Movie Review: ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’

Chris Pratt, Seth Rogen, Charlie Day and Jack Black are among the voice cast for a movie that will mostly only make younger viewers shout “wahoo!”

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' will open in theaters on April 7, 2023.

In theaters now, ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ brings the world of the Nintendo icon to the big screen for the second time.

There is a great movie a little cynically based on a famous IP that features the voice of Chris Pratt. Unfortunately for this, it’s called ‘The LEGO Movie’, which took the basic building blocks of the popular plastic toy, and in the hands of Phil Lord and Chris Miller (plus a lot of other talented types) became a wild and dazzling mix of knowing pop culture gags, smart goofiness and genuine heart.

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is looking to channel some of that energy, but focused more on entertaining little ones, it never reaches the same level. Which is not to say it’s devoid of entertainment value.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

"Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear overalls."

PG1 hr 33 minApr 1st, 2023

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Watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie Online

What’s the story of ‘Super Mario Bros.’?

While working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Pratt) and brother Luigi (Charlie Day) are transported down a mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world under threat from the powerful Bowser (Jack Black). But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to find Luigi. With the assistance of a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Mario taps into his own power.

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' will open in theaters on April 7, 2023.

Nintendo was a solid basis

Given the sheer amount of games, worlds, characters and situations in Nintendo’s catalogue, there was certainly enough material already present to spin something fun. Instead, the gaming backdrop is largely the source of a whole basket of easter eggs drawn from a variety of titles.

And there are one or two deep cuts that only true Nintendo fans will recognize (full disclosure, this writer has played a few of the games but didn’t catch everything). One or two sequences, such as an early chase played from the side, and the training process that Mario goes through, will give gamers a shiver of pleasurable recognition, but those are few and far between.

Some of the heavy hitters, such as Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) and father Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) are given key roles in the story, though some of the voice choices are confounding –– while some roles feel like they’ve been well matched with talent (such as Key’s Toad and Peach’s Taylor-Joy) –– others, particularly Rogen, are more of a mystery. The Canadian funnyman has admitted that most of his animated characters tend to just sound like him, so why not give one of the most important roles to someone who doesn’t bother to really come up with a new voice?

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' will open in theaters on April 7, 2023.

Style over storytelling

The biggest issue to be found with the movie is in its script and story. While there are some beautifully designed and animated shots to be found here, with plenty of detail and some faithful recreations of certain elements, you do wonder why the same level of craft put into making Mario’s overalls look right wasn’t given over to the humor.

Most the jokes here fall flat, and the ones that do hit are likely to be chuckles rather than anything else. Credit, then, to Black, who makes Bowser an actually funny character (we won’t spoil his agenda besides the usual domination, though if you know what he often gets up to in the games, you can probably figure some of it out). There are serious shades of the actor’s Tenacious D personality (particularly when Bowser gets musical), but he melds it into something that doesn’t feel like a wholesale repeat.

'The Super Mario Bros. Movie' will open in theaters on April 7, 2023.

It's busy and loud in places and will appeal more to younger viewers than the sort of four-quadrant charmer that Nintendo and movie producers Illumination might prefer, but then aiming at the youthful crowd has worked well for the latter in the past, given the box office success of the 'Minions' in particular. It’s just a shame that their formula vacuum took in a hugely iconic source material with such promise and churned out a broad movie that features your average hero storyline, a lot of talk about saving kingdoms and more confusingly given the target audience, a load of needle drops that will fly straight over their heads (“Holding Out for a Hero”, for example, or “Take on Me”).

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is not a bad movie, exactly, it’s just more of a missed opportunity to do something as fresh and inventive as some of the best out there.

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie receives 5 out of 10 stars.