Miss Flicks

The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Film Review

As a longtime player of Nintendo’s Mario games – mostly Mario Kart – I wanted The Super Mario Bros. Movie to be good and I thankfully came away pleasantly surprised.

The film follows Brooklyn plumbers Mario and Luigi (voiced by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day), who step into a green pipe and are transported to a magical world. They are separated on the journey – Luigi is sent to the Dark Lands, which are ruled by Bowser (Jack Black), while Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom with Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Mario, Toad, Peach and Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen) team up to save Luigi and stop Bowser from destroying the Mushroom Kingdom.

It’s incredible how the film creatively incorporates so many elements of the games. As someone who has been playing these games for years, it gave me such a thrill to recognise the familiar imagery and hear the classic music. There are so many details that I’m sure I missed quite a few. The movie is chock-full of nods and references to the titular game as well as Donkey Kong, Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart and Luigi’s Mansion. There are more obvious moments too, such as selecting a vehicle for a drive, racing down Rainbow Road and jumping up and over obstacles platform-style.

While you will probably be more excited by this if you’re a fan already, you can still enjoy this movie if you’re a newcomer. The story isn’t the most original and inventive but it is very fun. It is filled with jokes, silly slapstick comedy, action sequences and the visuals are very cool. At 90 minutes, the film totally whips along and I actually could have watched another 10-15 minutes because it felt a little rushed at the end.

The best member of the voice cast was Black as Bowser. His voice is so perfectly aligned with Bowser, particularly in the way he’s used here, and his characterisation brings a lot of laughs to the film. There was controversy when Pratt was cast as Mario. He thankfully doesn’t try to do the exaggerated Italian accent (although there are references) and he does his own thing. I’m not sure what accent he was doing but he didn’t sound like Pratt much at all. Regardless, the voice worked and didn’t bother me at all, even from the beginning.

The weakest link was Peach. I like that she’s no longer a damsel in distress and can fearlessly take on baddies herself, but she wasn’t written very well. Because she is the most straightforward and sincere character – most of the others bring comedy value – and because she is lumbered with the exposition and hollow cliches, her lines fall a little flat and feel cheesier than the rest. That is not a criticism of Taylor-Joy, who does her best to imbue Peach with a feisty attitude with the lines she’s given.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a really fun film for all the family and for gamers and non-gamers alike. I would happily watch this again.

In cinemas from Wednesday 5th April