Review of Super Mario Bros. (1993) by Gavin C — 15 Jan 2012

This is one of those films I enjoyed as a child when I bought it on video from Christmas of 2004, but looking back at the Mario video games I played, this movie is a mixed bag as a young adult.

First, let me point out the strongest points. The visuals are very spectacular with tremendous special effects and the costume designs including Mario's and Luigi's were amazing and looked exactly like the ones from the video games. The Alan Silvestri music score is fabulous in a Mario-esque style and the action is amusing. The cast including Bob Hoskins, John Leguizimo, Samantha Manthis and Dennis Hopper were great and their performances were very unique.

There ends the positives. Now for the negatives. This film has disregarded its source material from the video games. It lacks the Mushroom Kingdom setting along King Bowser's castle and Princess Daisy's castle and all we have is New York City. Aside from that, the story is bloated with flaws (instead of brothers, Mario and Luigi are father and son, King Koopa is a human instead of a monster and the goomba didn't look exactly like the ones from the video games. The only reliable part that wasn't flawed as Yoshi the creature. Although despite him being a green-less dinosaur, he doesn't speak so I guess it's OK) and soulless dialogue, especially in the parts with King Koopa including "Where's my pizza?", "Sir, your pizza's here." "Not now. Looks like I win." and "Monkey." Although, way more tolerable than other horrible video game adaptations like Street Fighter and Double Dragon, this is a very disappointing adaptation despite it having a cult following over the years and despite its failure at the box office. Had the directors themselves try to stay faithful to the video games, we would've had an astounding film other than a mediocre film.

Rating: 4.8/10.