The Super Mario Bros Movie

Second time's the charm for the Mario Brothers in their first big-screen adventure in 30 years.

Like many Gen-Xers, Millennials, and Zoomers worldwide, I grew up obsessively playing Super Mario Bros, and any Mario-related title I could get my hands on. Everyone and their mother and their mother’s mother know who Mario is, he’s one of the most recognizable fictional characters ever, standing right alongside Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny. It was only time until the Italian plumber finally got his second attempt at the big screen after the disastrous 1993 live-action film starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” begins with the Mario and Luigi (voiced by Chris Pratt & Charlie Day) struggling with their new Plumbing business in Brooklyn. Many of their neighbors aren’t taking them seriously, including the neighborhood bully Spike (Sebastian Maniscalco), and even their own father. After their first gig ends in disaster, Mario looks for a second chance when flooding wreaks havoc in their neighborhood.

This leads the two brothers to travel into the sewers, where they come across a familiar-looking green pipe that sends Mario to the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi to the Darklands where he is kidnapped by the villain with questionable motives, Bowser (Jack Black). Mario soon crosses paths with the hyperactive Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) who leads him to the free-spirited Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). The three end up going on a quest in order to save Luigi and stop Bowser before he kidnaps Peach and attempts to make her his bride. Along the way, they also team up with the cocky gorilla prince Donkey Kong (Seth Rogen).

You may have noticed that the story here is fairly generic, but what else did you expect from a Super Mario Brothers movie? This film is a love letter made by fans of the games, for fans of the game, and most of all it’s the perfect kids’ movie. Throughout the movie, I kept thinking that if I were 7 years old again, this would easily become my favorite movie. The pacing is as fast as those Bullet Bills that speed up your kart in MarioKart, some of it may feel a bit too rushed, but my enjoyment never ceased. You may have heard this a lot from fans of this film, but I had a great big goofy smile on my face for the entirety of the film’s 90-minute runtime.

There’s so much for kids to enjoy, but there is also plenty of cool little easter eggs related to all the different eras of this beloved franchise. From visual references to more recent games like “Super Mario Odyssey” to even allusions to more obscure titles like “Wrecking Crew.” Yes, nostalgia and the ‘member-berries’ that recent Hollywood fare has relied so heavily on have become tiresome, but strangely enough, it works here.

The soundtrack itself is a bit questionable, while Brian Tyler’s score is fantastic, most of the film’s needle drops just feel random. I love a-ha’s “Take On Me” as much as the next person, but it felt jarring when it was used as our heroes arrive in Donkey Kong’s jungle kingdom or the use of “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC while Mario, Peach, and Toad create their karts. All that and the sheer audacity not to use “Jump Around” by House of Pain, c’mon Illumination, and Nintendo, it was right there. But I digress.

The voice cast was probably the most controversial aspect of the movie when it was first announced, particularly the casting of Chris Pratt as Mario himself. I’m a bonafide Chris Pratt defender, I like the guy, and he’s given some excellent voice performances before in “The Lego Movie” and “Onward.” As Mario, Pratt is actually pretty good, this isn’t his best work, but he clearly isn’t just doing his regular voice. The film even references the fact that it wouldn’t work if they just stuck Mario with a stereotypical Italian accent for 90 minutes straight. Anya Taylor-Joy makes for an entertaining Princess Peach and Seth Rogen is essentially just playing himself as Donkey Kong but is extremely entertaining nonetheless.

The film’s biggest three standouts in terms of its voice cast are Jack Black, Charlie Day, and Keegan-Michael Key. Black always seemed like the perfect choice for the King of Koopas and he delivers a gloriously silly vocal performance as the character, complete with his own hilarious power ballad. Key and Day also seemed like such natural fits to Toad and Luigi, capturing the hyper and nervous personalities of their respective characters.

The animation within “The Super Mario Bros Movie” is nothing short of phenomenal and easily some of Illumination Animation’s best work yet. It perfectly fuses together the Illumination style with the designs that we’re so familiar with in the world of “Super Mario.” The Mushroom Kingdom has never looked better than it has in this film.

There are certainly some corny jokes that feel predictable, even for a Mario movie, but again, what else did you expect? I’ve seen quite a few reviews lambasting this film and at least in my eyes, this is completely inoffensive and harmless. Not to discredit anyone’s opinion, but at its core, “The Super Mario Bros Movie” is clearly made for kids, and they’ll undoubtedly love it and parents will likely tolerate the film much more than the “Boss Babys” or the “Space Jam 2s” of the world. It’s hard to imagine a time when Mario and Luigi weren’t a part of my life and as a fan, I was definitely satisfied with this outing.