Just got back from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 'twas a FUNtastic family film, lots of neat Easter eggs for life-long fans of the old-school (like myself)! :spades: Having Jack Black cast as Bowser is probably one of the best things about this because character-wise they match so well (along the rock music which made me think of his band Tenacious D and School of Rock). Charles Martinet voiced a couple of side characters as well; sharp listeners will know whom :wink:. I always thought that if they could make an original animated film like Wreck-It Ralph, imagine if there would be a new Mario movie in similar fashion; well finally this would be it. This time, Illumination with Nintendo's involvement, it's done just right. I grew up with the games, the Super Show animated series (along with Captain N and Legend of Zelda), as well as the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, so having the Mario Rap at the beginning couldn't have been more perfect. This 2023 reboot is more in line with the 1986 Japanese animated film, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach but done in modern 3D-CG style. The pacing is a bit on the quick side, but I think it works well to keep the audience, especially the younger ones, more attentive, as there's always something happening, with a couple of resting points here and there. The music cues were on point, and I think original games' composer Koji Kondo must be proud to hear each of the classic melodies orchestrated as each character and areas are introduced on screen. There are some licensed classic 80s pop/rock songs thrown in too for general fun (The Beastie Boys, A-HA, Bonnie Tyler). Story-wise, it's as simple as one would expect where the hero(es) fights the villain, resulting in a satisfying ending much like recent video game related films such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. NES era references can be spotted like Kid Icarus, Punch-Out!!, Wrecking Crew, Pauline (from Donkey Kong), Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, as well as the Arwing from (Star Fox), Luigi's ringtone is the GameCube intro, DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario Bros. 3/World/64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Odyssey, and of course the Mario Kart series. There were even some older Nintendo references in there like the Nintendo Playing Cards Spade logo on one of the buildings, "Help Me, Jump Man", and a "Disk-kun" on one of the shops which is a reference to the Famicom Disk System. There's also a mid-credits and a little something at the end of the credits, so stick around for those. :egg::star:
Review by RothSothyBlockedParent2023-04-05T23:15:00Z
Just got back from The Super Mario Bros. Movie, 'twas a FUNtastic family film, lots of neat Easter eggs for life-long fans of the old-school (like myself)! :spades: Having Jack Black cast as Bowser is probably one of the best things about this because character-wise they match so well (along the rock music which made me think of his band Tenacious D and School of Rock). Charles Martinet voiced a couple of side characters as well; sharp listeners will know whom :wink:. I always thought that if they could make an original animated film like Wreck-It Ralph, imagine if there would be a new Mario movie in similar fashion; well finally this would be it. This time, Illumination with Nintendo's involvement, it's done just right. I grew up with the games, the Super Show animated series (along with Captain N and Legend of Zelda), as well as the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. movie, so having the Mario Rap at the beginning couldn't have been more perfect. This 2023 reboot is more in line with the 1986 Japanese animated film, Super Mario Bros.: The Great Mission to Rescue Princess Peach but done in modern 3D-CG style. The pacing is a bit on the quick side, but I think it works well to keep the audience, especially the younger ones, more attentive, as there's always something happening, with a couple of resting points here and there. The music cues were on point, and I think original games' composer Koji Kondo must be proud to hear each of the classic melodies orchestrated as each character and areas are introduced on screen. There are some licensed classic 80s pop/rock songs thrown in too for general fun (The Beastie Boys, A-HA, Bonnie Tyler). Story-wise, it's as simple as one would expect where the hero(es) fights the villain, resulting in a satisfying ending much like recent video game related films such as Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. NES era references can be spotted like Kid Icarus, Punch-Out!!, Wrecking Crew, Pauline (from Donkey Kong), Duck Hunt, Ice Climbers, as well as the Arwing from (Star Fox), Luigi's ringtone is the GameCube intro, DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, Super Mario Bros. 3/World/64/Sunshine/Galaxy/Odyssey, and of course the Mario Kart series. There were even some older Nintendo references in there like the Nintendo Playing Cards Spade logo on one of the buildings, "Help Me, Jump Man", and a "Disk-kun" on one of the shops which is a reference to the Famicom Disk System. There's also a mid-credits and a little something at the end of the credits, so stick around for those. :egg::star: