Super Mario Bros - Il film

This is a movie that feels like a love letter to all the Nintendo fans out there, even if they don't necessarily play Mario anymore. The film delivers a fun and enjoyable experience for viewers by faithfully adapting every aspect of the game into the movie, including the Mario Kart and Donkey Kong franchises. The movie is packed with non-stop action and fast-paced storytelling, leaving little room for some of the more significant elements that fans might have wanted to see. It may not be able to fulfill every fan's wishes, but it's understandable and sets up for a sequel, as there is a post-credits scene.

But for general audiences who are not familiar with Mario enough, this might be a movie that is difficult to understand. There may be questions like why does it have to be like this? Why do it this way? Why is the world so strange? This is because the story hardly explains in detail for us to know how the world is. Even though the story is simple and has nothing much. But if you don't think too much, it's an easy and enjoyable movie to watch, with the lovable characters in the style of the works from the studio that made Despicable Me.

Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are struggling Brooklyn brother plumbers. When the city's sewer goes haywire, Mario sees an opportunity for heroic fame. Instead, they get sucked into an alternate world. The brothers get separated. Mario joins Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to recruit the Kong army in their fight against the evil turtle Bowser (Jack Black). Luigi gets captured.

It's brightly colored. It's energetic. It's got the characters. There's the game play. The story is fairly simple. It's pretty much what I expected. I wish there is more heart to it. The brothers could have been that, but they get separated pretty quickly. I played some of the games over the years and this will probably appeal to the fans. It's got all the brightly colored chaos for the kids. It's less so for everybody else.

This movie is so much damn fun and I absolutely loved everything about it. The composing in this movie is some of the best I've ever heard and it fit so well in the movie. The voice acting was pretty good too and I didn't think Chris Pratt would be any good as Mario but he was actually pretty good but Jack Black stole the show as Bowser as he absolutely killed his role. Charlie Day was great too as Luigi as he was probably my 2nd favorite in the movie. The only problem I have with this movie is it felt so quick and I wish it was longer and it's only 90 minutes. Other than that this movie is just a ton of fun and worth the watch.

I think for what this movie sets out to do, Super Mario Bros. Movie pretty much ticks the boxes of an entertaining, reference fan-service heavy movie. A lot of the jokes are basic sure, but it's just impressive that there is some competency to a Video Game Movie. Sometimes simple and straightforward is the best way to go. Not high art or anything, but it ticks off almost everything for what Mario should be at least. Voice acting wasn't as bad as I thought, and Jack Black was the highlight as expected. Yeah, not gonna win any big awards but judge it for what it is, and yeah by Video Game Movie standards it's one of the best ones easily if you ask me.

6.5/10.

As a Super Mario fan myself, I was hyping this movie up for quite a while. So was it worth that hype? Yes and no. The references, animation, voice acting, and world building are incredible. But, there's a lot of filler and the plot isn't that good either. Despite that, I still really enjoyed it. Though admittedly kinda unnecessary, I really enjoyed watching the Mario Kart section. Same with the Luigi stuff, especially the "you just got Luigi'd" line. Though there are some other problems like Toad not really being funny, and this movie is kinda boring sometimes, but it's mostly pretty entertaining. So overall, solid 7/10 movie, must watch for Mario fans but it may not be for everyone else. If you want a Mario film that's an actual masterpiece, go watch Cute Mario Bros The Third Movie. It's not really based on the series, but besides that it's incredible.