Illumination Finally Produces Second Good Movie: "The Super Mario Bros. Movie"
The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.
(REVIEW) “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” will delight Mario lovers of all ages and has officially removed Illumination Entertainment from the one-hit wonders list. The movie is a bright, endlessly colorful celebration of the games that children and adults across the world have played for decades.
The film begins in modern-day Brooklyn and follows the story of Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), two brothers who have just quit their jobs and started a plumbing company. The two men live with their highly-stereotyped Italian-American family who feel that this new business venture is too risky a move.
On one plumbing excursion, Luigi is sucked into a mysterious green tube. Mario ventures after him and finds himself in a land of giant mushrooms with Luigi nowhere to be found. He quickly meets Toad (Keegan Michael-Key), a squeaky-voiced adventurer who leads him to the castle of Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy).
Upon meeting the Princess, Mario learns that this strange world is under attack from Bowser (Jack Black), a large, rock-n-roll-loving, dragonesque turtle with an army of Koopas, Goombas and “whatever those things are[s].” Meanwhile, Luigi is imprisoned by Bowser.
The rest of the film follows the characters as they wander through this universe of tubes, monsters, strange mechanics, inconsistent physics and powerful mushrooms in an effort to defeat Bowser and his army.
The film certainly takes advantage of its impressive cast. The chief example of this is the musicality and energy of Jack Black, which are displayed through several love ballads in which Bowser passionately plays piano while singing “Peaches Peaches Peaches.”
Black may be the best casting choice, but the ardor and unmistakable protagonistic qualities of Chris Pratt make him a sympathetic and engaging hero. And, it’s worth mentioning that having Seth Rogen’s laugh come out of Donkey Kong’s face is something I never knew that I desperately needed.
The movie’s artistic style is exactly what it ought to be. The artistic directors didn’t lean too real with the movie like the original live-action Sonic The Hedgehog design. But they also didn’t settle for the bare-bones 3D animated style of the various Mario games released during the 2000s. They managed to find the middle ground between looking like an in-game screen recording and being able to see each and every one of Mario’s pores. As a result, every scene pops with energy and fun.
The movie also has references to many of its games. It definitely favors its largely Gen Z audience, with all the mechanisms of Super Mario 3D world and the go-kart capabilities of Mario Kart 8. However, it also has throwbacks for older generations such as the heavy-handed reference to the original Donkey Kong game featuring barrels hurled down at Mario from a tall tower. But any age fan of Mario will recognize the yellow mystery blocks, the colorful villains and, of course, the mustachioed plumber himself.
The movie’s score is a series of delightful reinventions of original Mario themes. The songs were composed by Brian Tyler with the originals being written by Koji Kondo. The music is just one more aspect of the film which evokes immense nostalgia for any person familiar with Nintendo’s greatest creation.
It is worth mentioning that until 2023, Illumination produced only one film that people of all ages generally consider to be a great film: Despicable Me. When Despicable Me hit theaters, it was an instant success. Most of Gen Z can’t imagine a world without the character of Gru and his hyperactive yellow helpers.
After the success of Despicable Me, they made Hop (which I’ve never heard a single person reference in any capacity at any point in my 19 years), The Lorax (whose chief contribution to society was the freakiness of the Onceler fandom), The Grinch (a remake nobody asked for), two Secret Life of Pets movies (which most people call Toy Story with animals), two Sing movies (which are fine if you like pop music) and then four more Despicable Me-related movies (which get worse and worse as they go on).
Illumination is known for excessive, weak-plotted cash grabs made for the hyperactive minds of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. And, up to this point, I have always said that they had one good idea and have just been cruising off of Despicable Me’s success for the last decade. Well, Illumination finally had another good idea: capitalize on the growing nostalgia culture surrounding 2000’s kids by creating a movie about a globally-beloved character in an aesthetically pleasing art style and an easy-to-follow plotline.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is a piece of escapism. Much like Mario escapes from his critical family and struggling business into a world of wonder and adventure, the movie acts as a place for Nintendo lovers to sit and enjoy an hour and a half of mindless fun and simple memories.
Though the movie is currently just above mediocrity according to its Rotten Tomatoes score of 56%, its audience score of 96% tells a different story. Mario fans are loving this movie. And Mamma Mia! I did too.
Matthew Peterson is the Podcast Editor for the Empire State Tribune Television. He is a freshman at The King's College studying Journalism, Culture and Society.