The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2023

I actually saw this movie in theaters when it came out three years ago, mainly because my family are all big Mario fans, but also with the intention of reviewing it here on this site. But after watching it, procrastination got the better of me and the days turned into weeks, the weeks into months, and by then my memory isn’t good enough to try to write a review for the movie so I wrote it off. And now with the sequel in theaters now, I thought it was a good time to revisit the movie before going to theaters with my oldest daughter to watch the new movie. And while I think it felt a little bit like a stretch to call the original live action movie a superhero movie (despite super being right there in the title), I don’t think there’s nearly as much argument that this isn’t a superhero movie. It follows the origin story format quite a bit closer and the super powers are much more overt with the Mushroom Kingdom power ups. The movie itself follows a more or less straightforward path with a couple curveballs thrown in for comedy sake, but where it really shines is how packed it is with classic video game and Mario Easter eggs. It’s practically fanservice: the movie, but it’s also a lot of fun besides.

Besides being fanservice, it’s also a lot of nostalgia right from the opening moments that recreates the opening music to the 90’s era Super Mario Bros Super Show with Captain Lou Albano. It also shares slight hints of the live action movie as it does start in Brooklyn and Mario and Luigi inadvertently warp to the Mushroom Kingdom where they immediately get separated. Luigi ends up in the Bowser controlled lands surrounded by Dry Bones and various other enemies, while Mario ends up in the main city of the Mushroom Kingdom where he soon meets up with Peach who takes him under her wing in a training montage featuring several standard Mario obstacles.

Bowser and the rest of the Koopas are the villains and they are portrayed as obscenely overpowered and vastly outnumber the toads even when they team up with the Kongs led by Cranky Kong and Donkey Kong. And yet because Bowser is voiced by Jack Black, he has a silly softer side to him that’s played up in several scenes as he eventually explains that his plan isn’t to destroy or take over the Mushroom Kingdom specifically, but instead he wants to marry Princess Peach. It’s a technically more diplomatic way to take over the kingdom, but it’s presented that he basically has a massive crush on her which we get to see as he sings the hit song Peaches, or has a bit of role play with his magikoopa advisor Kamek.

The real basics of the plot is basically a kind of hero’s journey as Mario goes from a regular plumber from Brooklyn to a hero led by the guidance of Princess Peach who is another typical type of character in these animated movies where the female guide is already hero material despite the fact that she ends up guiding Mario to become the actual hero of the movie. And in between that were half a dozen side quests like the Donkey Kong gladiator battle, or the rainbow Mario Kart battle, or even the wedding fight. Though we do get Mario and Luigi together in a nice team up turn at the end of the movie. The sheer amount of references were simultaneously great, but also slightly overwhelming to someone who fell out of playing Mario games after the SNES era, so some of the references and power ups were lost like the Cat costume. But some of the more subtle references really worked well like the frequent use of classic sound effects and reworks of recognizable music themes throughout the movie.

What also really helps sell this movie is the humor throughout. While he is a bit more of a controversial choice these days, Chris Pratt does a decent job as Mario, avoiding a silly Italian accent for a more natural voice outside of the occasional high pitched “Mamma Mia”. Charlie Day as Luigi also works well as the more timid of the brothers. The rest of the cast also work well with the comedic beats. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Peach is mostly the straight man so she doesn’t get a lot of the best comic moments, but there’s also a couple fun scene-stealers like the nihilistic Luma in the cage and the Penguin king at the beginning. There’s just overall a lot of fun to be had with this movie, especially if you’re someone who grew up playing any version of Super Mario. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.