Yahoo Movies The Super Mario Bros Movie is an Easter egg-stuffed delight for fans
Videos games have been notoriously difficult to adapt for the big screen, with 1993's Super Mario Bros often held up as the poster child for how bad it can get.
However, this year has seen video game adaptation success with HBO's The Last of Us, which proved that it can be done well. And perhaps a large part of that achievement is down to getting the same people involved in the adaptation as the game.
Enter The Super Mario Bros Movie, which, unlike the infamous 1993 movie, has been developed by Nintendo alongside Despicable Me creators Illumination. Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto was even a producer on the new animated movie, so hopes were high that the games would be done justice this time.
Well, while its story is in need of a power-up, The Super Mario Bros Movie is an Easter egg-stuffed treat for fans, even if more casual audiences might be wondering what the fuss is all about.
In a nod to the very first Mario Bros game (which was set in the sewers of New York), the movie sees Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) working underground to fix a water main when they're warped down a pipe into the Mushroom Kingdom.
As in the games, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) rules over the Mushroom Kingdom. But here, she's no damsel in distress. Instead, it's Luigi who finds himself in trouble and separated from his brother before they even land, ending up in the evil clutches of Bowser (Jack Black).
Teaming up with Princess Peach and Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad (Keegan Michael-Key), Mario starts to learn how to tap into his own power as he heads on an epic quest to find and rescue Luigi.
Lets-a go.
We'll start with the elephant in the room: Chris Pratt and, to a lesser extent, Charlie Day's casting as Mario and Luigi. Pratt's casting especially has led to some vehement criticism from fans from the time it was announced, something that only intensified once we heard his Mario voice.
It's addressed the first moment we meet Mario and Luigi as they put on stereotypical Italian accents in what turns out to be their plumbing advert. Their introduction also features a fun appearance from the OG Mario, Charles Martinet — acting as a way to draw a line under the backlash and move on with this version of Mario.
In truth, it seems harsh to single out Pratt or Day in terms of the voice cast, as it feels like everyone was given free rein to just be themselves, right down to Jack Black giving Bowser a Tenacious D-esque musical number. They all just sound like themselves, which makes the fact Mario and Luigi's extended family are all lazy Italian stereotypes even odder.
While it's jarring at first, you get used to the 'new' Mario, Luigi and co, especially as co-directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic race through the story like they're playing Mario Kart. As soon as we're in the Mushroom Kingdom, it's a journey from reference-packed location to reference-packed location without a pause taken.
Given how badly fans took the 1993 film, it's a smart approach to have The Super Mario Bros Movie be almost entirely for the fanbase. It's absolutely stacked with Easter eggs from across all of the Mario series — including musical nods, visual gags and a couple of 2D platformer sequences, among other things.
It's not subtle and makes the movie a series of 'hey, you remember this?' moments rather than an actual plot, but Mario fans won't be complaining. The animation, as to be expected from Illumination, is vibrant and detailed, with the characters and various kingdoms lovingly recreated from their video game counterparts.
A comparison can be made to Star Wars: The Force Awakens to a certain extent. Nintendo didn't have to course-correct as much as that movie did (just one movie, rather than a disappointing trilogy). But in order to satisfy the fans, they went back to basics by repeating classic beats rather than telling something entirely fresh.
The problem with The Super Mario Bros Movie is that it course-corrected too far and ended up as a movie solely for fans. Casual fans will get some references simply because there are so many (some of which are repeated), but there's no interesting story here. It lacks any depth and will bore adults unless they're nostalgic for Mario.
Switching up the damsel in distress from Princess Peach to Luigi does at least give the movie a separation from the games. However, Mario and Luigi end up spending so much time apart that the emotional connection isn't there between the two. And Peach doesn't really get too much new to do with her bigger role either.
But, as we noted at the start, whether The Super Mario Bros Movie is a genuinely good movie in its own right will be irrelevant for most fans. What it is is an affectionate big-screen replication of the Super Mario games, filled with so many nods that you won't even catch them on a second viewing.
And that, for fans, will be a big wahoo.
The Super Mario Bros Movie is released in cinemas on April 5.
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