These days, we wait till the movies come out on DVD instead of coughing up the dough for movie tickets and popcorn. Granted, the viewing experience may not be as amped as watching it on the movie screen, but we’d rather wait till the reviews come out, and watch it first ourselves before we let the children have a go at it.
So what can they watch?
“The Super Mario Brothers Movie”
Released in April 5, 2023, the film version of the highly popular Nintendo franchise has grossed over $1.3 billion worldwide breaking records for biggest opening weekend for an animated film and top-grossing movie based on a video game. The appeal is not just in the movie’s high-paced action that the video games are known for, but also in the 1980s nostaligia it evoked for many of us who used to play the games as children.
The Backstory
Chris Pratt voices Mario with Charlie Day as his brother, Luigi. They try to make it as plumbers in Brooklyn but they seem to fall short of their father’s expectations. When they accidentally end up in the sewers, they get sucked in by a green pipe that many Mario Brothers fans would be especially familiar with. Unfortunately, they end up in different worlds–separated for the first time as they’ve always done everything together.
Mario ends up in Princess Peach’s Mushroom Kingdom with her multitude of loyal Toads (toadstools), while Luigi draws the short end of the stick and ends up in The Dark Lands where Bowser and his Koopas rule. His death seems imminent as Bowser seeks to find Mario whom he considers a rival for Princess Peach’s heart.
The princess realizes that nothing could stop Bowser from attacking her land since he found the Super Star. In the video games, when Mario gets the star, he becomes invincible and can pretty much ram through bad guys and obstacles and come out unscathed. Bowser’s possession of the Super Star means he can pretty much conquer the world.
Peach journeys to Kong Kingdom to seek their help. But in order to utilize the Kong army, Mario has to beat Donkey Kong. With his barrels and brawns, Donkey Kong could easily beat Mario. However, to level the playing field, there were power-ups (gold boxes with the question mark symbol) strewn all over the course. Mario, with determination and fierce fraternal love fueling him forward, he makes the most of the power-ups available for him to finally do the unthinkable–beat Donkey Kong.
After proving himself, Mario, Peach, Toad, and the rest of the Kong army trek back to the Mushroom Kingdom via a short cut. They get ambushed by Bowser and his thugs and it quickly becomes a Mario Kart scene. While avoiding bumps and fireballs, the racers try to outgun each other and stay on the road.
Like Movie, Like Video Game
The movie simulates very well the video game mode of popping bricks and power-ups as well as jumping on the bad guys and picking up the Koopas to use as a weapon. Any avid Mario Brothers player will recognize the green pipes, the Piranha plants, and the different-colored mushroons with its unique properties. And of course, every player will have to defeat Bowser to rescue Princess Peach in the end. In the movie, Princess Peach holds her own as they–Mario, Luigi, Peach, Donkey Kong, and Toad–all work together to defeat the spike-shelled Bowser.
Voice Actors
In terms of voicing, one can easily recognize Jack Black as the tough bad guy who nurtures a rather soft, musical side as he accompanies himself on the piano warbling about his love for Princess Peach. His signature sing-scream in the song “Peaches” is reminiscent of his musical numbers in “School of Rock.” It is possible that this hidden musical talent is a ploy to soften up his character that could otherwise terrorize the younger children.
While Chris Pratt doesn’t sing in this movie, the song “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra was played briefly in one scene which seems to be a nod to Pratt’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie where the same song is part of its soundtrack. Pratt, who came under criticism when it first came out that he was to voice Mario, proved that he could muster it well enough especially since he didn’t have to do the fake Italian accent for the entire movie. However, Charlie Day blew it out of the “pahk” as the voice of Luigi who may come across as a bit of a timid guy, but proves his mettle in the end when it counted.
Fun Till the End
In true Marvel fashion, although this movie is produced by Universal Pictures, wait for the post-credit scene to get a preview of what’s next in this popular franchise.
All in all, “The Super Mario Brothers Movie” is a fun, entertaining movie that brings the nostalgia for Mario Brothers fans from the time the game first came out in 1985 to the present. The key to the movie’s success is it was able to harness this sentiment where players who are now in their 50s can say, “Hey, that’s the blue mushroom that makes you small. Don’t eat THAT!” or to the younger players who may recognize Lumalee as the “shop” where Mario can make purchases for a Life or a Mushroom. So for movie night, “The Super Mario Brothers” is a fun and fast-paced family-friendly movie that everyone can enjoy whether they are video game players or not.
The Mama Travels 
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