“The film literally has everything you could ever want from a Mario movie crammed into a 90-minute runtime... but what was more important to them was fitting in those moments than telling a good story.”
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a film that was released in 2023, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, written by Matthew Fogel, and starring Chris Pratt as Mario, as well as Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Keegan-Michael Key as Toad, and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. It is ultimately about two struggling, down-on-their-luck Italian-American plumber brothers from Brooklyn who accidentally get sucked through a mysterious warp pipe under the city streets and separated into vastly different, magical dimensions... forcing the surprisingly resilient Mario to navigate the vibrant Mushroom Kingdom, team up with a fierce, battle-ready princess, and earn the trust of a fierce gorilla army so he can defeat a giant, fire-breathing turtle king and rescue his captured sibling before the entire world is completely conquered.
This is the second time that I watched the movie, and I’ll be honest, it was never a film that I was in love with or cared to see again, and there are a few reasons for that. For the most part, I was never really a Mario guy. Growing up, I was much more into Sega, whether that be Genesis, Game Gear, Saturn, or Dreamcast. I had it all, and Sonic was my guy. So, you better believe when they came out with all of those Sonic films and a TV series that I was gung-ho to watch those. Especially because it also had my guy in there, Jim Carrey. Mario? He’s alright. I’ve played some of the games, but it was never my go-to. That being said, I think it’s a character that deserved his own movie... especially after whatever the heck the 1993 film was. For that reason, I do believe this film has everything that you want out of a Super Mario Bros. film or even a Nintendo property.
Overall, you have to at the very least admit the film looks great. The animation is smooth, and the color palette is vibrant. The sheer amount of recognizable characters, inside jokes, locations, nods to certain games, and in general, Nintendo IP, is out of this world. The film literally has everything you could ever want from a Mario movie crammed into a 90-minute runtime as possible... minus Yoshi. You got the Mario Kart stuff in there, the Donkey Kong stuff, Luigi’s Mansion... the list goes on. There are well over 100 shout-outs and Easter eggs to Mario... stuff, which on one hand is really cool, and on the other hand... is very clearly weak writing.
Look, I ended up saying something extremely similar the first time I reviewed this, but it seemed to me that what was more important to them while making this film was fitting in those moments of Mario property rather than telling a good story. Instead, the story was secondary. They seemed to ask themselves: Now that we have all of this Mario property, characters, locations, and ideas crammed into one film, what kind of story do we want to tell that makes sense with it all? And so they just kinda threw in a random story to connect those dots... and you can tell. In that sense, narratively, the film is a little bit of a mess.
Then again, it’s also a kids’ film... and I have to take that into consideration. Kids aren’t going to care all that much for a film to have a good story. More often than not, you’re going to have kids that want to see all of the shout-outs and Easter eggs. They’re going to want to point to the screen and say, “I understand that reference!” Even certain adults that grew up with the games as they came out are going to appreciate those nods. I’m not going to look past that. That’s all important. But I guess I was always going to take issue with it as a Sega guy.
One thing I wanted to mention is the cast. I remember distinctly sighing and rolling my eyes at Chris Pratt being cast as Mario. I had felt it in my bones that that was a poor choice because, at the time, he was being cast in literally everything. I was pretty sure that if he was to say “It’s-a me, Mario,” that he would say it as... “It’s... uh... me... Mario.” I heard it in my head. But his voice acting isn’t bad in this movie. No, it’s not all high-pitched and goofy as you expect from a Mario voice, but it’s also not straight Chris Pratt either. He’s got some Brooklyn in there, and he does do the real high-pitched stuff too as his commercial voice... which, he does a great job with both variations of the voice. I’m glad he did the original Mario voice as well, because I think it’s easy to tell that it would be really annoying to have to listen to that for 90 minutes. So, even though I’m still not convinced he was necessarily the best choice for Mario, I think he does the best with the character that he could, and it was never anything that bothered me.
Charlie Day as Luigi... again, kind of the same thing. I love Charlie Day. I think he does fine as Luigi, but in my opinion, it’s a role that could be filled by anyone. Same as Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach and Keegan-Michael Key as Toad. These are famous actors. They are cast because they’re famous actors. Jack Black as Bowser... I did like. That one, for whatever reason... makes the most sense out of all of them, and I can’t really picture anyone else in the role.
Unbiased / Technical Score: 39/50 (78%)
Biased / Entertainment Score: 35/50 (70%)
Total Overall Score: 74/100 (74%) or 3.5/5 on Letterboxd