The Super Mario Bros. Movie is fun. It's packed with Nintendo Easter eggs and references. But is that enough for a movie? No.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is not a very well-made movie. And what did we expect from Illumination Entertainment? The studio that got so cocky after their first movie was a hit, and they decided they didn't need to put any more effort into anything. The studio that has made fourteen movies, and only two of them I consider great movies.
The writing and script is TERRIBLE. The comedy is pretty much nonexistent. Nearly nothing in this movie (other than Bowser) made me laugh. There's no character development or character arcs.
Luigi, in my opinion, is the best character in the Mario games. But this movie just doesn't care about him. He hangs around in a cage and occasionally says "Mario" for half of the runtime, and at the end, when he's FINALLY FREE FROM THE CAGE, the movie just lets him stand around and watch everyone else do everything. And it doesn't help the other of the brothers, Mario, just feels like an object. He's moved around from place to place. He also feels very incapable for most of the movie up until nearly an hour in. Femininist Peach is awesome to see, but her dialogue feels very tutorial-type. She's basically just gives Mario all the answers when she's not there to be awesome. Toad just sucks in this movie. Donkey Kong is a little too temperamental. Fred Armisen's voice just doesn't work for Cranky Kong.
And speaking of the voices, I can name TWO GOOD VOICES IN THIS FILM, Charlie Day and Jack Black. Everyone else is just awful. Chris Pratt sounds like he doesn't want to be there at all, and his Mario voice is bland as HELL, Seth Rogen is just fine. Anya Taylor-Joy sounds like she just came in to record lines for trailers and left. Keegan Michael-Key is UNBEARABLE. Charles Martinet was nice though, I'll give him that. If only he was Mario, but they had to get CHRIS PRATT.
The story is, call we even call it that? It's just a bunch of scenes of Mario stuff smushed together. It feels like it's supposed to be the ultimate highlight reel of 35 years of Mario. The Mario Kart scene makes no logical sense why they would need it. The training montage was pointless, almost EVERYTHING IN THIS MOVIE IS COMPLETELY POINTLESS. I say almost because the final battle was EPIC, and Peaches is amazing.
On the plus side, it's really pretty animation and the score is pretty great. I love the incorporation of the classic Mario themes into the music. BUT WHY IN THE LETHAL LAVA LAND did Nintendo let Illumination put LICENSED MUSIC INTO A MARIO MOVIE? It makes no sense! The DK Rap and the Mario Rap fit in the movie, because they are MARIO RELATED MUSIC! But Holding Out for a Hero? Or Take on Me? WHY ARE THOSE IN A MARIO MOVIE?
In conclusion, the critics turned out to be right after all. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a fun movie with a lot of flaws. I'm definitely going to watch it again, but it's not a masterpiece, and not what we as Mario fans deserved.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is not a very well-made movie. And what did we expect from Illumination Entertainment? The studio that got so cocky after their first movie was a hit, and they decided they didn't need to put any more effort into anything. The studio that has made fourteen movies, and only two of them I consider great movies.
The writing and script is TERRIBLE. The comedy is pretty much nonexistent. Nearly nothing in this movie (other than Bowser) made me laugh. There's no character development or character arcs.
Luigi, in my opinion, is the best character in the Mario games. But this movie just doesn't care about him. He hangs around in a cage and occasionally says "Mario" for half of the runtime, and at the end, when he's FINALLY FREE FROM THE CAGE, the movie just lets him stand around and watch everyone else do everything. And it doesn't help the other of the brothers, Mario, just feels like an object. He's moved around from place to place. He also feels very incapable for most of the movie up until nearly an hour in. Femininist Peach is awesome to see, but her dialogue feels very tutorial-type. She's basically just gives Mario all the answers when she's not there to be awesome. Toad just sucks in this movie. Donkey Kong is a little too temperamental. Fred Armisen's voice just doesn't work for Cranky Kong.
And speaking of the voices, I can name TWO GOOD VOICES IN THIS FILM, Charlie Day and Jack Black. Everyone else is just awful. Chris Pratt sounds like he doesn't want to be there at all, and his Mario voice is bland as HELL, Seth Rogen is just fine. Anya Taylor-Joy sounds like she just came in to record lines for trailers and left. Keegan Michael-Key is UNBEARABLE. Charles Martinet was nice though, I'll give him that. If only he was Mario, but they had to get CHRIS PRATT.
The story is, call we even call it that? It's just a bunch of scenes of Mario stuff smushed together. It feels like it's supposed to be the ultimate highlight reel of 35 years of Mario. The Mario Kart scene makes no logical sense why they would need it. The training montage was pointless, almost EVERYTHING IN THIS MOVIE IS COMPLETELY POINTLESS. I say almost because the final battle was EPIC, and Peaches is amazing.
On the plus side, it's really pretty animation and the score is pretty great. I love the incorporation of the classic Mario themes into the music. BUT WHY IN THE LETHAL LAVA LAND did Nintendo let Illumination put LICENSED MUSIC INTO A MARIO MOVIE? It makes no sense! The DK Rap and the Mario Rap fit in the movie, because they are MARIO RELATED MUSIC! But Holding Out for a Hero? Or Take on Me? WHY ARE THOSE IN A MARIO MOVIE?
In conclusion, the critics turned out to be right after all. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a fun movie with a lot of flaws. I'm definitely going to watch it again, but it's not a masterpiece, and not what we as Mario fans deserved.