At a video rental store I saw the movie of one of my favorite video games, Super Mario Bros so I decided to rent it. I guess since I was a kid I thought it was ok but I was never interested in watching it again and I didn’t understand what I had really watched. I guess I just thought live action movies were different from their animated counterparts. This movie is seen as fodder but it was a weird one so after watching it again I can honestly say this is an awesome movie.
Why yes, there’s a Rave scene full of techno punk outfits and in general the whole Dinohattan City is cyber punk inspired and frankly it looks amazing. This grim future you would expect from various movies in the 80s, in fact this movie still feels very well stuck in that decade even if made later. The grim visuals of the movie are nothing like the video game but that doesn’t matter since its visually appealing and unique.
To get it out of the way, yeah this movie has little to nothing to do with Super Mario Bros, but is that really that bad? You cannot adapt that franchise at all into live action, even animated you run into the problem that the game has a plot to set up the game. WIth that said the liberties they took are so amusing that it makes the dumb plot worth watching just to see how they get from point A to point B.
Odd they went with Daisy but I guess they felt Mario was too old here for a younger love interest so Luigi got her and was they changed it to Daisy as to not have Luigi steal Princess Toadstool from Mario. Also having an actual “earth” name probably helped. Daisy is really attractive, and it’s cool that they took the idea of having Daisy being Luigi’s partner for all the spin-offs later. We can say the movie did contribute to the real Super Mario Canon.
I love dinosaurs so having Yoshi being a small T-Rex was my cup of tea. Koopa starting to show lizard like eyes after almost being devolved was cool and when he finally transforms into a dinosaur in the end it was all I could ask for even if they kill him in the worst possible way. The Goombas are so creepy and I was always confused as to why those were the Goombas, but it reflected that this was more of a dystopian future movie than anything else.
The movie also drew a lot of inspiration from the cartoon, having their inverted colors in their overalls, calling Bowser Koopa, featuring the Super Mario Bros Rap in the credits and most of their background. The greatest addition to the IP was actually giving an explanation as to why Mario and Luigi are the Mario brothers since their last names are both Mario.
With cool stuff like a cute little Bob-omb, bumper kart like cars,t he creepy as hell Mushroom Kingdom king, dancing goombas and a few references with Jumping Shoes and a Mushroom to block an attack it is a ride. It’s a weird adaptation but I can’t say it was the worst decision ever since it’s memorable for being weird instead of just boring or bad. The remix songs from the game are all cool as were hearing the different sound effects trhough out, also the mid credits scene with Super Koopa Bros is better than any of Marvel’s.
If you enjoyed the article or have any thoughts let me know by commenting below or by tweeting at me. You can also share the article or hit me up an email with your thoughts, it’s nice to hear from other fans. Some images taken from the Super Mario Bros. The Movie Database.
