It’s finally here and in theaters! Nintendo and Illumination have been building up a lot of anticipation and excitement for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, especially with how many big named voice actors they have signed up for the cast list. Even with voice acting being the biggest concern going in, I was really excited to see how they do this time and had my fingers crossed for this one to be a good movie - and it was!
Spoiler-Free Breakdown
After getting their first advertisement commercial on TV, the Super Mario Bros Plumbing service finally got a customer, but thanks to some mishaps, it doesn’t go well. Knowing they blew their shot to start building a reputation, they jumped in on the action when they saw a cry for help from the city on the news due to a water main break. Of course, this goes about just as well as their first job but leads them into an abandoned pipe-filled section of the sewers which leads them to stumble upon the Mushroom Kingdom.
Arriving just in time, although separated, Mario learns that his goal to reunite and save Luigi from the badlands - where he is presumed to have arrived in, unlike Mario - correlates with a mission by Princess Peach to stop the incoming invasion and takeover from Bowser! After some quick training on how to handle the Mushroom Kingdom, in the form of a difficult 3D level in the sky, they head out to team up with the Kongs.
This adventure leads them through many iconic Mario-themed game scenes including Super Smash Bros, Mariokart, and more. We also get a nice interpretation of Bowser’s pursuit to marry Peach through the creativity of Jack Black, which was great. I would have liked some more Yoshi moments, but the after-credits scene made me feel better about that situation.
Animation and Audio
I definitely have to hand it to the animators for this movie because I thought they did an amazing job! Differentiating between the practice levels and the real threats, making classic enemies appear so much scarier in action, and generally giving a bit of personality and uniqueness to each character are all nice touches. I especially liked the Bullet Bill scene as it answers the question - are the eyes real or just painted on for effect?
All that not to mention the stuff they added for fan purposes, like the background horde of Yoshi’s that pass by and watch Peach being a badass. Seriously, not having Peach portrayed as some useless “oh no, save me” character is a nice change of pace that I think everybody is going to be happy to see. Plus, all the parkour and various scenes all seemed to flow well together, which is a testimate to clean animation and editing.
Now, I do want to give credit where it is due and say that it was clever to have the first Mario voice we here being in that plumbing advertisement and having him sound like the Mario we all know. Then, after the commercial ends, Mario and Luigi talk in their “normal” voices giving the idea that the iconic voices we all know and love are really just character voices. This allowed them to canonically use Chris Pratt and Charlie Day to give a different, but not completely different, voice to their characters. Still, a part of me wishes they would have used the iconic voices, but we did get a nice bit of it from the background and side characters as the original Mario voice actor Charles Martinet provided some voice work for various characters throughout the movie.
What It Could Have Done Better
As I mentioned, I’m a bit of a stickler with voice acting. I would have preferred Mario to have his original voice pitch range and style, same for Peach and Luigi. One thing I really didn’t care for was Donkey Kong having the iconic Seth Rogan laugh. I knew he was doing his voice, which Donkey Kong doesn’t really have a set voice, but I didn’t think about his laugh and I can do without that mix.
Verdict
The Super Mario Bros Movie is a must-see film for all video game fans, especially if you grew up playing the Mario games! While previous adaptations for Mario haven’t exactly been great, it definitely seems they are getting the concept of adaptations down pretty well these days. This time, we got a good movie with a fitting premise and a good mix of comedy with important or even flashy moments. A strong recommendation to see this one while it is in theaters and maybe even get it on DVD when it reaches that stage.
