Last week I went to see the new Super Mario Brothers movie with my wife and 7 year old son. As a fan of Mario for over 30 years, I was excited to see how one of my favourite video games would be converted for the cinema. I was there for the Bob Hoskins version of Mario and, whilst interesting, it wasn’t really a Mario movie. I was hoping the new version would be closer to the source material, and I’m pleased to say I really enjoyed the film and found it to be a fun trip down memory lane.
I know reviews have been mixed for the film but I feel like a lot of this stems from not knowing the material. The film will definitely be more enjoyable if you have knowledge of the games. There are a lot of ‘in jokes’ and references to the games that only fans will appreciate. As someone who has spent countless hours playing Super Mario games over the years, I found myself laughing and smiling throughout.
I was initially concerned about Chris Pratt’s casting as Mario, but I have to say he did a decent job. But the stand out voice was Jack Black – he was as epic as only Jack Black can be.
Another pleasant surprise was how the movie handled Princess Peach’s character. In the games, Peach is generally portrayed as a damsel in distress who needs rescuing by Mario. However, in the movie, Peach is a strong and capable character who is very much not in need of rescuing. In fact she was the most capable character in the film, and it was refreshing to see her portrayed in this way.
Visually, the movie looks stunning. It’s absolutely beautiful and I would happily take a still frame from any section of the film and print it as a poster. The level of detail is vast and I’m in awe of the effort that was put into building this world.
Overall, I really hope there’s a sequel. Apparently the movie has made over $700 million worldwide, making ithe highest grossing video game adaptation ever; so they would be crazy not to.
My son came out of the film saying it was the best film he had ever seen. Whilst that’s perhaps a bit extreme for me, the Super Mario Brothers movie was a fun and nostalgic experience that I would highly recommend to any fan of the games. It was great to see the characters that I’ve grown to love over the years brought to life in such an entertaining way.
Let me know what you think on Mastodon, or BlueSky (or Twitter X if you must).
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