On September 13th, 1985, the world of video games and entertainment changed forever with Nintendo’s release of Super Mario Bros. While the character first appeared in 1981’s Donkey Kong, this was the first game that would feature Mario and his brother Luigi. Not only did the game save the video game industry after the crash of the early 80s, but it was also critically acclaimed.
The game sold over 58 million units throughout its run and created two giant pop culture stars in Mario and Luigi. It rose Nintendo to become one of the most prominent companies in the world. Over the past 38 years, numerous games and increased popularity culminated with the first attempt to bring the famous plumbers to film.
1993’s Super Mario Bros. has become a cult classic, but upon initial release was both a critical and commercial failure as it grossed only $38.9 million. That put the plumbers back into the video game world until 2023 when Illumination and Universal released The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie warps you back into childhood with nostalgia and dino eggs. Impeccably animated with a score that’s an utter delight, the film captures the charm and appeal the game has evoked for decades.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie follows Brooklyn’s favorite plumbers, Mario and Luigi. Labeled by their old boss as failures and offered little to no support by their family, the brothers spend their life savings on advertising their business with an 80’s style-commercial, which also homages the old Super Mario Bros. cartoon that starred the late, great Captain Lou Albano.
With little to no luck on their side, Mario takes things into his own hands when an overflowing water main is uncontainable. What starts as two brothers trying to do what’s best turns into a descent for Mario into the mushroom kingdom, while Luigi falls into the Dark Lands.
While his brother is stuck in the Dark Lands, Mario enlists the help of Princess Peach and a lovely Toad before Bowser gets his hands on him.
Matthew Fogel’s screenplay track record can be considered widely acclaimed as it has included the Illumination sequel Minions, Big Momma’s House, and The Lego Movie. With The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Fogel maintains a simplicity to his script that followed the same formula as the game which leads to the ultimate success of the film’s intentions. As a result, Fogel, Horvath, and Jelenic’s goal to create an action-adventure rich with easter eggs for gamers worldwide was successful.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s animation is sensational. In an era where most animated films are immaculately animated, the film offers some of the most stunning and visually engaging animations in quite some time; beautifully capturing the essence of the games. Speaking on the nature of the games, it’s hard to ignore Brian Tyler and Koji Kondo’s nostalgic score, which fully engrosses you in the world of Mario and is one, if not the most iconic, video game scores of all time.
On the performance side of things, the elephant in the room that was Chris Pratt as Mario, can be laid to rest as Pratt is quite good as Mario, lending his voice to create a new iteration of the iconic plumber. While Charlie Day’s Luigi is welcomed, he, unfortunately, takes a back seat in the film.
Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach and Jack Black’s Bowser are the standouts. Joy is fierce as the princess of the mushroom kingdom. At the same time, Black is downright hilarious with a musical moment that will warrant a future Bowser’s musical selections drop on Apple Music and Spotify.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie does fall into the Illumination tropes with overuse of modern music, that often leads to cringe-worthy moments, however, the totality of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a high score and one that will lead gamers across the country to scream “wahoo” in unison.
