The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Rating: 7.7

TL;DR - The Super Mario Bros Movie is very cute and has a ton of great moments for fans of Mario! It’s a crowd pleaser for sure. I just wish the Mario elements weren’t all it had going for it — the movie itself is quite hollow and feels like a speed run of a movie.

Your enjoyment really depends on how much mileage you get out of the Mario-isms… so fans will love it! (Let me be clear: not a great movie, but I still had fun)

Please read entire review to see what I mean!

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Film Info:

Premise: With help from Princess Peach, Mario gets ready to square off against the all-powerful Bowser to stop his plans from conquering the world.

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Universal

Directed by Aaron Horvath & Michael Jelenic

Written by Matthew Fogel

Cast: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen

Runtime: 1hr 32min

Rating: PG

Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

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IMDb Rating: 7.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 53%

RT Audience Score: 96%

RT Critic Average: 5.5/10

RT Audience Average: 4.7/5

Metacritic Score: 48

CinemaScore: A

Letterboxd: 3.6/5

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Fun Fact: Although the film is obviously based on Mario, many references to other Nintendo franchises exist. The pizzeria is called the "Punch-Out!!" Pizzeria after the video game of the same name (in which Mario had a cameo as the referee), and a model of an Arwing fighter from Star Fox can be seen in Mario's bedroom, as well as a posted of a racer from the F-Zero series. Additionally, the game that Mario plays in his bedroom on an NES-style console is the classic Kid Icarus.

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Review:

written by Tyler Park

As I started to write this review, I was told I was being too harsh on this movie. I was told to think of it more as a video game playing out on screen, to just have fun with it. And frankly, I have a different perspective, as I will get into. But it just reminds me of the beauty of film; the subjectivity of all our opinions. We can all go into the same movie, and all come out with a variety of different opinions, thoughts, and interpretations. Mine isn’t the right one, it is just my opinion. But let me just say, it’s a fact that audiences are going to enjoy the heck out of The Super Mario Bros. Movie! My proof? The audience I saw it with went nuts for it, there was lots of cheering and clapping, and a round of applause at the end (reactions I haven’t seen since Spider-Man: No Way Home). But while everyone else was clapping at the end, I was sitting there thinking to myself: “That’s it?”

Before you try and guess where this is going, NO I did not hate this movie. I enjoyed myself the whole time and loved so many moments in it. I have played Mario games all my life, especially lots of Mario Kart, so seeing these iconic characters and locations on screen was a blast. There were so many references that made me smile, and I even loved how cues from the music in the games were used in the score here. The whole movie has many great moments, from the Mario Kart scene to the Donkey Kong vs Mario fight, to the training scene in the Mushroom Kingdom that plays out exactly like me trying to play the games (a real struggle). But your liking or disliking of this movie really comes down to how far these Mario-isms go for you. The plot is simple, hollow even. The Illumination style doesn’t help. But the Nintendo stuff is exactly what you want. So if you are a fan of Mario, you’ll have a good time! If not, this movie probably isn’t for you, you’ll probably come out of it confused about why so many people are loving it. Me? I think I’ve established myself as very mixed.

And yeah, some of you are going to say I’m being too harsh on this movie. Trust me, I don’t want to be, nor do I think I am. I did love the Mario stuff, I just really would’ve liked an actual script next time… it plays more like a demo of the world of Mario. The movie is still really cute and perfect for kids, it does a great job of capturing the spirit of the games and the excitement of the set pieces, it is just a pretty hollow script that barely operates as a narrative feature. Mario, Luigi, Peach, and Toad are all very blank slate characters (although this is perhaps at the request of Nintendo, maybe they didn’t want overly specific versions of these marquee characters). Really, I think most of my issues stem from the Illumination side of things. This movie has all the same qualities as any other Illumination film, from Minions to The Secret Life of Pets: it’s got 20 gags (or references) per minute and really moves fast through story and character moments — it feels like a movie speed run. I would’ve liked it to slow down more, explore more of the world and get more time with the characters. It also had some humor that didn’t work for me, but seemed to work for people around me (singing Bowser wasn’t my favorite). But frankly, I really can’t fault the movie for all this, it did what every other Illumination film does. So it’s easier for me just to accept that maybe Illumination’s style isn’t for me. I prefer the Pixar or DreamWorks style, or if we’re talking about this type of movie, I prefer The LEGO Movie or the two Sonic films as those were both very good stories with thematic elements while honoring their source material (and being very charming films too!)

The voice cast was actually decent! I don’t always love Illumination’s insistence on hiring big-name actors over voice actors, but it worked here for the most part. Jack Black was awesome as Bowser, same goes for Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, and the rest of the cast was pretty good too! But here’s the big question: how was Chris Pratt’s Mario voice? And the answer — it was fine. He did well for what they had him do, although I didn’t love that this Mario had a Brooklyn accent over the classic Italian one. I thought it worked for the most part, but I still would have preferred they just use the original Mario voice.

I can be critical all I want. I could mention how the needle drops were too much, I could go on about the lack of plot, I could complain about how I wished it was longer, but I don’t want to. Because as a Mario fan, I loved so many moments here. I was smiling throughout the film. Sure, some things didn’t always work, but I had a good time, as did everyone else in my showing. Kids will go nuts for it, it’s a great family film. It’s so joyful and energetic and feels like a fun adaptation of the Mario games. Plus the animation is fantastic! It’s pretty cute, and will be very re-watchable. The movie is by no means perfect, but families looking for a good movie will find one with The Super Mario Bros. Movie! And of course, this will be perfect for any Mario fan!

Now, time to go play some Mario Kart!

(Few more things I loved in case I didn’t convince you that I liked it: The way the camera did the side crawl of the games while characters traveled through obstacles was awesome and such a cool visual reference. They really incorporated so many elements of the games in big and small ways and it was just so cool to see how much they stuffed in. The things you love about Mario are all present here, it’s a delight. I just want more of it, and maybe that’s why I felt a little cold coming out. There’s lots to love, and room for improvement in the future. Audiences will have lots of fun!)

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Trailer: