Review of Super Mario Bros. (1993) by Lafe F — 28 Nov 2009

Craptacular movie which was barely anything like the videogame! Made on a cheapo budget, they made too many compromises from the source material. The movie's setting was a dank sewer and a dirty steel mill, unlike the bright and colorful block kingdom the game existed in.

Bob Hoskins was perfectly cast as Mario; totally huggable. But what the hell were they thinking when they cast John Leguizamo as Luigi?? Luigi is meant to be Mario's older brother with a moustache, not some goofy kid.

Princess Daisy was a beautiful addition to the movie. Dennis Hopper was great acting as King Koopa, but looked nothing like the ten-foot tall dragon in the game. They got the Goombas all wrong with their big bodies and little heads.

And where were the turtle enemies which every level of the videogame had? The Mushroom King was goopy and disgusting. Yoshi was cute, but too small for Mario to ride on. The "Super" aspect of the game with them grabbing a mushroom and growing giant-sized wasn't covered.

Mario and Luigi could only jump high with special power-boots. Lame. They took a fun fantasy platform game and turned it into an ugly wreck. Gosh this movie was totally disappointing. Terrible movie done hastily to cash in on the Nintendo game craze of the time.

Jeez, they should've done a "Donkey Kong" movie at a New York construction site instead. Forget Super Mario Bros. unless you want to host a bad movie night.