Mario, voiced by Chris Pratt, left, and Luigi, voiced by Charlie Day in Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
By Jake Coyle | Associated Press
April is the cruellest month, growing lilacs from the dead land, mingling memory and desire, stirring up dull roots with spring rains. But it’s also, when I look at the clock, Mario Time.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie with its primaries is here to brighten up our dreary springs, TS Eliot be damned. That there’s a surge in excitement about a Mario Bros. movie is a once unthinkable development. The last time Mario made it to the big screen was in 1993 in the little-known live-action film starring Bob Hoskins as Mario, John Leguizamo as Luigi, and Dennis Hopper (!) as Bowser. Hoskins called the experience “af——— nightmare.”
But a lot has changed in the three decades since Super Mario Bros, the first-ever video game adaptation. A once widely derided genre is now a cash cow. The Last of Us is a smash hit on HBO. Pokemon and Uncharted are box office hits. Since Sonic the Hedgehog already has two movies in it, Mario is playing catch-up.
And The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which opens in theaters Wednesday, is a spirited and lively attempt to race to the front of the pack. A collaboration between legendary video game designer and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto and Illumination founder Chris Meledandri (both producers) is a drastically more candid effort to capture the fun and spirit of Nintendo gaming.
And visually a dream. Directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and their animators have rendered the Mario universe with cartoonish glory, combining the game’s brilliant simplicity with a more robust and equally delightful tag-glo flavor. If playing Super Mario Bros. is part of the appeal. and its many offshoots have always consisted of immersing themselves in such a sunny imaginary world – plus composer Koji Kondo’s bouncy, catchy compositions – the film has successfully mirrored that mushroom-pounding delight. It makes you want to…play Mario.
Because as nice as it is to watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie, it’s not nearly as fun as it would be to play it. It’s him, Mario, but it’s not an A-masterpiece. The storyline is just a touch above the interludes of storyline you usually get between games. With the exception of Jack Black’s exceedingly lovesick Bowser (he’s part Phantom of the Opera, part Meatloaf-style ballad), there’s nothing here to deepen these characters beyond their usual 2-D adventures. Mario may be a modern day Mickey Mouse, but his kingdom resides on the console.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie begins much like Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing: in a Brooklyn pizza joint. There, Mario (Chris Pratt, passable despite the outcry) and Luigi (Charlie Day) struggle to get their plumbing business up and running. There are a few moments of stereotypical Italian life – pasta and a big family dinner – before the brothers try to fix a burst water main, dropping them through a portal and into the game’s fantasy realm. (In future Brooklyn set sequels, Mario will likely fight off waves of walkers and hipsters.)
On the other hand, Bowser reigns over a Koopa army of troops in scenes that can feel like the most surreal Triumph of the Will impersonation yet. But while zooming in or out is possible on that other side of the green tube, there’s never any mention of the possibility of lives being lost as Mario weaves his way through mushroom patches and question mark boxes. His predicament is as clear as it is in the game: he has been separated from Luigi and he must help save Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) from being forced to marry Bowser.
Game logic often dictates Mario’s movements. The shells of the turtle-like Koopas can be pushed around like ammunition. And choosing a Mario Kart vehicle is an equally difficult decision. Sometimes the overlap is less consistent. An Invincibility Star is the most coveted item in this adventure, greatly exaggerating its typical usefulness. These things take about 10 seconds.
None of this is likely to be enough to make anyone exclaim, “Oh, yes!” as they hop up and down and take off their hats. But it’s an hour and a half of superlative marketing that will whet your appetite for more Mario at home on the couch. If anything, the – as Mario would say – “okey dokey” Super Mario Bros. Movie only reinforces the distance between two vastly different media. It may be Game-On for video game adaptations, but the Mario main event is still back on Nintendo.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie”
2 1/2 stars out of 4
Evaluation: PG (for action and light violence)
Duration: 92 minutes
