Written by Andreas Babiolakis

It’s finally here. What feels like one of the most hyped-up films in recent memory is here. With the wave of video game adaptations that have actually been bearable-to-decent (Sonic The Hedgehog, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu) to excellent (The Last of Us, Arcane), it felt like the curse was finally broken. You can take a classic video game and actually make a good film and/or television series off of it. When it comes to the Super Mario franchise, lord knows they needed this cleansing after that insane steampunk nightmare from the early nineties. This latest film is an animated visual feast which is actually a product of Nintendo itself; they teamed up with Illumination on this feature. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, known for their Teen Titans Go! work (stuffed to the brim with self awareness and trinkets), seemed like the right visionaries to get on board with this particular project: a tall order when it comes to pleasing snobby cinephiles, impatient children, and toxic video game fanatics alike.

Illumination tried to assure us after the cast was announced that everything was going to be a-okay: read that however you wish (it is a Mario review after all). Chris Pratt received tons of vitriol for numerous reasons, but especially because fans attached to the video games expected voice actor Charles Martinet to reprise his iconic role). Illumination promised that they were going to make all the right choices. Now that I’m done watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it does seem like the animation studio did their best to make this as crowd pleasing as possible, particularly for video game fans. The film is full of nostalgic noises (from the obvious, like the pipe immersion sounds and the ka-ching’s of coins, to the more specific like the boop-ing of koopa shells banging into things and the sounds of magic from the SNES games). There are so many homages to the many Mario games, and I got a chuckle out of seeing a training course that just screamed Super Mario Maker to me (I can’t even begin to list the amount of references there are). Down to the finest details, The Super Mario Bros. Movie delivers what it promised: a film for those that actually love the game franchise (and at least it bears many resemblances to the series, unlike, well, something else).

Speaking of “something else”, The Super Mario Bros. Movie actually begins in its own unique way: with the intention of providing a real backstory to the brothers themselves. Mario and Luigi have their own new plumbing business in their stomping grounds of Brooklyn, New York, which clearly isn’t built for success, despite their best intentions. Their overbearing family chastises them for their choices (their red and green uniforms aren’t normal in this reality, for starters, and their decision to give everything up to be plumbers isn’t met with approval). After a so-so first day, Mario wants to prove to his family that they are meant for greatness. He tries to stop a flood that is happening downtown, and his brother Luigi sticks by his side. They wind up finding a pipe that warps them to a world they know not of: the Mushroom Kingdom, and its neighbouring regions. They get separated, with Luigi being trapped in King Bowser’s stomping grounds (we see him destroy an entire kingdom at the very start of the film as a means of a complete takeover), with Mario now searching for him. He comes across Princess Peach, who Bowser intends on marrying in his quest for total domination.

It’s actually interesting to see The Super Mario Bros. Movie try to legitimize and create something out of its admittedly-strange source material (it is a little bonkers when you really try to analyze it), and I feel like the film was off to a good start. That’s until I noticed that this build up took twenty minutes, and we had less than an hour of film left to go. The Super Mario Bros. Movie speeds through its story faster than Bullet Bill (or a spinning koopa shell), and it reduces much of the vibrant colours, warm animation, and endearing story to noise; not the kind that will give a headache, but the kind that your brain may just tune out. This very narrative that actually felt a little substantial before? It quickly begins to feel like the fastest buffet out there, as you choke on pounds of different kinds of food in order to try and get your all-you-can-eat money’s worth before the kitchen closes. The film squashes in the original Donkey Kong game (when Mario, then “Jumpman”, had to face the titular gorilla resting at the top of beams), Mario Kart, Super Mario Maker, and more into its brief runtime. It reduces all of its homages to things we can recall, not moments we relive. What part about the Mario Kart sequence actually feels like we’re back playing the game (outside of Mario finding a shortcut on Rainbow Road)?

Of course, this is a film and not a portfolio of references, but doesn’t that only drive home my point? The film should have either focused entirely on its original story (which actually seemed pretty interesting) or fully gone in the direction of one (or, at the most, two) of its source materials. It’s nice to get so many Easter eggs, but not at the expense of fundamental storytelling, pacing, and tone. The voice cast seems to have fun, and some performers fare better than others (Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach seems to fit in really well, while Pratt and Charlie Day as Mario and Luigi, respectively, do a fine enough job that I can’t complain too much). The only person here who absolutely crushes it is Jack Black as King Bowser, who should really be playing villains more often (I know that fun Jack Black is nice Jack Black, but he’s deliciously evil in this, and I found this just as fun as the charming side we already know inside and out). No one stuck out as appalling, not even Seth Rogan as himself/Donkey Kong, but Jack Black felt like the only fully believable character (although Taylor-Joy’s Peach comes quite close).

Illumination promised us the cast would deliver, and they do enough. However, Illumination couldn’t help itself from other studio-synonymous traits that have become a little tiring by now, including the same cutesy jokes that have to riddle almost every single sequence (even the serious ones); not a single moment of triumph occurs without slow motion and some warped speech that has to make people laugh; don’t be deceived by baby-looking characters, because they wind up being the most crazy (what are the odds? In an Illumination film??); get your phone out and your Shazam ready for the exact same songs you always expect played right on cue (but have that phone ready just in case). When Illumination makes something like Sing, they know how to do the same-old enough that they can also get back to telling their story and make it count. In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, where Illumination and company should be a little more careful with the work of other people, they seemed to have gone overboard with their own isms. When the film isn’t zipping through its story and distancing us from what is going on, it is begging us to laugh and “d’awwww” over the same tropes that they’ve been getting by with for over ten years. Isn’t it getting old?

But then you may argue “Andreas, this is a family film! Why bother critiquing it or trying to scrutinize it so much?”. As a standard family film that you can put on and enjoy with your kids, The Super Mario Bros. Movie does a good job. You can absolutely just have it on and watch it together as a family. It’s harmless. It’s colourful. It’s optimistic. It’s at least somewhat fun at times. Having said that, I’m still looking at this as a film, and as the umpteenth entry in this medium, it falls flat. That shouldn’t stop you from having a family night out (or in, in this day of streaming), but you’re really not going to get something layered, moving, or even memorable out of this. That may be exactly what you’re looking for. For me, I recall getting so frustrated with any Super Mario game until I finally beat levels that would frustrate me. Then I felt victorious; accomplished; heroic. Video games have this connection with players, and it’s something that many adaptations completely forget to include underneath the inventory items, the obstacles, the sounds, and the endgames. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a lot of trinkets, but a whole void of nothingness when it comes to making a proper connection with its audience (outside of “remember these things from the games?”). It’s a well intentioned film, but that doesn’t prevent it from being nearly completely insubstantial.

Also, no disrespect. If there indeed is an ongoing partnership between Nintendo and Illumination, okie dokie. Just please stay away from The Legend of Zelda. Please. I’m begging you, Illumination.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Toronto Metropolitan University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.