Anthony's Film Review - The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

At last, we have a Super Mario movie that is just like the video games...

For thirty years, Hollywood has tried to adapt video games to movies but failed so many times doing it. It's pretty clear to me what went wrong. Basically, the filmmakers made a simple boneheaded mistake: taking just the premise of the game and then doing whatever they felt like with it. That doesn't go far enough in making a movie adaptation of a video game, or a movie adaptation of anything else for that matter. What they should have done was to dive deep into why the original game was special to its audience, identify all of the key elements for that success, and then bring all of that to the big screen. Now, I'll give credit to the two Sonic the Hedgehog movies, the Warcraft movie, the 2018 Tomb Raider movie, and the 2021 Mortal Kombat movie for at least getting close to that goal, enough for me to enjoy them.

But now we have a winner: the Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023, an animated film by Illumination in association with Nintendo. In my opinion, this is the movie that finally gets video game-based movies right. It has pretty much everything that made the Super Mario games so beloved while still being fun for anyone not familiar with the games. It caters to gamers and nongamers alike, which is how it should be. It is also fitting that this comes three decades after the very first video game-based movie: the godawful 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie that had very little resemblance to the games. At this point, you can pretty much toss that movie aside and deny its existence.

Going back to the 2023 animated film, the story is fairly simple and developed just enough to be a complete plot. Two Italian brothers in Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi, are struggling with their plumbing business. One day, when there's a major water main break in the city, they attempt to be heroes in stopping that leak. But in the process, they wander into a part of the sewer system that has a portal, through a green pipe, into another world: the Mushroom Kingdom. The brothers get separated, with Luigi being kidnapped while Mario finds his way around this strange new place.

This is where other familiar characters from the Mario games are introduced. Bowser, king of a reptilian race called the Koopas, is the one who captures Luigi and imprisons him, while plotting to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom. The leader of the Mushroom Kingdom is Princess Peach, who oversees the well-being of short mushroom-like people, including Toad who becomes Mario's friend. Mario ends up being an ally in helping Princess Peach protect her kingdom from the clutches of Bowser, all while finding a way to rescue his brother. That may also require an encounter with another Nintendo game character: Donkey Kong.

All of that should be sufficient to entertain the nongamer audience who expect the basic elements of plot and character. Now let's get into some of the extra stuff for the gamer audience. Basically, this movie is chock-full of Super Mario video game references. For example, one scene shows Princess Peach testing Mario with an obstacle course, consisting of brick platforms, pipes containing big plants with teeth, and bullets with faces, all elements from the early side-scrolling platform Mario games. This is also the scene that introduces the magic mushroom making Mario larger and therefore able to break blocks with his fist. Yep, just like in the games, too.

But that's not all. There are other Mario-related references in this movie. Just keep your eyes open. Oh, and your ears, too. Apparently, there are plenty of segments of this movie's soundtrack that incorporate tunes from the early Super Mario games. Think of the tune that plays when you successfully complete a level in the original 1985 Super Mario Bros. game, because that is played in this movie as a Mushroom Kingdom trumpet anthem. Also, the music for the second level of the 1985 game is included in this movie in a rather interesting place. The music of the games plays such a role here that the end credits also mention the composer for the original Nintendo themes, not just the composer for this movie.

All of this is to say that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is fun and engaging from beginning to end, for both the gamer and the nongamer in the audience. I'm rating this movie an 8 out of my 1-to-10 scale not because the plot and characters are awesome, but simply because it successfully recreates the experience of the video games in a way that a movie should, with respect for the source material. I have to admit. Watching this movie made me want to go back and replay the first three Super Mario Bros. games on Nintendo plus Super Mario World on the Super Nintendo. But even if I don't do that, the movie brought back good memories. That being said, I say the cinematic adventures of Mario and Luigi should continue, knowing that Illumination and Nintendo can indeed work well together.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about The Super Mario Bros. Movie, visit the Internet Movie Database.