I Just Saw

I just saw The Super Mario Bros Movie and now I’m hooked on the brothers to the end. Well, maybe not, but it was a pretty good movie. It’s kind of amazing that it’s taken Hollywood this long to do a Nintendo film right, but I guess even Marvel had many years of failed projects before their current ascendancy.

Students of bad cinema will recall 1993’s Super Mario Bros, a live-action adaptation which starred Bob Hoskins as Mario and Dennis Hopper as King Koopa. The film was so bad that it doesn’t even play on television. Like the new version, it had a big budget and a starry cast. Unlike the new version, it didn’t seem to understand the first thing about applying story and character to a video game.

This new one’s good decisions go back to making it animated. (Why anyone thought that this material should be live-action is one of cinema’s great mysteries.)

The plot is that Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are Italian American plumbers in Brooklyn who’ve gone into business for themselves, to their friends and family’s chagrin. When a water main bursts and starts flooding the city the brothers investigate, only to be sucked into a magical universe where Princess Peach’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) Mushroom Kingdom is under threat from a tyrant called Bowser (Jack Black).

Chris Pratt’s casting was controversial when announced. To be fair to the guy, fan fury at “inauthentic” casting was silly. This isn’t commedia dell’arte, it’s Super Mario, a Japanese video game. That said, it is frustrating that actual voice actors don’t get cast as much in movies these days. The only professional voice actor in the cast whose name I recognised was John DiMaggio, a legend of the craft who’s played Bender in Futurama, Jake the Dog in Adventure Time, and numerous other roles. Here he plays “Uncle Arthur”, a relative of Mario and Luigi’s who has maybe two or three lines. Not even their dad.

Likewise, it’s sad that Mario’s voice only gets token acknowledgement, but Pratt’s vocal approach makes a lot more sense with the Brooklyn scenes in place, and it’s probably fair of the studio to not want a full movie of the squeaky cartoon Italian. The other performances are fun, with Jack Black a perfect choice for Bowser (if we are going to be casting celebs over voice actors), and ditto Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong.

The animation and humour are the best parts of the film. This is a gorgeously animated production, with particular highlights being the “rainbow road” car chase (a reference to Mario Kart) and all of the game-based recreations of the Mushroom Kingdom, Bowser’s lair etc. Each setting is realised with vivid contrasting colours and smooth movement. Soundtrack choices are also well-judged, with an emphasis on ‘80s pop standards like Aha’s “Take on Me” and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck”.

The references to Nintendo properties are well worked in for this sort of thing and the jokes are constructed with skill. I especially liked the heavy-metal nature of Bowser’s domain and his romantic obsession with Peach.

I’d have liked the story to be set entirely in the magical world and follow more of a Hero’s Journey structure, a la Star Wars, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, etc. But this isn’t aiming for that sort of fantasy adventure, and as a light cartoon comedy that’s suitable for children, it’s pretty good. If it’s not quite Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, it’s still a remarkably entertaining video game movie, a highlight in a genre with very few such.

PS: Yoshi fans should stick around until after the end credits, for a brief but amusing Godzilla parody.