So I went to see the movie in “4D X” and it was one of the most annoying experiences of my life. The seats move, which might sound kind of fun on paper, but get’s really annoying and distracting. It also spays water on you, blows wind in your face, and there are smoke machines.
As for the parts of the movie that that I didn’t miss because I was being tossed around, I have to say, I don’t know that I liked it that much. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I thought they made some weird missteps. But most people seem to like it so, I’m happy they’re happy.
I saw it this weekend with my kid, and we both liked it!
I like how they handled the voice thing:
In the very beginning of the movie you see Mario, with Pratt’s voice, doing an Italian accent, but it’s an embellishment for a television ad, not something he normally does. Why? Well, just like wearing white gloves, it’s to “stand out”. And after the commercial, he asks a friend what he thinks. That guy is played by Martinet, who gives it a “Mario voice” seal of approval.
The movie also did a good job of incorporating different Mario games into the plot, like driving karts or Mario wearing a raccoon outfit. And there were some “Easter eggs” added in for fans, too.
Some I noticed: the arcade game called Jump Man, which was Mario’s original name. The pizzeria called Punch Out. And somebody who is browsing antiques asks if something works and is told it does “if you blow into it” (like an old cartridge)
Also, the soundtrack was good, and the animation was excellent - they truly rendered a beautiful world.
Overall, I would recommend for somebody who wants to take their kid to a movie (there were no adult themes or content, although there was action stuff, threats of murder, and dark imagery that would probably scare a really young one), or somebody who wants to eat popcorn and enjoy some nostalgia.
Yeah I wonder if this is a video gamer thing but I LOVED this movie, but I’m someone who Super Mario Bros 1 on the NES was probably my first game ever. All the musical cues and references to other games were stuff that I instantly recognized, including Peach’s patented parachute dress landing from SMB2.
All the critic reviews that hate it seem to be people who either don’t play video games or just have no nostalgia for Nintendo. But every single video game, nerd, or pop culture related podcast/YouTube channel is giving the film high marks or at the very least “It’s far better than we expected”.
Saw it twice. 7.5 at BEST. I enjoyed it but it didn’t make any sense.
Why was there a branch path that divided the two? Why did they have to walk through the different world’s to get to the Kongs? Is the star one-of-a-kind? Why do thr penguins have it? Rainbow Road lead to Bowser?
It’s an ok movie… I hope the sequels are more fleshed out. I understand it’s not easy to make something like Mario fit into a cinematic space, and I think they did a good job on most fronts.
The main conceit of the movie is that there is a parallel universe with worlds of talking mushrooms, talking apes who build and drive physics-defying vehicles (actually, the entire parallel universe is physics-defying), and your first complaint is that one of the wormholes has a branch? I think if you want to watch a movie that “makes any sense”, probably don’t pick this one.
That said, I agree with you that it was a 7.5 at best - I’m a Nintendo kid (born 1985) through and through, and while I enjoyed the easter eggs, the beautiful worlds, and the familiar characters, it was basically a giant mash-up of a few Mario games cobbled together into a typical Hollywood story arc, so there wasn’t really much else to retain my interest. Jack Black did his best with some mediocre material, I feel that role in particular could have been better-written, it just didn’t quite work - in fact the whole storyline was a bit ‘meh’, for me. That said, I would probably rather watch it again than see any of the movies they trailed beforehand - giant squid vs mermaid, anyone? Who comes up with this rubbish? Oh yeah, screenwriters who are short of ideas (see also - the fact any movie that makes a profit gets a sequel).
MyFootsZZZ was right, the plot didn’t make any sense. Why did Bowser even need the Power Star? In the games, the stars can do one of two things, they either impart a sort of nebulous power that you need to overcome various obstacles (“you need ten power stars to open this door!”) or they make you invincible for a short amount of time.
For most of the movie, it seems like they’re banking on the first sense, somehow having the star gives Bowser and his army the power to run roughshod over the Mushroom Kingdom. But, we saw him run roughshod over the Ice Kingdom just fine without it. At no point does he seem to draw on its power in any way. He just has it, and brandishes it a few times. Then in the end, Mario and Luigi use the star and it has the effect we know from the games: It turns them invincible for a short amount of time.
You could argue Bowser wanted to keep it secure so it couldn’t be used against him. He did a terrible job if that was his plan. He would have been better off leaving it in the Ice Kingdom, since they seemed terminally uninterested in using it against him. Bowser invaded the Mushroom Kingdom, defeated the only army strong enough to oppose him, and forced Peach to agree to marry him, all without using the star. He barely even threatened to use it! Instead he just carried it around with him, waiting for someone to use it against him.
For a movie that was otherwise pretty good at turning concepts from the games into plot points, this was a weird failure. All they did was telegraph the way Bowser would be defeated in the very first scene in the movie.
I believe Bowser literally only got the star because he thought it would impress Peach. He at some point says “Once she sees this star she’ll agree to marry me” or something like that. I feel even he didn’t understand the power implications of this, it was literally just something he could steal and give to her to make her swoon since he greatly overestimates his own Casanovaness.
A friend of mine made a similar point and it got me thinking about a better movie, where Bowser shows off the star only for Peach to say, “A Power Star? You know those things are like, literally everywhere right?” Bowser throws it away in disgust, and it’s forgotten until the climax when it turns up again in the rubble while Bowser is throwing down and Mario and Luigi use it to turn the tide.
I think if you want to watch a movie that “makes any sense”, probably don’t pick this one.