On April 5, 2023, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” hit the theaters. It is another major addition to the Mario Brothers franchise. On Rotten Tomatoes, as of April 8, the movie has an audience score of 96% but only 56% rating from critics.
The original Super Mario Bros. game was released on September 13, 1985. Over the years, the franchise has sold over $20 billion worth of games, figures, toys and other products. The addition of the Super Mario Bros. Movie has been awaited by fans since its announcement in 2018 and has already made over 150 million dollars.
Seeing the trailer, I was anticipating good animation but a storyline that was not well connected. Many movies based on games such as “Sonic,” “Angry Birds” and various Pokémon movies have felt cluttered and forced. After watching the movie, I felt it was exactly as I expected. The animation done by Illumination was smooth with no scenes that took you out of the movie, and each moment was filled with plenty of colors. The style of animation was similar to previous movies done by Illumination such as “Secret life of Pets,” “The Grinch” and “Despicable Me.” Another aspect that I expected, but was still disappointed by, was the lack of an interesting storyline that would get me hooked into the movie. Most of the movie was based on the main characters Mario and Luigi trying to protect the different kingdoms from Bowser, the main villain, which is a dynamic that is similar to that of the games. Other than this, there was not much depth to the plot or characters. This lack of story caused the movie to feel bland. The dialogue also felt forced at times, with characters using dialogue in the game in certain conversations.
I could see the goal that the filmmakers were going for: trying to show the viewers the entire world that Nintendo had created since Super Mario Bros.’s release in 1985.
However, this goal led to forced transitions between scenes and each location only getting a couple minutes on the screen. For a ninety minute movie, there was realistically not enough time to explore each of the places.
One thing that I did enjoy was seeing how different games such as the original Super Mario Bros. game, Mario Kart and Mario Party were integrated into the movie. Several subtle details were added into the movie, and noticing them was maybe even more interesting than following the actual movie.
I also enjoyed the voice acting for Peach and Bowser, done by Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black. They both portrayed the characters very well and sounded like what I imagined the characters would sound like. Unfortunately, a different voice actor for Mario could have been chosen. Chris Pratt voicing Mario had an accent that did not feel natural to me.
Despite all of this, I do think “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is a good addition to the franchise by giving the characters more backstory and developing the relationships between different characters more.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is not one that I would recommend watching in the theaters. I would have enjoyed the movie more if I could talk to others about the different references I saw while the movie was playing. I would recommend this movie to people who have played a few games or are generally interested in Super Mario Bros. Having some background knowledge will definitely make for a better viewing experience. Overall, I would rate this 2.5 out of 5 stars.
