Review of The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) by Yoshi8869 — 06 Apr 2023

Despite my immense love for the Mario franchise, I went into this film expecting trash. Video games don't translate to cinema. But I found myself halfway through suddenly realizing there weren't any glaringly bad elements yet. Now, I'll warn you up front: if you're wanting a cinematic masterpiece, you're in the wrong place. It never takes itself too seriously, which works, but that being said, it does come across as a bit messy...

What I liked most was the visual and aural elements. It looked great. It's not going to win any Oscars for it, but Illumination did exactly what they needed to do to capture that Mario essence with their own trademark spin. It works, and it works well. The music is excellent. It perfectly utilizes the real Mario themes in a way that isn't tacky. The composer, Brian Tyler, uses Koji Kondo's motifs and melodies in a diegetic manner that feels seamless and gives you a plethora of moments where you go, "Oh wait is that... Oh, it is! It's THAT song." That being said, I was not a fan of their use of real world songs once they arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom. It took me out of it, personally. On the acting, it certainly wasn't flawless, but it was way better than I expected. Chris Pratt, who was my only real concern, did well. He didn't sound like Starlord, and I was worried he might. That's not to say he nailed it though, either. If anything, he's forgettable as Mario, which I might argue he is. Charlie Day was great as Luigi. Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach was phenomenal. And Jack Black nailed Bowser with his own spin. The only voice acting that fell below par for me was Seth Rogen as D.K. It just never worked for me. The backing cast was actually pretty good too. Story and plot-wise, I thought the opening sequence was good and I felt the dynamic between Maro and Luigi was so good that I was disappointed by the fact that we didn't get enough of them together. That and I thought the Mario Kart sequence was very well-done. Probably my favorite part of the movie apart from the platforming scene from the very beginning of the film. I also was very much swayed by the Easter eggs, and there were a LOT. I signed up for Easter eggs and I got them.

And that's about where the praise ends. But honestly, all of that was enough to get me to watch again. That being said, there were some lacking elements. First and foremost, the plot was jarringly messy. Without giving too much away, it jumped through a lot of the "adventure" parts of the story and, while the action sequences were cool, I was hoping for more exploration and scenery. That's where I felt the movie shined was when we could just sit back and take in the Mushroom Kingdom and enjoy our delicious Easter eggs. They had two mid-plot conflicts--one where our heroes are lifted up and another where they are beaten before the climax--and I felt like the former could have been shortened, or you could have done one without the other. But either way, having the Mario Kart scene, a mid-story conflict, a musical number, AND the entire opening sequence all in a movie under two hours just doesn't work. It's too quick getting through things. To be completely honest, I'd have taken the entire middle plot with the jungle out of the story to make room for the exploration adventure that was entirely skipped over. That and the story lacked a clear theme, as it felt only present when Luigi was on screen. I didn't really get what they were going for with the character arcs--if there even were any. It was missing some story elements. And I did not like their interpretations of Peach or Bowser. I didn't hate them, but Peach felt like a bit of a departure from her in-game persona, and Bowser was a bit too funny for our villain. He felt like he was never fully actualized. And lastly, my biggest gripe was that they didn't utilize things that would have been so easy to utilize. They chose to go with some random Toad as the role of Toadsworth instead of actual Toadsworth. And instead of Luigi's Mansion we get a haunted... castle? I don't get it. Those were simple to implement and they chose to invent generic alternatives instead of using what they could have. But I'm also a sucker for Easter eggs...

All in all, this was a decent film. It's not brilliant, but it does what it sets out to do. If you're a Mario fan or your kid is, absolutely watch it! You should go into this film expecting exactly what it is: a fun, colorful adventure with little plot or character development necessary. If you do that, you'll have a good ride. For me, it gets a 6.8/10.

FULL, "OBJECTIVE" SCORE:

Production: 22/30.

--Acting: 7/10.

--Direction: 6/10.

--Crew/Effects: 9/10.

Story: 10/30.

--Plot: 3/10.

--Characters: 5/10.

--Theme: 2/10.

Immersion: 25/30.

--Soundtrack: 9/10.

--Visuals: 8/10.