‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ follows the fun of the games, but falls flat

by Cleia Stern Staff Writer

The highly anticipated “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” arrived in theaters on April 5.

The release was met with both praise and criticism by fans of the video game franchise.

Produced by Illumination Entertainment in partnership with Nintendo, the movie features impressive animation and creative elements. The bright and vibrant colors, along with the creative scenery bring the film to life. The best aspect of the film is the attention to detail that went into the design and animation process.

Many fans were disappointed at the extremely simple narrative of the film. The plot was very vague, which left older viewers and adults with questions. However, the simple narrative allows the film to be a perfect fit for children.

The new Mario movie follows Brooklyn native Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, on his journey to rescue his brother Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day. The narrative strays from the nostalgic plot line of the video game franchise. In this film, Luigi was kidnapped and held captive by evil Bowser, voiced by Jack Black.

Mario, with the help of Princess Peach and other familiar characters from the video game franchise, set out to rescue Luigi and protect the Mushroom kingdom from Bowser’s terror.

Bowser, blinded with love for Princess Peach, plans to use the gold star to impress

Princess Peach and win her hand in marriage. The central conflict of the movie is fueled by evil Bowser’s love.

Bowser is threatened by the presence of Mario and will do anything in his power to keep him away from Princess Peach.

Each voice actor did an excellent job of bringing their own unique take on the characters. Most notably, Black’s rendition of Bowser brought energy and humor to the film. Bowser’s love song to Princess Peach has taken over the internet thanks to the incredible energy brought to the table by Black.

The film features many characters from the celebrated video game franchise, including classic enemies and heroes.

Additional elements of the franchise, such as power-ups, karts, racing tracks, fighting arenas, and obstacle courses allow the nostalgic aspects of the franchise to shine through.

Many aspects of the film were heavily criticized. The selection of Pratt as the voice of Mario was debated among fans and critics. Many argued that his rendition was not the best fit for the film. Pratt’s voice acting strays far from Mario’s iconic and notorious accent, one of his most beloved character traits.

Luigi was, in many ways, completely robbed of character. He relies on Mario heavily, needing to be saved from Bowser’s captivity. Luigi’s character was given little opportunity to develop throughout the film, nor did he add much more to the plot than being Mario’s motivation to defeat Bowser.

Many critics were disappointed that the film highlighted Mario and Peach, as opposed to Mario and Luigi. The title, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” presents the idea of a brotherly plot at the narrative core, which was not what was presented in the film.

Overall, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is a satisfactory movie. I believe that it is important to keep in mind the target audience of the film: children and families.

The film successfully appeals to its target audience as a light-hearted, fun, and family-friendly flick. The incredible animation allows the movie to be engaging for viewers of all ages, regardless of the simple narrative.

Blast from the past: Old School RuneScape

by Brooke Holben Staff Writer

It’s the early 2000s and your friends are begging you to join them on a massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. They say it’s possible to do anything; you can smith armor, slay dragons or even wield a magic staff. You rush home after school, hop on your parents’ cinderblock of a computer, and boot up RuneScape.

The charming melodies of Lumbridge Castle flood your ears as the amazing for its time graphics astound you. You feel adrenaline rush through your veins as you excitedly begin on your first adventure. This is what it felt like to play the original RuneScape almost two decades ago.

The game that was so popular in the early 2000s is now commonly referred to as Old School RuneScape (OSRS). The 2013 rerelease brought old fans down memory lane while serving as a piece of history for those who had only played RuneScape 3 up until such time.

Jagex, the developers and publishers of the game, released a mobile version of the game to Android and iOS in 2018. Though updates have consistently made their way to the game, and they’re even polling for a new skill for the first time since it’s rerelease ten years ago.

OSRS is free-to-play at its front. With 22 quests to complete and 15 skills to level, the game has enough content for a focused player to get hundreds of hours of quality grind time.

Much of the game is barred behind a subscription wall, including 134 quests for members only and eight additional skills to add to the grind, not to mention much of the game’s world.

For players determined to save their money, there’s the option of purchasing a member- ship through a bond: an in-game item that can be used on a player (by another player or by themselves) to grant them a temporary 14-day membership.

Even if it’s not enough time to defeat the pay-to-play portion of the game, it’s at least a reasonable time span to begin experiencing the full game for what it’s worth, without committing to a pricey subscription service with the shortest plan being that of three-months.

Although, if one is to try Old School RuneScape at all, it’s recommended to skip the headache and start out with the RuneLite modified client right off the bat.

Both long term and newer players recommend the client and is a constant in the game’s community. It enables a modification interface and user interface that improves much of the base game, al - lowing customization for anyone who is searching to spice up their gameplay. Some quality-of-life adjustments, such as enabling WASD key bindings and high- er definition graphics, are at the tip of the iceberg that is the argument for much of the community pleading Jagex to make RuneLite the new official client.

Looking past the areas that can be altered by the alternative client, the base game has its own ups, downs, and little quirks as well.

The aforementioned paywall is the obvious frustration much of the com- munity finds with the game, though the developers offered a compromise to those willing to work for it.

Another grueling point of the game could be considered the random number generation. This can put the player at the mercy of the luck they’re having that day.

Of course, good players plan for the worst, hope for the best, but there have been many times players have been caught off guard when all odds were in their favor, but for whatever reason, they’d lost the fight anyway.

What makes the rough parts of the game all worthwhile to much of the community is the story. If there’s one thing that Jagex seemed to have done right from the start, it was the precision of hitting emotional beats and creating nonplayer characters for the gamers to interact with and love or hate, depending on the person.

Is the game good? I’d give the game a solid eight out of 10.

I’ve been using the RuneLite client and playing with a friend, which has made much of the experience more lighthearted, but I can see myself playing it on my own as well.

If you’re into games for a story, for the grind, or for the community, Old School RuneScape is definitely one to check out.