SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE: A GOOD (ENOUGH) ADAPTATION

By Robert Richmond

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a pleasant surprise to me. Illumination is not the most consistent studio and the trailers. Despite the trailer looking gorgeous, it did little to make me excited for its release. Coupled with stunt casting and mixed reviews I was not super hyped to be seeing this, but I actually had a really fun time.

This is a weird movie to talk about because it defies so many rules of traditional plotting, worldbuilding and storytelling. It attempts to use Mario as an audience avatar through the strange world of the Mushroom Kingdom and focuses the first twenty minutes building a relationship between him and Luigi so you feel and care for the brotherly dynamic.The second we get to the Mushroom Kingdom, however, any sense of standard plotting goes out the window, with the film going at such a breakneck speed, relying on iconography and character traits in a way that would seem completely incoherent if you have not played the Super Mario games. I think this is pretty much a best case scenario for a faithful Mario movie. It hits on all the familiar beats, iconography, characters, locations and tone in a way that does, flaws and all, capture the spirit of the Mario games.

Bowser did nothing wrong, the man can sing, is a hopeless romantic and has the dulcet voice of Jack Black. In all seriousness, Bowser is by far the best part of the movie any time he is on screen, he is a delight. I wish his song was longer but there is always a sequel for more of them. Chris Pratt as Mario is honestly fine as he works for what the movie is going for even if I think Martinet Mario, Mario’s original voice actor, would have been more than capable of carrying this, while Luigi is under-utilised until the finale.

Seth Rogen is Seth Rogen, luckily Seth Rogen fits Donkey Kong’s vibe so it works. Peach has my favourite design in the movie due to how expressive her animations are.

All of the Mushroom Kingdom stuff looks incredible, there is amazing detail in every part of the world, it is so lovingly recreated and captures the ‘feel’ of with a level of authenticity which was not expected. Miyamoto was heavily involved in the development so I should not be surprised but I did not expect something this gorgeous from a studio (Illumination) which has not exactly been known for the most stunning vistas or character design. There is a great sense of pace to the action here, it is fast and chaotic, as it should be.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is messy, colourful, incoherent, exciting, corny, gorgeous, full of awful needle drops, but a great score. It is all over the place yet still incredibly charming and likeable, and I can not think of anything that better reflects Mario as a character than that.