The Super Mario Bros. Movie is on track to break animated film and box office records and shows that if its not broke, don’t fix it.
With a simple story involving Mario and Luigi being transported into another universe and separated, where Mario is trying to reunite with his brother. Along the way we meet tons of characters from the game series, both good and bad, and start our journey of Mario teaming with Princess Peach to save the Mushroom Kingdom. Its a very simple story that never tries to branch out and thats fine.
It’s fine honestly because the film is so littered with Mario references, great action sequences, and fun sections that feel like its a rip straight from a game. The world is so vibrant and beautiful and looks identical to the games that a deep story here would be pointless. Instead we are treated to nonstop jokes both on the nose and meta for long term fans along with things like the Mario Karts which are added in for no reason other than to give us more of what the fans would want.
Illumination Studios should get extra praise though for just how great the animation here is. It looks like it could be a video game cut scene and has endless amounts of extra details that would take multiple viewings to notice.
While one big issue fans had before release was lead voice actor Chris Pratt here not doing an Italian accent for Mario, it works here sort of. It doesn’t take long to get used to as this Mario has more personality than the games ever did. All characters here are rounded out for the better or worse actually. The all star roster putting their voices in this though deserve credit with Jack Black needing a Grammy for his Peaches song.
Overall this is a Super Mario Bros movie. Its lighthearted, funny, and just fun to watch. You don’t need to come in and overthink it and I for one can’t wait for the franchise they spawn from this.
Score :
4 / 5
