The Super Mario Bros. Movie - A Game Changer

truly we are living in strange times a world where new Marvel and Star Wars movies are greeted with almost Universal indifference and a movie about a fat Italian plumber chugging magic mushrooms to fight a giant dinosaur is on track to make over a billion dollars and you know what I love it I mean when it comes to making their transition to the big screen Mario and Luigi have had a bit of a rocky history nine-year-old me sat through the Bob Hoskins and Dennis Hopper movie way back in 1993 completely an utterly baffled at what I was seeing a situation that remains unchanged to this very day the film was such a nightmarish disaster that it basically soured Nintendo on the idea of big screen adaptations for the better part of 30 years but it's amazing what a pair of successful Sonic movies from their old enemies Sega can do to change a company's mind and so here we are in 2023 staring down the magical warp pipe of Super Mario Brothers the movie it's nice to see this some rivalries never die people have been going absolutely nuts over this film over the past week or so Helena has a turning point in the history of video game adaptations and possibly the future direction of Western Cinema Jesus calm down Lads but the reason you're probably watching this video is to find out if Super Mario Brothers is actually any goods and more importantly if it's worth parting with your hard earned cash to go and see well the answer is yes mostly see Super Mario Brothers is the kind of film that's Taylor Made for precisely two kinds of people young kids who enjoy bright colors and fast-paced action and middle-aged Gamers looking to relive their childhoods if you fall into either one of these categories then you're probably gonna have a blast with this movie and if you don't then you're probably going to be left wondering what the [ __ ] he just saw so what shuts up anyway the movie centers around everyone's favorite Italian plumbers Mario and his brother Luigi they've just quit their jobs to start their own Plumbing business in Brooklyn and sunk all of their money into a TV ad to promote it their first gig doesn't go particularly well however and when Mario's Family questioned the wisdom of risking everything on his crazy pipe dream Mario starts to have doubts about where his life is heading then he gets sucked down a magical warp pipe and transported into an alternate Dimension inhabited by talking mushroom people so yeah in case you hadn't noticed the movie switches gears pretty quickly anyway the gist is that the kingdoms in this land are under Threat by Bowser who's managed to get his hands on the Kragle the Superstar that's gonna Grant him the power to destroy anything in his path unless Princess Peach agrees to marry him why exactly would a giant talking dinosaur be romantically attracted to a human female and what does he expect to get out of such a relationship don't know but it's a question that's haunted me ever since I was a little kids even worse Mario and Luigi got separated on the way here and Luigi's now been captured by Bowser's Minions leaving Mario with only one choice team up with Princess Peach fight his way to Bowser's Castle rescue his brother and save the Mushroom Kingdom oh yeah and in order to get there they're gonna need an army which means recruiting Donkey Kong to join the fights as I said earlier this movie is heavy on references in jokes and callbacks to the classic platforming games and if you're not familiar with the lore of those games then you're definitely going to be left wondering what's going on that being said for people like me who wasted months replaying every level of Super Mario World or Donkey Kong Country looking for every possible hidden secret it's a pretty cool experience when you realize how much stuff they were able to cram in here there's a definite sense of reverence for the source material and a desire to reward long time fans of the games oh my goodness respect for the lore and for the customers what kind of bizarre world are we living in here the plot itself isn't exactly complicated and the characters aren't going to inspire 5-hour video video essays about their hidden meanings and motivations but then again what were you expecting the original games weren't exactly heavy on story either and I don't think many kids back then were desperate to know Mario's entire personal history or the intricate political situation of the Mushroom Kingdom that being said though I think there was more scope to tackle slightly more complex ideas than they did here the best animated movies are the ones that appeal to both kids and the adults that took them to the movie theater in the first place working in sub-so but mature story and character beats that appeal to different Generations like there's a reason people still get emotional at the intro to up or the ending for Toy Story 3 the best sweet acknowledgment that sooner or later we all have to say goodbye to the simple innocence of our childhoods and leave behind the once treasured objects that went on the journey with us stuff like that tugs at the heartstrings of kids that know eventually it's gonna happen to them but it hits even harder for the parents who already went through it basically what I'm trying to say with all this pish is that there isn't really that same complexity of emotion or storytelling here it's simple Straight Up Entertainment and the only real theme that you can draw from it is the value of determination and loyalty to the people that you care about pretty Universal and inoffensive ideas but hardly groundbreaking stuff but as simple as they are I think most of the characters come across as likable and fun Mario's a Plucky Underdog that everyone underestimates driven by family loyalty unable to pick himself up and carry on when the going gets tough he struggles and fails but never quite gives up and always finds a way to pull through to the ends Luigi's timid and reluctant preferring to follow his brother's lead and always look into Mario to protect him he's probably the least well-served character in the movie since he spends most of his time locked up waiting to be rescued and although he does redeem himself at the end it would have been nice to see the two brothers working together a bit more Princess Peach seems to be the biggest bone of contention for most people and it's not hard to see why the modern Hollywood trend of elevating female characters into annoying obnoxious girl bosses who can do everything they that men can do but better is pretty well known at this point and if the rumors are true that's exactly what the studio had planned before Nintendo stepped in and overruled them and if that's the case then [ __ ] hats off to them because I think this version of the character manages to walk a pretty careful line able to make decisions and look after herself without overshadowing and belittling the actual protagonist of the movie yeah there's one or two little occasions when she's a bit too good at everything she does and I noticed that the finale carefully adheres to the golden rule of modern writing that a woman can never be directly rescued by a man but whatever the point I'm making is that while she gets to do more than just scream at Mario help me she's a perfectly likable and Charming character all by herself ultimately for all its Simplicity and lack of narrative depth Super Mario Brothers comes across as the perfect palette cleanser for audiences worn down by divisive preachy and mean-spirited animated movies from The Not So Magic Kingdom or tedious and played out superhero flicks in the Twilight of their genre and for all I joked about it at the start of this review the box office number speak for themselves we could just be witnessing a real shift in Hollywood and the kind of films that they make going forwards the era of the comic book movie is coming to an end and after Decades of false starts and misfires the age of the video game adaptation might just be upon us and quite frankly I'm more than ready for its anyway that's all I've got for today go away now

Channel: The Critical Drinker

Views: 1,280,250

Keywords: Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Nintendo, critical drinker, review, funny, best, feminist, feminism

Id: pw-THtE42aM

Length: 7min 18sec (438 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 17 2023