My Review of The Super Mario Bros Movie · 2:11pm Dec 17th, 2023
Rating Scale:
12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen! It’s-a me, Mr. J, back with another movie review for today. It is now time for me to review Illumination’s “The Super Mario Bros Movie”, released this past April. Now this film was quite a surprising treat for me; I say this because I’ve been playing a few Nintendo Mario games since I was a kid.
I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan of the games, but I still liked Mario. Ever since I first heard they were gonna make a Mario movie, I was a little surprised because I never imagined they would ever make a movie about him. But when they first announced the insane voice cast for the film, I got even more interested to see it.
As someone who has seen it three times, I can safely say…it was a good time. I found myself enjoying this movie and the many references it has to the franchise.
This movie is about Mario and his brother Luigi, Italian plumbers who are under-appreciated by their family. Once they accidentally get transported through an underground sewer to the Mushroom Kingdom, that’s when things get difficult. Luigi is taken captive by the evil Bowser, and Mario must seek help to rescue his brother.
Now, here’s what l liked about this movie: it has some good amount of character development for Mario himself and the journey he had to make in order to become a hero. And I’m very happy he didn’t develop any romantic interest in Peaches because too often a lot of action movies would force some romantic drama which would get boring every now and then. So I’m glad they solely focused on Mario’s journey.
Peaches was a pretty good character too. She was strong, confident, and quite brave. Although I would’ve liked to see more of her backstory and see where exactly she came from, it was still nice how her friendship with Mario felt natural and sincere.
Bowser was an impressive antagonist as well. He showed zero hesitation in displaying his ferocity, ruthlessness, and blood thirst. Jack Black did a terrific job in giving him a menacing voice filled with anger, greed, and ambition. Still, he was kinda comedic here and there thanks to Jack’s splendid performance. I even found his “Peaches” song to be hilarious.
Unfortunately, this movie is far from perfect as it contains elements that prevent it from being an overall flawless work of art. First off, Luigi was pretty useless up until the end when he and Mario powered up to defeat Bowser. He was a damsel in distress 75% of the movie, and his character as a whole was pretty basic. There really isn’t much about him that is interesting or unique except that he’s a loving brother to Mario. That’s it.
Second of all, the plot itself has no stakes and very little drama. There isn’t a point where Mario has to face flaws of his own or experience any sort of internal conflict. Actually, the plot is so thin and flat it didn’t require him to actually feel more fleshed out as a character. It’s just an action-packed adventure with little substance. Don’t get me wrong, I love action and adventure! They’re two of my favorite genres! But where’s the meat? Where’s the fun?
Without those factors, it just becomes kinda stale. Still, I really like this story…if you can call it that. I just expected more to come out of it.
Third of all—and this may be my biggest issue with the movie—the voice acting from half of the cast was grating. Chris Pratt himself did at least attempt to use an Italian accent for Mario, but he still couldn’t resist using his normal voice. That guy has no range at all, and it kinda annoys me Hollywood is so obsessed with hiring him for animated projects. Think of him what you will, but he is better off playing characters in live action films, not in animation.
Anya Taylor-Joy did a decent job as Peaches, Charlie Day was okay as Luigi, but I did not like Keegan Michael-Key’s performance as Toad. His voice was so annoying and unbearable; and don’t get me started with Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. I remember when Seth used to be good and sort of funny back then, but nowadays, he’s overused and overrated. He’s not funny anymore, and his laugh can get annoying overtime. Although I will admit it makes me chuckle a little…and that’s the only thing funny about him.
Kevin Michael Richardson was decent as Kamek, but I feel like his character didn’t stand out in some way. In my opinion, it’s an average performance by a great voice actor, but his character was forgettable.
Despite my grievances with the voice cast, it did have one redeeming factor therein (besides Jack Black). They had the courtesy to bring in the OG himself: Charles Martinet. I’ve only heard of him until a couple years ago, and ever since then, I respected his work and the fact he’s been voicing Mario since 1994 (technically 1991 when he actually got the role). It’s sad he’s retired from voicing the character, but I hope he’s doing well now.
Wow, you got him for two minor voice roles, yet you couldn’t get him to voice Mario. You wanted Mr. “He’s so cool” instead?? Great casting, Illumination, great idea. 🙄
Overall, this movie is a fun, adventurous experience that can be seen as a love letter to all the Mario fans around the world. It has great references to the games, cool characters, and some visually stunning animation. Outside of that, it is cluttered with bad voice acting (with only a couple exceptions), a half-baked plot, and Luigi being useless throughout the movie. With that said, it gets a definitive 9/10.
Let’s-a go! Ya-hoo!
This movie was so great!
Looking forward to seeing the sequels and spinoffs!
P.S. If you were in charge of the movie’s casting, who would you choose for the roles and why?
I loved this movie as well, even despite whatever flaws it has. Heck, I actually enjoyed Chris Pratt’s work as Mario overall, although I may be being biased because he’s one of my favorite actors.
My biggest hope is that the sequels and spin-offs will prove to be even better, and that they take the time to improve over what their predecessor didn’t provide or take the time to do.
Out of curiosity…
How did you feel when you first heard that the film was being helmed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic? Particularly on the grounds that they were the same people who created the “Teen Titans Go!” franchise?
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I don’t think I’ve heard of these guys before.
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Ah. Well, Jelenic was also involved in “The Batman” series.