The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) Review

"I'll do anything for my brother,"

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Admittedly, I was hesitant about how this movie would be, especially after the influx of negative reviews from critics. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this movie was incredibly enjoyable. It managed to include multiple callbacks to the games without simply pulling on nostalgia to make it good, while creating a new and interesting plot for the two brothers, where they are humans who got trapped in the universe from the games, and had to help Mushroom City defeat Bowser.

The way Hovath and Jelenic constructed these callbacks and Easter eggs surrounding the original games was done in such a subtle yet perfect way. One way that has stuck in my mind since I watched it, was in a scene near the beginning where Mario and Luigi were running through the construction site, and as Mario kept running faster Luigi ended up out of frame, since the camera was following Mario. Not only was that a perfect way of using the gameplay format in the movie, but it also set the tone for the rest of the film: that Luigi was often stuck in Mario's shadow (ironic). Furthermore, the use of scores from the games being used in the movie as part of it's own score was genius, and really made it feel like it was something based on the games, not just using the same characters. In addition to this, I loved the characterisation of each character, especially with how they made the Dry Bones Koopa Troopas come across more zombie-like, and the small appearances of big characters like King Boo (my personal favourite) and King Bob-omb.

Although the way the movie was made was great, I was concerned about Chris Pratt's portrayal of Mario ever since watching the trailer, especially with him using an American accent. They managed to clear up the accent-based worries from the beginning with the use of an advert and by showing us that they were living in Brooklyn, but I'm still not the biggest fan of Pratt's voice-acting in general. Still, it did the job and Mario was a great character who was done incredibly well. Jack Black as Bowser and Anya-Taylor Joy as Princess Peach were definitely the best choices to play those characters though, alongside Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong, and really emphasised those movies with how well they carried the roles and legacies of those characters.

My enjoyment of this movie was also amplified through the animation style. Illumination often use the same or very similar animation styles for their movies, but it works perfectly with this movie. The style reflects the more modern and recent Mario video games, especially Mario Kart and Super Mario Bros. itself.

Overall, this movie was such a brilliant video game movie adaptation, using comedy to create a fun atmosphere for children while still following an intense storyline that allows enjoyment for all ages, and I'm so excited to see how the next movie contributes to this new cinematic universe while being just as good as this one (with the hopeful inclusion of Princess Daisy in the future).