The Super Mario Bros Movie Review – A Super Star In Spectacle At The Expense of Better Writing

The highly anticipated Super Mario Bros. Movie is premiering in Malaysia this week, slightly later than the rest of the world. In some ways, however, that’s a good thing as it’s meant I’ve gotten a look at the rather divisive reception the movie has received so far.

I’m a long-time fan of Mario and Nintendo but I also know that these games aren’t exactly beloved for their deep story-telling so I was concerned about a new movie would turn out, especially one made by Illumination Studios, who I will never forgive for bringing The Minions into this world.

After sitting down and watching the movie, it definitely had more good than bad. The animation was stellar but the writing and character left much to be desired which is a real shame as there was a lot of potential with the character interactions that just didn’t feel as realized as it could have been.

The Mario Bros

The plot of Super Mario Bros is more or less what you’d expect. Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are opening a plumbing business, and while working on a large drain, they find a pipe that takes them to the Mushroom Kingdom but separates the two of them. Luigi lands near the Ttranical Bowser (Jack Black) and is captured, while Mario lands near Peach’s castle with the Princess (Anya Taylor-Joy) enlisting him to help fight off Bowser since the majority of the Toads are just kinda cowards (that’s basically the explanation they give in the movie).

The first thing I really have to praise the movie for is how unafraid it was of being a Mario movie. So many video game movies feel that need to be “grounded”, and that they need to ease people into the game bits because they might be “too strange”. It’s why the Sonic Movie needed to be set in the human world or why the Mortal Kombat movie needed a bland original protagonist. The Mario movie just drops you into the Mushroom Kingdom and lets everything loose.

This is just a world where mushroom people travel via pipes, gorillas can talk and drive karts, and random “power-ups” are just scattered throughout the land. This is a fantasy world and the culture and practices of the people don’t need to align with the real world. I’d heavily admire that the film has the confidence to simply play it straight and trust the audience will understand.

A Jump Forward Into Animation

This is further backed by the fact that this is probably the best-looking movie Illumination has ever made. The Mushroom Kindom looks gorgeous, managing to be faithful to the game but still with a few details and touchups to make it feel truly alive. The texture of each model, from Mario’s overalls to the lava spurting from Bowser’s flying castle is excellently done.

The animation likewise makes the action scenes truly breathtaking. Each fight scene is exceptionally choreographed, making great use of verticality to show Mario jumping, climbing, and stomping his way through each fight. The scenes create a real sense of wonder as Mario and his friends make great use of different Mario power-ups, and enemies so that each fight feels greater than the last. I never knew how much a wanted to see a Mad Max-style vehicular combat scene using Mario Kart but it was truly spectacular and was when the movie felt most alive.

The thing is though, between these brilliant action scenes, you need slower scenes that really establish the motives and personality of the characters and overall allow the setting and tone to sink in. This is where the Mario movie runs into trouble.

Movies Need To Have a Story

I’ll admit the above sub-heading above is a little exaggerated but it presents the biggest flaw with the Mario movie. Almost every establishing scene where the characters come together to talk and show more of who they feel is pretty much played on fast-forward. For example, when Mario and Peach first meet they seem to instantly be smitten. The Princess instantly gets to work training this guy she’s never met and wants to get to know him better. It feels so scripted like it pretty much just exists just to set up the next action scene. Almost all the development-heavy scenes feel like this: rushed out of the way for more action.

I’ve already seen the defense for this online. “The Mario games didn’t have a good story, so the movie doesn’t need one”, except it does. A “good story” doesn’t have to mean some deep philosophical drama, it just means the characters’ motivations and development should feel natural and properly established.

Mario’s entire story arc just doesn’t feel cohesive. He’s insecure about his family thinking he’s a failure and should give up but little time is used to present these insecurities. There’s a little and the beginning, a bit at the end before the final fight and he’s over it. It feels very disjointed.

Sparks of Hope

I think it’s a shame as well because the Mario movie has some great ideas for character development but just doesn’t flesh them out because of how fast-paced it is. We briefly see that part of the reason Peach finds Mario interesting is that he’s from another world and she actually comes from another world and was adopted by the Toads. That’s a fascinating idea and shows why these two people would end up liking each other, but it’s never really brought up again.

Likewise, Mario has a really strong bond with Luigi, but since Luigi spends most of the movie captured you barely see anything come from it. The beginning establishes that Mario thinks he’s holding Luigi back, and when they’re reunited at the climax there’s a rousing speech about how the two are stronger together, except they’ve done nothing together the entire movie so it just feels a little hollow. The Super Mario Bros. movie barely features one of the bros.

There is one exception, however. I really like what they did with Donkey Kong. The big ape has a rivalry with Mario and they work really well off each other. They’re trading jabs, trying to show each other up and yet it’s proven they’re pretty similar deep down and when push comes to shove, they’ve got each other’s back. It was really sweet and pays a good amount of tribute to their original rivalry from the games.

Chris Pratt Was Actually Really Good

So yeah, after months of complaining, Chris Pratt was actually pretty solid as Mario. He has a good range of emotions, being able to play and straight man among all the strange happenings around him yet also able to pull off the Mario voice when he’s excited, sounding far more like the character we all know and love.

The vast majority of the main cast do a good job of replicating the characters based on their voices in the games but with full dialogue. Charlie Day sounds like Luigi, Keegan-Michael Key sounds like Toad, and while Anya Tailor-Joy doesn’t sound exactly like Princess Peach she’s able to give the character a good amount of energy that works alongside Mario.

The true superstar of the show is Jack Black as Bowser. He may not have won Peach’s heart but he certainly won mine. Black puts so much work into Bowser, giving him a distinctly devious attitude you’d expect of a tyrant yet also knowing when to hold back and show his more silly or sensitive side. He’s an absolute pleasure to watch on screen and the fact that they let him perform a full-on Tenacious D score really seals the deal.

The only problem I have with Bowser is that despite being part of the most well-known archenemies in gaming, he and Mario, once again, barely interact. Sure they fight each other a lot but they exchange around two lines of dialogue. I dunno, I just feel like the first meeting of all these iconic characters should have a little more weight to it.

The Super Mario Bros Movie

The Super Mario Bros movie is a good time with a bit of missed potential. If the movie just had an extra thirty or so minutes to iron out the character development and dialogue, it would be a bonafide star. I love these characters and I just wish we got to see their personalities play off each other more outside of fighting.

This however shouldn’t take away from the success of the movie. This is the first time I can honestly say that an Illumination movie looked beautiful. I love how they recreated the Mushroom Kingdom and the confidence in exploring this new world. It’s a video game movie that wears its heritage on its sleeve and I highly respect it for that.

Overall, Super Mario Bros the movie is a fun time. There’s a lot that can be improved on but I’m glad it’s become as successful as it has. There’s plenty of room to explore the Mario universe in the cinema, and this is a good start, just maybe give the characters a bit more breathing room from World 2.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie will begin screening in Malaysian cinemas on the 20th of April 2023.

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