Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a technicolor marvel that hits all the right notes for child audiences. The story of two brothers from Brooklyn who get transported to another world is, well, weird — but so is the game’s lore, so this seems unavoidable. The animation is lush and exciting, and the sequences are faithful to the spirit of the Nintendo franchise. Like a Baz Luhrmann film for middle-schoolers, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is bursting with excess. Also like a Baz Luhrmann film, all that emphasis on dazzling splendor comes at the cost of good storytelling.
Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (best known for developing Teen Titans Go!), from a screenplay by Matthew Fogel (Minions: The Rise of Gru), The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an original story that melds elements from the games into a generic origin story for Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day). The two brothers are down-on-their-luck plumbers who get sucked into a mysterious green pipe hidden deep underneath Brooklyn. They get separated in this strange new universe, so Mario teams up with Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) to rescue his brother and defeat Bowser (Jack Black) — a tyrannical turtle who threatens to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom.
Despite all the bright lights, emotional beats, and thrilling action, The Super Mario Bros. Movie rings hollow. It’s a film bursting at the seams, and should be a sensory, cinematic feast — but it’s ultimately a calorie-deficient meal. In terms of being an adaptation of the Nintendo franchise, the film captures the Mario video game series’ tone and personality — but it struggles to deliver a satisfying story independent of its source material.
The Rotten Tomatoes score for The Super Mario Bros. Movie ignited another round of “do we even need film critics” debate online, with a stark contrast in opinion between critic and audience scores. Having now seen the film, this tracks: The video game adaptation feels custom-made to simultaneously annoy critics and reward the average filmgoer. It’s vibrant, fun, and inoffensive — but it’s also shallow, derivative, and often soulless. People looking to have a good time will, but if you’re there to find faults, there are plenty to choose from. In short, the visuals are great but the writing is lazy.
The fun in The Super Mario Bros. Movie hinges on two things: generic, over-done kid humor and familiarity with the Nintendo property. To be fair to Fogel’s screenplay, there are a few genuinely funny moments, but the vast majority of the laughs come from Jack Black doing his Tenacious D routine as Bowser. Most of the film’s appeal is the Easter egg hunt: there’s a near-constant barrage of allusions for audiences to recognize and say, “hey, it’s the thing from the thing!” — getting a big ol’ dopamine hit in the process. It’s the gamifying of cinema, but instead of an app that uses leveling to encourage learning, it’s a movie using “Where’s Waldo” game mechanics and the visual replication of side-scrolling action. (And if you think that watching side-scrolling doesn’t count as gaming, go play Mario Teaches Typing).
To be clear, making Mario references a major part of the adaptation is not inherently bad, and there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a fun kid’s movie that is full of in-jokes and meta humor. The problem with a film like The Super Mario Bros. Movie is that this is done in place of cohesive writing and consistent structure, rather than being a compliment or component of the storytelling. For example, look at Mike Myers’ Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery. That movie is funny and entertaining (depending on your sense of humor) independent of the James Bond films — but if you know the references, the parody takes on a whole other level of meaning. With The Super Mario Bros. Movie, that’s just not the case. What’s worse, when you strip away the reference, much of the movie’s content serves no purpose within the narrative.
The worst thing you can say about a film based on an established IP with a fanbase is that it feels like fan fiction. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is not as bad as other recent, egregious examples — but there are multiple moments that feel designed by a committee to make millennials cheer. For example, a scene early in Act 1 shows Mario leaping over obstacles as he races to a job — seemingly setting up the pay-off that he’s a naturally skilled jumper (his key characteristic in the games!); yet, when he gets to the Mushroom Kingdom and has to complete a jumping puzzle, he’s can’t do it. So what was the point of that earlier scene? Well, it was visual replication of the platformer style of the games. The later obstacle course, naturally, looks like a level from the NES Super Mario Bros. game, and Mario needs “power ups” and a day’s worth of training to “beat” the level. Both scenes were clearly created to be a “moment” rather than written with story in mind.
Much of the online discourse has fussed over the voice cast in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Is it bad? Well, it’s not good. Pratt is mediocre at best, and none of the major performances really feel like a strong choice. Even Jack Black is at times distractingly himself as Bowser. Keegan-Michael Key stands out as Toad, mainly because he’s not immediately recognizable as Key, and also because it’s a pretty great interpretation of the spunky little mushroom-man from the games. Emmy-winning bonafide voice actor Eric Bauza has a brief role as a Mushroom Kingdom general, and unsurprisingly, it’s the best performance in the whole dang film.
Part of the issue is the actors don’t have a lot to work with. The characterization is almost nonexistent (apart from Bowser, but again, that’s just Black doin’ his thing). We get the sense that Peach is independent and kind, Mario and Luigi are generic “nice guys” with a mild case of “well done, son” daddy issues, and Donkey Kong is a young, brash showboat (bafflingly voiced by famously not young nor athletic stoner-dork Seth Rogen). No one really has an arc, and the stakes and conflict are forced throughout. In other words, things happen because they need to for the plot to move, not because of character motivation or organic consequence.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie was far from the best video game adaptation ever made, but it’s also far from the worst. The animation is gorgeous, and that alone is a triumph. This is a movie that will delight young children and amuse parents who are at least passingly familiar with the games. For a General Audiences film, that’s pretty good — but that says more about the state of the industry than anything else.
TVovermind Rating: 2.5/5voice cast in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
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