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The Super Mario Bros. Movie - AniMat's Reviews (Patreon)

Published:
2023-04-12 19:00:02
Imported:
2026-06
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After all the years of Nintendo Directs and anticipation, is Mario’s big-screen adventure worth the hype?

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Is The Super Mario Bros. Movie Worth the Wait? | A Powered-Up Review

After all the years of Nintendo Directs and anticipation, is Mario's big-screen adventure worth the hype?

Comments

Justin Monti

As someone who is a huge Mario fan, I had an absolutely blast with this movie, I feel like as a Mario movie it does a great job staying true to the games and I still thought it was a decent film on its own, even though I don’t think the movie fully lived up to the hype. I do agree with some of your points, I do think the story is pretty weak and there isn’t much to it and also some of the characters aren’t written the best, I also thought the movie did have some pacing issues where there were parts where the movie felt rushed, however there was so much I enjoyed about this movie, the animation is absolutely gorgeous and is Illumination's best looking movie to date, the references and Easter eggs in the movie are fun to look out for, the action scenes are awesome, the score where they use the music from the games is great, and even though the characters aren’t the best, the voice actors do give them a boost, I’ll admit I thought Chris Pratt was fine as Mario but I do understand where you are coming from, the two that actually stood out to me were Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach, with how she managed to help give Peach a really great and different personality compared to the game, and the best one by far was Jack Black as Bowser where he does an amazing job capturing the threatening and comedic nature that Bowser has in the games. So overall, The Super Mario Bros Movie does a great job as an adaptation of the games and gives fans what they want, overall as a Mario fan I would give this an 8/10, it has some problems but I still had a blast watching it. Also the movie does have both a mid credit scene and a post credit scene, and the post credit scene, without spoiling anything does tease a potential sequel, which considering the crap ton of money this movie made over its first five days, I think it’s safe to say we are gonna get a sequel. And honestly it’s kinda crazy to see how far we’ve come since that cast announcement for this movie to now where people are really enjoying the movie and it has become a major hit.

Strider_Blaze

Loved the movie, but it really wasn’t without flaws. But I had fun with it regardless. And I believe the success guarantees a sequel.

Kenneth Stoddard

This comment might be a bit lengthy and long as usual but hope you understand this. When it comes to Mario, I am a big fan as I started playing out with Mario Kart as a kid like maybe 8 years old I think during the NintendoDS days since then I played many versions of it from Mario Party, Super Mario Bros games, and some modern games like Odyssey for example although I never played the Galaxy games or Mario Sonic Olympic Games. I even went as far in watching some Mario content like the Mario cartoons particularly the Super Mario Bros show and even the live action version with Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo which I did bought on DVD during my pre teen to teen years and I thought it was okay before realizing that it sucked as it looked nothing like from the games as it basically an in name title only but I can be soft with it as I appreciate that it was filmed in Wilmington, NC as a North Carolinian myself. But yeah I do love Mario throughout my life as it was part of my childhood. Then when I heard that Nintendo was coming back in making Mario animated this time by teaming up with Illumination with all star cast, that got me hesitant for three reasons: Illumination due to how they it safe so much especially that they are least favorite animation studio to date, Teen Titans Go directors given that the series did receive hate for several years back when it was fresh and new, and of course the cast like Chris Pratt as Mario since I wasn’t a fan of the casting choice either. Then when they presented the trailers and posters, this got me excited a bit in terms of how they true to the games, so much so that I put it as number 10 as my most anticipated films of 2023 although I wasn’t expecting to be great given that video game adaptations in movies have yet to receive critical acclaim despite getting better thanks to Sonic films, Detective Pikachu, and Angry Birds Movie 2. Now that I seen it, it is exactly what I expected, but I had fun with it. For criticisms, yes, the story feels nonexistent due to its thin script, on top of little character development, some hit or humor, rushed pacing in a 92 minutes film as it more interested in providing references as possible, and some questionable song choices that feels out of place like such as the Kill Bill music and Holding Out For A Hero which that one should’ve stop after Shrek 2’s peak which I noticed Hollywood continues to do with their films like Bullet Train and Tetris from AppleTV+ which I just saw recently. Yes that song is popular and good but it needs to stop now now especially it undermining the score by Brian Tyler that he provided throughout. And of course some cast performance not just Chris Pratt who sounded okay as Mario but Fred Armisen as Cranky Kong who I think is the most miscast choice of them as he doesn’t sound all that cranky to me. I could’ve gone with someone older like Christopher Lloyd or something but I’m saying could’ve played better Cranky along that than Armisen. Other than that, that all the criticisms I had with this movie. The rest such as some voice performances like Jack Black as Bowser who stole the movie, the references and easter eggs were fun, the action scenes were delightful, music by Brian Tyler sounded great thanks to including to the inclusion of Mario themes, and of the animation which looked amazing and definitely Illumination’s best animation that they ever produced so far. Overall, do I think it great, no. But is it fun though, yes. I do think it one of Illumination’s better films they done despite thin story and writing altogether. I do believe other films especially Across the Spiderverse will be better in terms of story wise while being more with this than Mario, but I’m sure this pleased a lot of Mario fans to get they want. As a Mario fan, I got what I came for it and had fun with it. I give it a 6/10 which is saying something nice especially for a Illumination film. The only thing I’m not looking for is the culture war between fans and critics over a kids movie that is meant to be crowd pleasing. All I’m asking for people both sides is one, don’t expect this to next The Last of Us for those critics out there and for at least respect people’s opinions just because your is different from them for you fans out there. That all I’m asking on both sides.

Trenton Girone

Didn’t expect that little treat at the end! Awesome! I still have yet to check that out for myself, though.

Hunter O'Laughlin

Even though I’m not a die hard Mario fan, so this movie wasn’t really on my list of highly anticipated films of this year, I do have my child memories of playing the games on GameCube and Gameboy and my family being fans of Super Mario Kart and some of my family members playing the other games from the franchise like Super Mario 64 and Mario Galaxy. While this isn’t a movie I’d go immediately to see in the theater, from your review, it looks like it’s more of a crowd pleaser and than a film trying to have more substance to appeal to both critics and audiences. But if the casual moviegoers and Mario fans can get enjoyment out of it, that’s satisfactory enough for me. Even if it’s nothing great, I’d say recent video game-based films like this, the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films and Detective Pikachu are at least the step in the right direction in making quality film adaptations of video games. If Illumination ever wants to ride off the success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) by making another video game adaptation of Nintendo’s video games with the company’s collaboration and input, then The Legend of Zelda is probably the best option considering unlike with the Mario franchise, the Zelda games have more of a story which would allow the writers more creative freedom and material to make a good story that could be even better than The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023).

Justin Monti
>>106218767

Oh absolutely, especially given the movie's post credit scene, a sequel is pretty much guaranteed at this point

Lady Tyler Bio Rodriguez

Definitely one of the better Illumination films, although its not highest grossing opening weekend for an animated film good.

Joshua Copelan

I am writing this now because I saw this movie yesterday and I wanted to let it sit for a little while before I could give my own commentary. First off I am a fan of some of the Mario games. And I do think this is a step up to being true to the games albeit with a few caveats here and there with some creative choices that not just in this chat but with your review Mat and from everyone else that I know and have seen that are similar in some of their criticisms. I will agree on how people feel about the whole Chris Pratt choice as Mario, but after how the accent was addressed in the beginning it did subside the whole mindset and it didn't bother me all that much and forgot the whole voice selection choices (except for Cranky Kong because I am more accustomed from some of the Donkey Kong games and from the animated series). I really did like some of the references and easter eggs which were there for display but were not forced in our faces trying to be meta with the whole thing which didn't take away from the enjoyment of the film. I will admit that yes the pacing is bad with its speed to showcase a lot of things especially the action. And there was a comment that we didn't get enough Bowser and Luigi somewhere in the middle of act 2, but if it was during the fight with Mario and DK then it really didn't bother me as much because that scene felt engaging and didn't take my attention away from thinking what the other plot with Bowser and Luigi were doing. I felt it did have that balance but admittedly I think the pacing is what makes it feel like that. Then there is the music which admittedly yes I wish there was more music from Bryan Tyler and Koji Kondo to enrich the movie a bit more but there were times where the licensed music does work in a few scenes like No Sleep Till Brooklyn because it has to separate itself from being in the Mushroom Kingdom and remember that it takes place in our world. But I did give it somewhat of a pass when I need a Hero with the training sequence came out. But when Take on Me came in I did feel like it overused the licensed music a bit. Other than that, I did have fun and the most fun aspect for me was seeing DK and his buddies like Diddy, Dixie, Kiddy, and Chunky. Now all we need is Tiny and Lanky and were set. Hopefully in the future we will get a Donkey Kong movie in the future to see more of DK and his buddies. As for future Nintendo installments which I want to comment on what Hunter said, I do feel like some of them maybe they don't lend them selves to well into movies and maybe should be made into series like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid due to their length and richness that a movie can't contain within that time frame. But if Illumation did I want to know if they will crate a television department like their sister studio Dreamworks (since that was purchased by Comcast/Universal). And for some mature movies like Metroid from Nintendo they could go to the Moonlight division of Illumination. Or maybe Dreamworks will be involved an make Nintendo films as well, but then again it's a thought and Universal, maybe wants to have both of those films separate and have their own identities like what Disney does with WDAS and Pixar. And those are my thoughts. And who knows maybe we might see other Nintendo properties come in and see some be revived to regain hype for a couple of franchises (aka Punch-out and Kid Icarus).