrumental soundtrack that remakes nostalgic pieces from all throughout the game series. However, these are just a few of the extensive list of throwbacks that long-time fans of the Super Mario Bros series (such as myself) have pointed out since its premiere. There are at least 85, so let’s take a look at just a few.

Voice Acting

Charles Martinet, the original voice of Mario since 1991, made a cameo not once, but twice in the newly released movie. He voiced the character named Guiseppe near the beginning of the movie. He can be seen playing a Donkey Kong arcade game and complimenting the Plumbing brother’s commercial. Martinet also voiced the brothers' father, which is a funny way of featuring him, but it was appreciated by fans. Martinet was not the only quickly noticed voice, though. The girl featured in the Super Mario Bros Plumbing advertisement at the beginning of the movie is none other than Jeannie Elias, who voiced Princess Toadstool in the Super Mario Bros Super Show!

Princess Peach's Castle

During his time in the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario is told by Toad to find the Princess at her castle in order to get help in his search for his brother. When Toad and Mario set off to go to the castle, a remade version of the castle theme from Super Mario 64 starts playing in the background. When they arrive at the castle soon afterward, the castle looks like it was almost ripped straight from the aforementioned game, even including the giant Princess Peach stained glass window at the front. Inside the castle, there are big paintings hanging on the walls, yet another throwback to Super Mario 64, where the player jumps through paintings in the castle to get to the next level. This was one of my favorite locations in the movie, mainly because I absolutely adore the Princess.

Toad's Famous Line

When Toad and Mario arrive at the Princess’s castle, they are denied entrance by two toad guards at the front doors. When Mario says he needs to see the Princess, the ensuing conversation looks like this:

“What Princess?”

“I never heard of any Princess!”

“Oh wait, I did! Our Princess, though, is in another castle!”

This line is very popular among fans and is derived from the first Super Mario Bros game where Toad says, “Our Princess is in another castle!” to Mario after every castle level throughout the game. I freaked out a little bit (a lot) after hearing this in the theater for the first time.

Mario's Bedroom

About 15 minutes into the movie, Mario is seen sulking in his room after a small argument with his dad. In his room, the red-clothed plumber is playing Kid Icarus on an NES console. There are also many posters hung up around his room with other video games on them. How meta.

Donkey Kong vs Mario

During a scene in the movie in which Mario and Donkey Kong have a brawl, the playing field for this fight caught the eyes of a lot of fans. The pair fight in a colosseum-esque arena and the arena is filled with red platforms connected with ladders that Donkey Kong throws barrels at Mario from occasionally. This is the exact type of layout seen in the original Donkey Kong game!

Super Mario Bros Rap

The rap that was heard in the Super Mario Bros Plumbing commercial is not new by any means. Many fans immediately recognized it as the theme song from the Super Mario Bros Super Show. This was a pretty popular reference if you are a long-term fan, but definitely is not something that would be super noticeable for newer fans.

Audience Reviews

In the couple of weeks since its release, the Super Mario Bros Movie has received many mixed reviews. On one hand, it has received a lot of praise for the soundtrack, characters, and animation. On the other hand, many people felt that it was too fast-paced, with lackluster character development. Let’s see what people here at GPHS have to say about it!

Rylie Revercomb says, “The plot was…decent, y’know? But it was very fast-paced, like it didn’t make sense half the time. Donkey Kong was annoying, but Bowser’s solo song “Peaches” was the best part of the movie, also when Bowser says, ‘I guess love really makes a guy come out of his shell’. Solid 8.2/10 rating.”

Dulce Flores says that it is a “10/10. I love Anya Taylor Joy and I loved the pace of it.”

Mr. Matthews said that he took his kids to see it. He said that he loved the references to games that he grew up playing. His last comment was that Toad was his favorite character but there was not enough Yoshi content.

There were plenty of negative feelings towards the movie, however. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 58%, and IMBd gave it a 7.4/10. I personally mostly enjoyed the movie and it has earned the title of my current favorite movie. However, it was quite fast-paced. It honestly could have been longer. I also wish that there was just a little more character development, but it was good for what it was. The animation and soundtrack were spectacular. I loved being able to catch pieces of songs from all over the Mario Series and I got super excited when the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme from Super Mario Galaxy came on in the credits because that is my favorite Mario game ever. The voice acting was done well, too. I was honestly kind of skeptical, especially when they announced Chris Pratt as Mario, but it worked really well. Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as Bowser were the best decisions. I do wish there were more characters, such as Rosalina or Waluigi, but maybe we will see them in future movies if Illumination Studios decides to make another. All in all I was pleasantly surprised with how good this movie turned out! I was super skeptical going into it because most movie renditions of video games turn out...odd... to say the least, so this was wonderful.

Wrap Up

All in all, this movie is a huge hit among Nintendo fans and casual movie-goers alike. Whether someone saw this movie to relive their childhood and let out their inner nerdy child for a while or just to be entertained, most people had positive experiences. Illumination Studios really outdid themselves. There is still plenty of time to go experience this film for yourself, and I strongly suggest that you do. Even if you’re not a die-hard Mario fan like me, I’m sure you’ll have the time of your life!

Sources

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