Well, everyone, today, we shall dive into the world of animation for the first time in a while since, well, we last did so back in January with the two Puss In Boots films. No, it won’t be a DreamWorks films this time around. This time, we will be discussing an animated film from the animation company, Universal, and Illumination. And not only that, but we will be reviewing the newest full length feature that could potentially be revolutionary for the company. No, not because this is the first animated film from the company. That was of course Despicable Me from 2010. No, this film seems to be revolutionary for a couple different reasons. One being that it’s based on a video game franchise that has spanned around the past 3-4 decades. The other being that the company has supposedly decided, according to word of mouth, that if this new film were to be successful, it may give Universal, and Illumination reason to team up with Nintendo, and make more animated films based on some of Nintendo’s beloved video games. So now, with all of that said, let’s discuss a film that’s based on the Super Mario Bros. video game franchise, The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
Plot: When plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt), and his brother, Luigi (Charlie Day) get sucked out of their home world of New York City, and into a fantasy world that includes places like the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Dark Lands, they then find themselves involved in a plot by Bowser (Jack Black), King of the Koopas, to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, which is ruled by the beautiful Princess Peach (Anna Taylor-Joy). Now, with the help of the Princess, and her group of little people called Toads, can Mario, Luigi, and the gang put a stop to Bowser’s diabolical plot before it’s too late?
Well, as I’m sure some of us know, this film has been making bank over the past couple weeks already, going so far as making not $100 million, not $200 million, but over $400 million in the first couple weeks. And that’s surprisingly just domestically. Yeah, how often have you heard of that at least with an animated film? That being said, are the box office numbers for this film justified? Well, let me put it to you all this way. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a good film, no doubt about it. Still, in some aspects, this film may be a little overrated. But more on that later.
First of all, let’s talk about the good things about this film. To start things off, there is the animation for this film. Wow, let me just say that if you end up being one of those people who doesn’t like anything else about this film, you’ll for sure love the animation. To start, the animation is gorgeous. It’s almost like the CGI animation looks very much the way it would look in a computer animated film. At the same time, however, the animation also looks the way it would in a Super Mario video game with the 3D graphics, but better. Both Universal/Illumination, and Nintendo knew how to be spot on when it came to their animation. What’s even better is that the characters are much better drawn, and designed than those from previous Universal/Illumination films. How so, you may be wondering? Well, you know how in previous Universal/Illumination films, many of the characters, especially humans, were designed with these somewhat skinny bodies, and their arms, and legs being so skinny that they’re like sticks? That is not the case this time around. Universal/Illumination, and Nintendo stuck very closely to the designs of characters like Mario, Luigi, Bowser, Peach, and Donkey Kong, and more. Yes, Peach was a little skinny, even with her legs, and possibly even her arms. But you know, it could have been worse, first off, and second, she’s already skinny enough in games like more recent Mario Kart games, and other Mario games like those. So her animation design is understandable because of that. Anyway, there is also the score for this film. Brian Tyler did the score for this film. He did well remaining faithful to putting in some of the musical score from the games that obviously helped most of those games become classics in the first place. I mean at one point, you even have a character play a piece of the Super Mario theme music on piano at one point for crying out loud. And yeah, you’ll feel nostalgia from hearing other classic pieces of Super Mario theme music throughout this film as well. Oh, and did I forget to mention the very good soundtrack for this film? Okay, yeah, there are maybe one, or two popular hit songs that may not have worked quite too well. However, for the majority that do work, they surprisingly do so brilliantly, sometimes even hilariously well. Then, there’s the comedy. Oh man, the comedy is genius, from certain lines, to some of the slapstick, and more. The Super Mario Bros. Movie may yet be one of the funnier films that Universal/Illumination has come out with yet, at least in addition to ones like Despicable Me, and Sing. There is also some really fun action in this film, especially around the middle, and near the end of this film. What’s more is that this film has very black, and white characters in terms of us knowing who the heroes truly are, and same with the villains. There’s no twist villain, or any of that stuff. It’s like the old days of either Disney, or even non-Disney animated films that tried to follow as closely to Disney’s guidelines for a good story as possible. Honestly, if companies like Universal/Illumination, and DreamWorks keep going that type of route, then hopefully even Disney will learn their lesson to go back to their roots in terms of what their animation company was founded on in the first place. That is since Disney has been inserting bull crap material with gay stuff, transgender things, and more that has caused films from other animation companies like The Super Mario Bros. Movie, or Puss In Boots: The Last Wish, for instance, to perform better than Disney films like Lightyear, and Strange World (both of which were released at different points last year), for example. In addition to all of this, most of the main characters are very well developed, especially Mario, Luigi, Peach, and the classic villain of this film, and the Mario games, Bowser. One of the characters surprisingly even has a backstory that, though it could have been a little better developed, was still fairly well written. And Bowser, he is such a great villain. Yeah, Universal/Illumination may have had decent, or good villains in the past, especially ones like Jimmy Crystal from Sing 2. However, with Bowser, the filmmakers went all out with this one. You really do love to hate this one. Also, along with villains like Jimmy Crystal, Bowser may be one of Universal/Illumination’s most memorable villains yet. Part of me was surprised to find that he was voiced by Jack Black of all people. Black did well with going from using his normal acting voice to developing a more deep, and menacing this time around. There’s also Kamek, who’s played by Kevin Michael Richardson, and serves as a sorcerer, and an advisor to Bowser. Though maybe not quite as funny as say a villain duo like Kronk, and Yzma from The Emperor’s New Groove, both Bowser, and Kamek still have a few hilarious moments here and there when onscreen together. Anyway, in addition to them, there’s also Chris Pratt, who voiced Mario. Sure, it may not be Charles Martinet voicing him, or even Luigi, like he has in the Mario video games in the past. But come on, for those of you who are up in arms about Charles Martinet not voicing either, or both characters, let’s remember a couple things. First of all, Charles Martinet is getting older, and his voice is likely changing somewhat as a result. Second of all, since this is a movie that we’re talking about, and not just another video game, it seems to make sense to have a known actor in the Hollywood movie world to play a character, wouldn’t you say? Just a thought! Plus, it’s probably nice to hear someone else voice the iconic brothers from the video game world for once, you know? There’s also Charlie Day as Luigi, and Anna Taylor-Joy. Speaking of the latter character, that’s another bonus for this film. For those of you who played especially some of the earlier Super Mario games, you know how Peach seemed to serve more of the damsel in distress role this time around? Well, prepare to either be happy, or disappointed, because she has more of a strong female role model this time around like strong female leads such as Mulan, or Moana, for instance. Yeah, not just being the Princess that needs to be rescued was a very welcome change for Princess Peach this time around. Oh, and how could I forget Keagan Michael-Key as Toad? He sure seemed to know how to sound like Toad, as it sounded more like Toad than Keagan, unlike some other films that he’s either played in, or done a voice role in. There’s also Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. Yeah, considering the kind of character that Donkey Kong is, that role suits Rogen very well.
With all that said, what are the downsides to this film? Well, for one, there’s the pacing for this film. This film has a running time of 92 minutes. Honestly, this film probably should have had a running time of around 100-110, maybe even 110-120 minutes (I bring up the latter running time suggestion partially since, well, some of Disney/Pixar’s films had such a running time starting with The Incredibles, and onwards). Why? Well, the shorter 92-minute running time causes this film to have things, such as the world building, be less developed than it would be otherwise. I mean yes, we do get to see a lot of the Mushroom Kingdom, and the Dark Lands. However, aside from those, we don’t get to see much of places like the Ice Kingdom, where the penguins ruled, or the desert that we see at one point in this film, for example. Problems like this cause this film to have quite a few plot holes in the process. There’s also a lack of character development. Okay, yes, as I mentioned in the pros of this film, the main characters, like Mario, Luigi, Peach, Toad, and Bowser, that are very well developed. However, you have some of the secondary characters, like the penguins, and their King, some of the secondary villains, minus Kamek, and others that could have been fleshed out a little more. I did hear someone ask recently how you could develop characters that have already been well developed in games. Okay, yes, that person makes a good point. However, let’s also take into consideration the possibility that not everyone that sees this movie has played any of the Mario games. With that in mind, how do we know that those who haven’t played the Mario games are as likely to enjoy this film? Okay, maybe they will anyway, with many of the other good elements that are in this film. Still, just something to think about for future films that Universal/Illumination, and Nintendo might work together to make, you know? Oh, there was a character in this film that acted very mean spirited, similarly to the dad in the 2005 Disney film, Chicken Little. And for those of you who saw that film, you may recall how unlikable he was until around the very end. Same goes with the character that I mention for this animated film. This leads me to my final negative for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. There were a couple underdeveloped character arcs that could have likely been handled better, if this film had been longer than it was. Oh, and another thing! There was this corny song that Bowser sings at one point that, let’s just say that, though it may be hilarious for a few seconds, it could also come off as getting little grating on your nerves around the middle to end of the song as well. Yes, it’s still sort of funny at first, but it also may be a little too stupid , and annoying as well. Last, but not least, though there were some good messages about teamwork, not giving up, and things like those, there were also some messages that could likely come off as mixed ones in the end.
And that’s my review for The Super Mario Bros. Movie. For what we got with this film in the end, it was still very enjoyable. The movie did well with animating the characters well, along with the background, most of the main characters at least were developed well, the score was very good, some of the comedy was spot on, and the voice acting was very enjoyable. Yes, this film has it’s flaws, and could have been better because of that. Still, this film was their first try at making an animated film based on a video game franchise. For what they did, it’s still worth seeing. Still, in the future, if either Universal/Illumination, or even any other animation company were to team up with Nintendo to make a film based on a video game in the future, they should make that film longer than 90 minutes, and go maybe 100-110, or even 110-120 minutes if they want to have most characters of that film fleshed out, the world building as well developed as possible, and more. Well, again, for what this film is, it’s still worth seeing. So go see it, if you haven’t yet, and see what you think!
Final Grade: B-
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 