The last time Mario, the lovable moustachioed Italian plumber with a loud voice and the most iconic name in video games, starred in a movie, he failed so badly that Nintendo waited 30 years to give her another chance at the mascot on the big screen. Now something of a weird cult classic, the 1993 live-action version starring Bob Hoskins was an eerily realistic take on the game (Mario fixes broken dishwashers and worries about paying the rent). AND incredibly wacky (it’s partly set in a dino-steampunk parallel dimension), with only a tangential resemblance to the source material. This new animated anime version, on the other hand, is deeply faithful, through and through.
It’s exactly what you’d expect from a Super Mario Bros. movie. It’s like a big hit parade for the franchise: there’s the rainbow path to Mario Kartthe scary house of palace of louisthe New Donk City level from super mario odysseythe moons of super mario galaxyand even darker easter eggs (listen to the GameCube startup sound). The story also borrows from game mechanics and terminology: there are bonuses, blue shells, and a side-scrolling mission. Even Brian Tyler’s score never misses an opportunity to borrow some of Koji Kondo’s gloriously recognizable musical motifs.
It will win a lot of gold at the box office, no doubt. But Bob Hoskins’ version is much fancier.
Everything is laser designed to stimulate the nostalgic adenoids of Nintendo nerds. But in the end, it just feels like a scene from a long-running, ultra-high-def video game — the part where you sit around waiting to play the actual game. While a training montage sequence hints at the repetitive trial and error of the original NES title, he seems to fail to realize that the real joy of these games was above all the beautifully crafted and addictive gameplay.
Without that here, we’re left with the characters, who are as thin as an 8-bit image file and, with the possible exception of Jack Black (who brings Tenacious D’s energy to his Bowser), dead wrong. You have an admirable intention to explain it, but in a world above all of them you know exactly how Mario sounds, the film itself included our recovery, in a cameo by veteran Mario voice actor, Charles Martinet, Chris Pratt’s Mario it just doesn’t. Looks like Mario. (The Mario family as a whole, by the way, are the most egregious Italian stereotypes to see this side of a Dolmio commercial; how many “Mamma Mia!” does it take to constitute a hate crime?)
It comes from Illumination, a studio that has never earned the critical credibility of rivals like Pixar or Sony, but thanks to its minion AND Sing franchises have definitely figured out how to make millions for families. You hear this mid-term hymn score sung in endless danger, the bright colors, the largely unfunny lines, the empty feeling (“Nothing can hurt us while we’re together!”). The studio brings experience and talent; The level of animation, carefully rendered and richly art directed, is undeniably high. It will win a lot of gold at the box office, no doubt. But Bob Hoskins’ version is much fancier.
Source: EmpireOnline
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
