The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Fan Service Overload

There is an idea that has gained traction recently that a movie with a large budget should aim to be a “four-quadrant movie.” What this means is that the film should aim to appeal to both men and women of all ages. This applies not just to the big tentpole entries that come from Marvel or Transformers or DC, but also applies to animated films with major releases like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, basically anything released by Pixar, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish and the Sing movies. The Super Mario Bros. Movie from Illumination also attempts this, however the way it goes about doing this is to overload every frame and second of music with references to the games which turns the movie (fittingly) into a massive easter egg hunt.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie follows Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) as they end up in the Mushroom Kingdom in the middle of a conflict between Bowser (Jack Black) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) because Bowser wants to marry Princess Peach and Princess Peach is not exactly on board with that plan. If one has played a Mario game at some point between 2003 and now, they are likely familiar with the general plot. Mario has to team up with Donkey Kong (Seth Rogan) and the rest of the Kongs to try and stop Bowser. Charles Martinet, Keegan-Michael Key, Fred Armisen, and Khary Payton also star.

To get the positives out of the way, on a technical level, the movie is great. The visuals are beautiful all the way through, the score is fantastic, and the performances across the board are top-notch (even if Armisen makes a questionable choice when it comes to his portrayal of Cranky Kong). For one viewing, the visuals will keep viewers without kids engaged through the runtime, which is also a tight hour and a half which is a nice change of pace.

On the other hand, if one is not a fan of Mario in the long term, the enjoyment will probably not be there. The movie uses references to the games with the same rapid-fire speed that Deadpool uses jokes where, even if someone does not like everything, there will likely be something at every stage of the film for them to enjoy and recognize. That said, at times the references feel awkward, specifically a few lines around the Kongs and a line that Peach delivers about there being galaxies out there where things could happen.

The plot is also paper thin, though the performances do prop it up a little. It is a very simple plot and some of the dynamics early on feel like they exist in the movie because one expects them to be there (Mario and Luigi’s relationship is never really given time to be explored because the filmmakers anticipate that at some point someone has at least heard of the characters to know they’re brothers) and Bowser’s motivations are not great, but moments like the rivalry dynamic between Donkey Kong and Mario can generate some fun moments.

Whether or not to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie
will depend entirely on whether or not one is seeing it as a family or as just a lifelong Mario fan. It is certainly the first must-see family movie of 2023, however, if someone is just looking for something to see in a theater this weekend and maybe is not the deepest fan of Mario, this is probably not the movie for them. In the pantheon of recent family video game adaptations like Detective Pikachu or both Sonic The Hedgehog movies, this one falls just a bit short. That said, this is good enough that it would be interesting to see Nintendo do a Legend of Zelda or Metroid movie.

Final Rating: 7/10