Wahoo! It's-a Super Mario Bros. Movie Review!
SPOILER WARNING!
Growing up, there were only a hand few of things I would love to do and one of those was playing Super Mario. I remember getting on whatever console that had that awesome, short, red plumber and just getting lost in time playing the different levels. Now, in 2023 that plumber and his brother take to the big screen for another wild adventure! Let's review "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"!
Before we get started, here's some of the cast:
Chris Pratt- Mario
Charlie Day- Luigi
Jack Black- Bowser
Anya Taylor-Joy- Princess Peach
Keegan-Michael Key- Toad
Seth Rogan- Donkey Kong
This movie had me hooked ever since they made the announcement during a Nintendo Direct in 2018. Seeing these characters become animated made this 30 year old smile from ear to ear!
Normally, I discuss the positives and then the negatives, but honestly I couldn't find any huge negatives about this movie! It was fun, entertaining and overall a great time! I do have one small complaint but it's so small that it's not a big deal. Let me explain.
The Length.
"The Super Mario Bros. Movie" has a run time of 1 hour and 32 minuets which sounds like a decent length, but in a movie that has so many characters and a good story, I do think it should've been a little longer.
Now, don't get me wrong and think I hated it, I actually think the pace was great and worked well for what we were given. In my opinion, if it had maybe 15 more minutes then it would have perfect!
Now let's look at the positives from this movie. There were a lot, but these were just some of my main takeaways!
The Characters.
The character Mario has so many properties that making a movie about him would seem almost impossible! However, when you have the main side characters like Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong and Bowser then it just writes itself.
All of those side characters make up who Mario is and have been there since the beginning so it was a no brainer to have them be important players in the film. From the different worlds they live in to the reason behind Bowser's evil plan, each character had a great part.
If you were to ask me to rank the characters from worst to best, I couldn't do it simply because they all are great! From Luigi to Toad, each character brings the best attribute from what I remember from the video games and that was awesome to see. During the movie, you see Luigi and his coward side but ultimately overcomes that and becomes bold and confident. You also see Donkey Kong who just wants to show his dad who he really is and to impress him. One change to a character that I thought was perfect was Bowser's. Throughout history all Bowser wanted to do is kidnap Princess Peach and take her hostage, but in this movie all he wanted to do was marry her and show her how powerful they both could be! It was perfect in my opinion!
Each character had a perfect amount of screen time and each of them had that one defying moment. Donkey Kong rescuing Mario, Toad pulling up in the monster truck, Peach taking charge and fighting back and Bowser with his amazing songs! All were great!
The Music.
If I told you that this movie has possibly the best soundtrack ever, I wouldn't be lying. I need to give Jack Black all the credit in the world because he wrote one of the most viral songs from this movie called "Peaches" and if you want to download them, like I did, then you can find the songs on Apple Music.
Of course you can't say Mario without his iconic theme song and the different themes from various worlds he visits! I bet you can hear them now as you read this which goes to show that when you mix iconic charcaters and music, you get memories!
The Easter eggs.
Every movie, no matter the genre, has some sort of Easter Egg that shows either a look into the future of the franchise or a nod to the history of said franchise. "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" had a ton of these scattered in the movie that I lost count! I have a few favorites so let's talk about them.
One of my favorites was hearing the original Mario voice actor Charles Martinet in this movie. He deserved to have some role and I'm glad he got to be in it. He is Mario no matter what people say!
When Luigi's phone rings, the iconic GameCube theme starts to play and boy did that put a smile on my face! I grew up playing the GameCube so hearing that was awesome!
When we are introduced to Donkey Kong, not only did we get to hear the icon DK rap song but we also got to see a brief cameo of Diddy, Trixie and Chunky Kong! I was rapping that song during that entire scene!
One last Easter Egg I'll talk about is the different levels we see during that film. Mario is known for going into different worlds and having to go through obstacles to make it to the end and move to the next level. Seeing the different worlds and levels in this film gave me flashbacks and made me want to get out my old Nintendo consoles and just play!
*There IS a mid and post credit scene in this movie so make sure to stay!
Overall, this movie was fantastic and I had so much fun with it. The animation was beautiful, the music was amazing and the characters made me smile so much. For this movie to be marketed as a kids movie, I truly believe that it is one for all ages and I highly recommend it!