By: Andrew Wing

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 American computer-animated adventure film based on Nintendo's Mario video game franchise. Produced by Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo, and distributed by Universal, the film was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel.

The ensemble voice cast includes Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy, Avengers: Infinity War), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch, The Menu), Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses, The Lego Movie), Jack Black (School of Rock, Kung Fu Panda), Keegan-Michael Key (Get Out, Toy Story 4), Seth Rogen (Superbad, This Is the End), and Fred Armisen (Saturday Night Live, Easy A).

The film features an origin story for the brothers Mario and Luigi, Italian-American plumbers who are transported to an alternate world and become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser.

After the critical and commercial failure of the live-action film Super Mario Bros. (1993), Nintendo became reluctant to license its intellectual properties for film adaptations. The Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, became interested in developing another film. Through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Super Nintendo World, he met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri. By 2016, the two were discussing a Mario film and, in January 2018, Nintendo announced that it would produce it with Illumination and Universal. Production was underway by 2020, and the cast was announced in September 2021.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was released in the United States on April 5, 2023. The film has grossed $1.3 billion worldwide, setting multiple box-office records, including the biggest worldwide opening weekend for an animated film and the highest-grossing film based on a video game. It became the highest-grossing film of 2023 and the third-highest-grossing animated film of all time.

THE GOOD

While it might not have been on my personal most-anticipated list, there is no denying that going into 2023 The Super Mario Bros. Movie was one of the most anticipated movies of not only 2023 but arguably of this century. Why, though? Well, the answer is easy and that is because Nintendo’s Mario video game franchise has had an unfathomable impact on popular culture for the past four-plus decades. My parents played the games, my brother and I played the games, and I’m sure there are kids today that are playing the games. That said, when it comes to film adaptations of the legendary game, the track record is just about as bad as it gets. The 1993 live-action film Super Mario Bros. is honestly one of the worst movies ever made if you ask me, so you could say this 2023 version and the team behind it had quite a task on their hands. So did they just give us another terrible film like the one thirty years prior or did fans of the Nintendo game finally get the film adaptation they have been waiting so long for? Keep reading to find out!

I can thankfully say that it was the latter! Before getting into it though, I think it’s important to start by saying that this is a kids’ movie through and through so I am not going to dive too deep into it. That said, let’s begin! First things first, I just have to give props to the directors Michael Jelenic and Aaron Horvath for finally giving the world a quality Mario movie. This is not just good, but a really good kids’ movie. It’s really funny and really entertaining, and I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if kids who see this call it their favorite movie for the next couple of years. All that said, as a 21-year-old man reviewing this film, there is still lots of nostalgia in it and despite it being 99% geared towards children, the movie still has some nice little moments and nods for adults which I greatly appreciated!

But now onto the main selling point when it comes to The Super Mario Bros. Movie which would be an incredible voice cast that is led by none other than Star-Lord himself, Chris Pratt, as the one and only Mario. People online were just losing their minds when the news came out that Pratt was going to be voicing Mario, and the good news is all of those people can shut up and take a chill pill now because Pratt was great as the voice of Mario in my opinion. I thought he brought the character’s charm to life through his voice and I just had no complaints. Aside from Pratt though, really everyone else I thought did a fantastic job like Charlie Day as Luigi and Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, but there is no denying that the two stand-outs were Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, and Jack Black as Bowser!

Aside from the voice cast, there were a ton of other elements I enjoyed about The Super Mario Bros. Movie that I wanted to touch on. First, the animation looked great! I continue to be really impressed by Illumination and all of the animated content they put out. The movie was just so colorful making it beautiful to look at, and they crushed all of the things you wanted to see in a Mario movie like the Rainbow Road and Mushroom Kingdom. Second, the music in the movie was so good and I could not stop singing “Peaches”, a song that Jack Black not only sang but also co-wrote, for a solid week after seeing this! Other than that, I just really hope it holds on to be the highest-grossing movie of the year because I am very excited to see what’s next for this franchise!

THE BAD

No surprise, I had a really good time with this movie and I think everyone will, specifically children. That said, it did have its flaws, and its greatest flaw in my opinion was that it was way too short. Apparently, the film’s runtime was 92 minutes but it really felt like it was an hour long. It just never stops to breathe which I didn’t completely hate, but I also didn’t love. I get it. With these kids' movies, you want to get them in and out of the theater, but there just wasn’t enough meat on the bones if you ask me and I definitely wanted more from it.

Another thing I’ll say is that this is certainly not a “great” kids’ movie. That’s fine, but if you’re going in expecting this to be like a Pixar movie full of great life lessons or even Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, one of the best-animated movies of 2022 (see Ted’s full review), you are going to be disappointed because this doesn’t hit those same benchmarks. The last thing I’ll say is just be prepared going into this because some will definitely find it to be overstimulating. The colors are very vibrant and the movie moves incredibly fast, and that all just ties into my main problem which is the movie being way too short. They should’ve just added another fifteen minutes just to let the movie breathe, and hey, maybe the extra fifteen minutes could’ve allowed for some cool easter eggs for fans of the game like myself, but maybe we will get that in the sequel which should be getting announced very soon!

THE VERDICT

Despite leaving some potential on the table with its shorter runtime and just not being everything I wanted it to be, there is no denying that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is perfect for its intended audience. It’s just a good time from start to finish as it is funny, colorful, and full of great vocal performances, and I recommend checking it out with the whole family if you haven’t done so already!