The Super Mario Bros. Movie

• Directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
• April 1, 2023 (L.A. Live) / April 5, 2023 (US)
• Based on Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise

Voice Cast

• Mario-Chris Pratt
• Princess Peach-Anya Taylor-Joy
• Luigi-Charlie Day
• Bowser-Jack Black
• Toad-Keegan-Michael Key
• Donkey Kong-Seth Rogen
• Cranky Kong-Fred Armisen
• Spike-Sebastian Maniscalco
• Kamek-Kevin Michael Richardson
• Mario/Luigi’s father, Giuseppe-Charles Martinet
• Mario/Luigi’s Mother, plumbing commercial woman, Mayor Pauline, yellow Toad, Luigi’s bully, Baby Peach-Jessica DiCicco
• Uncle Tony-Rino Romano
• Uncles Arthur-John DiMaggio
• Penguin King-Khary Payton
• Diddy Kong, Toad General-Eric Bauza
• Lumalee-Juliet Jelenic
• Koopa General, a red Toad-Scott Menville

A Brooklyn plumber and his brother must save a princess from an evil creature and its nefarious plans.

What can I say? The Super Mario Bros. Movie is cute visually and generally superficially. It does a good job of capturing the visual style that I recall the later Mario games having. For example I took the early scene with Luigi in the Dark Lands as very similar to Luigi’s Mansion. Honestly it’s been decades since I’ve played video games more than once in a 365 day period so I might be fuzzy on that.

This movie in numerous ways acknowledges the long history of the character of Mario starting in Donkey Kong all the way to the present. Younger video game players may not get all of those references but if you are old enough to have played Donkey Kong in any number of grocery stores when the game came out as well as have played Mario games on various Nintendo systems you’ll see it. This character has a loooooong history and it’s nice that they actually embraced that here.

That looks like it even includes acknowledgements of the older TV shows such as the CBS Saturday morning series Saturday Supercade. If you forgot or just never heard of it, then do not feel too bad. It was rough to watch as I recall. The point is something about the Kong Kingdom in this show reminded me of THAT show.

This extends to those who helped build the world of Mario. Charles Martinet, who voiced Mario and Luigi in the Mario games from 1994 to 2023 is the Mario family patriarch as well as a generic Brooklyn citizen and speaks using the character’s game voice rather than the generic efforts of Pratt as Mario. Why was that particular choice made? That bad Italian accent is as much fondly associated with the character as any other aspect.

Donkey Kong is voiced by Seth Rogen in an effort that is so much less than what Pratt did. He just talks in his natural voice which does nothing to shape the character. I have never been keen on actors doing animation. While it is a form of acting, the likes of Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, and later stars like Gary Chalk know how to craft character with their voice while Pratt and Rogen need both voice AND body.

The character of Mario at times comes off as a sad sack and far more of a dreamer than capable/competent hero. The hero doesn’t have to be perfect right off the bat but when his first test of his skills comes, Princess Peach makes him look incompetent rather than just inexperienced. His inability to complete the course is at first comical then goes on so long it undermines the character. As does his first fight Donkey Kong until he seemingly stumbles into victory.

Princess Peach is much more capable in the story than Mario is. Admittedly she grew up in the Mushroom Kingdom, but it is all so very easy for her. There are points I’m trying to discern why Princess Peach even needs Mario given her clear capabilities. Nothing wrong with a strong female character, but if she can handle it all herself it makes anybody joining her on a quest superfluous. And Mario is superfluous.

This all knocks down Mario multiple pegs and makes his fight at the end unconnected to what came before. Visually it is great and will make the kids and Mario fans happy but if you follow the story you will go “Huh?” It is especially incongruous since Luigi spends most of the movie dangling in a cage over some lava and listening to a very morbid fellow prisoner named Lumalee (one of the funniest aspects of the film) rather than going through any growth of skills or self.

Bowser is not a serious villain but he’s also not a comedically incapable villain. He’s a threat to the characters and their world but also humorous. The character gets some of the best visual entrances of the movie. I applaud them for that. Those make him a much bigger and serious villain than some of the dialogue he’s given. I’m not knocking his dialogue, but it helps to look bad ass if you want the character to be bad ass.

Having said all that, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is acceptable family viewing. There’s nothing in this inappropriate for kids and the bright lights and general frenetic pacing will hold their attention. Plus it’s only about 90 minutes so this doesn’t go on too long. As something visually reminiscent of the games that also acknowledges the Mario history, this will please any fan of the series.

As someone who was not a strong fan of the series (just not a fanatic) or a passionate videogamer I was not enamored with this. The title characters were weak, and it was more like an episode of SpongeBob designed for kids with short attention spans rather than a movie with a progressing plot.

I was not completely disappointed in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While I acknowledge I was not the target audience, this was heavily flawed regardless of that.