The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review – Peach Powers Up
Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
The original Super Mario games were all about brothers Mario and Luigi embarking on a dangerous quest to save Princess Peach from the tyrant King Koopa. The best thing the creators of the 2023 animated movie, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, do is get rid of the “knight in shining armor” (or loud workers’ dungarees, in this case) trope and let Princess Peach do the saving! Although Mario does get his hero moments, but this time, his mission is to save his beloved brother Luigi.
Directed by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, and Pierre Leduc, The Super Mario Bros. Movie follows Italian-American brothers Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), who have just started their plumbing business in Brooklyn but suddenly find themselves sucked into an alternate fantastical reality through a warp pipe while exploring the city’s drainage system. Mario lands in the bright, colorful kingdom of mushrooms run by Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), while Luigi falls into the evil King Bowser’s (Jack Black) realm, where he is imprisoned. Mario and Princess Peach unite to fight Bowser, who plans to attack Peach’s kingdom next. But first, they must get the Kongs to ally with them.
The thing is, I grew up playing a lot of video games, which included the Super Mario games and Donkey Kong, so The Super Mario Bros. Movie obviously had a strong nostalgic value for me, especially since it’s laden with several references to the games, from characters, action moves, and graphics to the background music. This also means that older viewers who haven’t played the games won’t find it as entertaining since the plot is thin. Younger viewers (pre-teen kids) should find the animation by Illumination Studios (Despicable Me/ Minions) to be vibrantly engaging. The visual-scape of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is like an explosion of M&Ms, except for the bits with Bowser’s gloomy kingdom.
While Chris Pratt doesn’t bring a lot of personality to Mario, the sibling bond shown between Mario and Luigi is super cute. Anya Taylor-Joy (Queen’s Gambit/ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) is a joy as Princess Peach, and I would totally watch a sequel that only focuses on the Princess’ adventures as a powerful ruler defending her kingdom. Heck, in this film, she even trains Mario to tackle the iconic game obstacles—very meta. Jack Black, who is known for voicing Po in the Kung Fu Panda movies, is entertainingly fun as the voice of antagonist Bowser—I didn’t even realize it was him until the credits rolled in. Bowser is a villain with a heart, and also some singing talent in the film!
If you’re a fan of the Nintendo games and don’t play anymore, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is definitely a good walk down memory lane. It’s formulaic; except for the familiar gaming music, the rest of the tracks don’t necessarily complement the story and seem to be there for their own nostalgic value. For instance, the 1985 hit “Take on Me” is paired with an exciting action sequence in the second half of the film, and while the scene had a PG-13 ‘Mad Max’ energy, the song just didn’t fit.
FYI – There’s a hilarious mid-credits scene and also a small post-credits scene with a game reference that only Mario fans will understand.
Rating: 7 out of 10. You can stream the film on Netflix or JioCinema.
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