When The Super Mario Bros Movie came out, I remember hearing a lot of people talk about how it was bad. I didn't read any of the comments on WHY it was bad, I like to make up my own mind about things. Now that it's on NetFlix, I decided to give it a watch last week. And honestly...
10 out of 10 !
I cannot understand why anyone would say this movie was bad. They must be holding it to the wrong standards. It's a *perfect* movie in my opinion. I mentioned to my brother that I watched it and he told me that he saw it in the theater and hated it. He cited lame reasons like a bad story, no character development, and things just shoved in there for no reason. But I think that is way off base.
First, I think the most important thing to note before trying to critique this movie is that it's FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY. And that's why I think they nailed it. The story and character development that is there is appropriate for a young audience. But the movie can still be enjoyable for adults, particularly those that grew up with Nintendo. So saying that the story is too shallow and blah blah blah, I mean, what are you trying to compare it to? Citizen Kane? Get a grip. Not every movie has to have a story that is deep or layered with twists or is super thought provoking. A movie has one purpose, to entertain you. This can be done as a slap stick comedy with stupid humor and fart jokes (Dumb and Dumber is one of my favorite movies) or a drama that leaves you in tears. But as long as it entertains you, that's all that really matters. This is an animated adaptation of a video game. Bowser does bad thing, Mario stops Bowser. Mission accomplished. I don't think it's an easy thing to do to make a movie that is appropriate for kids, and kids can enjoy, but also the parents can enjoy and not just tolerate. That's how they nailed it.
I kind of hate when movies have references shoved in your face. In a way that feels like, "We're only doing it this way because we wanted XYZ in the movie," but it takes you out of the movie. However, that's pretty much what The Super Mario Bros Movie was all about. It's hard to say that it shoves references in your face when the entire movie is just one big reference from start to finish. My brother told me that the Mario Kart segment was like, "Oh look, Mario Kart for no reason." But I felt more like, "Oh awesome, it's Mario Kart! What will they do next?" I think they made this clear right from the get go, with the accents in the commercial. And then Charles Martinet was like, "It's-a-perfect! Waahoo!" A meta reference right in the beginning of the movie, it really set the tone for me. This isn't a serious drama. So it's not far to critique it as such.
People are so hard to please. The live action Super Mario Bros movie got shit for being nothing at all like the video game. The animated one is as close to the video game as you can be and gets shit for inorganically referencing the game. Sheesh.
When this movie was first announced, and we learned of the voice cast, I kinda rolled my eyes at a few of the choices. I'm not a huge Jack Black fan, and I can find him to be annoying at times. But I actually forgot the who's-who of the cast when I was watching it. I thought Bowser's voice was great, and that's coming from someone who isn't really a fan of Jack Black. And I thought Seth Rogen's voice strangely fit Donkey Kong very well.
This movie was extremely fast paced. The way it's cut, it's almost too fast paced. That might have led to feelings of a shallow story with no real character development. But it's one of the reasons I liked it so much. There's never a dull moment, and the movie doesn't overstay it's welcome. If I want to be entertained for a short while, this movie puts a smile on my face from start to finish. Again, what are you critiquing this movie in comparison to? And let's face it, the smart phone social media kids of today have zero attention span. A fast paced movie like this is pretty much mandatory for the younger audience.
The first time you hear a pop song in the movie, I thought it seemed kind of strange and out of place. But then after you hear Take On Me, I realized what they were doing. These are songs from (mostly) the 80s and they are for our age group. They are there exactly for the same reason all of the references are there. If you grew up playing Mario games, then this movie is full of pop culture that's tailored to you.
But yeah, I loved all of the references. For example, when Mario is battling DK and he finally gets a power up. But it's a blue mushroom. Mario, in the movie, never saw one before. His only experience with mushrooms is that they make you bigger and stronger. But I was thinking, "Oh shit, it's gonna make him tiny and he doesn't know it!" That entire sequence in general made me laugh a lot. Hearing the DK rap made me laugh so hard I almost cried. And I laughed pretty good when Cranky tells Diddy to shut up because he's still chanting "DK."
So yeah, if anyone thought this movie was stupid, I think that's exactly the point. Think Dumb and Dumber, not Citizen Kane. Then enjoy the movie for what it is, instead of hating it for what it's not.
