‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’: Review

Dirs: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic. US. 2023. 92mins

Mario and Luigi’s first big-screen outing in 30 years is a colourful animated adventure that unfortunately seems less interested in establishing its own identity than in setting up a sure-to-be-lucrative franchise. At its best, The Super Mario Bros. Movie has the same carefree spirit as the beloved Nintendo game series, sending its iconic characters flying through the air or careening in high-octane go-karts. But whether it’s the hit-or-miss jokes or the familiar action beats, the film too often plays down to its young audience, valuing rambunctious energy over wit or heart.

Less interested in establishing its own identity than in setting up a sure-to-be-lucrative franchise

Critics’ nitpicking should hardly affect Universal’s bottom line, however: as the better-than-expected returns for Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves suggest, family audiences are hungry for viable film options, and this Illumination production should fit the bill. Add in a star-studded voice cast that includes Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black and Seth Rogen, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s commercial prospects look even brighter. Sequels seem sure to follow.

Living in Brooklyn, where they’re trying to get their nascent plumbing business off the ground, loyal brothers Mario (voiced by Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) are desperate to find customers. When a massive underground leak threatens to flood the city, they spring into action, only to be sucked down a pipe into a fantasy realm known as The Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by the kindly Princess Peach (Taylor-Joy) who is trying to keep her toad subjects safe from the evil turtle Bowser (Black). 

The 1993 Super Mario Bros., which starred Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, was a notorious debacle both commercially and critically, well-remembered as one of the first (and worst) live-action treatments of a popular video game. The Mario game franchise has only grown since, spawning spinoffs such as Mario Kart that have greatly expanded the scope of the property. The Super Mario Bros. Movie seeks to appeal to that global fan base: unlike the dark-toned earlier film, the new picture is cheerful and breezy, primarily concerned with laying out the games’ central characters and principal settings. 

There are plenty of knowing references for those familiar with Mario and Luigi, as well as self-mocking jabs at some of the franchise’s sillier conventions. (Why do the brothers wear white gloves if they’re supposed to be plumbers?) In keeping with the film’s hyperactive bent, directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic — who co-wrote Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (which Horvath also co-directed) — stuff the short running time with action and jokes, often to the detriment of character development. It doesn’t help matters that after the brothers land in this fantastical world, Luigi is captured by Bowser and separated from Mario, depriving the picture not just of Day and Pratt’s lively interactions but also the characters’ close bond. Instead, Mario teams up with Princess Peach to rescue Luigi, and the chemistry between these two characters is not especially electric. Black and Rogen (who voices Donkey Kong) bring their trademark boisterous energy, doing their best to fill in the gaps of underwritten roles with their own oversized personalities.

Although its humour is often aimed at children — the film is littered with ultra-adorable side characters and slapstick-y antics — Matthew Fogel’s screenplay doesn’t offer much in the way of life lessons or emotional shading for younger viewers. The picture’s only consistently sophisticated element is its rich animation, especially once our heroes arrive in The Mushroom Kingdom, which recreates the look and feel of jumping, punching, flying and driving like Mario and Luigi. Particularly pleasing is an extended Mario Kart-like chase sequence on a winding rainbow road high above the ground, the action slightly recalling the pedal-to-the-metal euphoria of Mad Max: Fury Road. 

But as often happens with the first instalments of anticipated cinematic franchises, The Super Mario Bros. Movie too often follows a predictable blockbuster template, turning Mario, Luigi and Princess Peach into just the latest superheroes who must save the world from a seemingly all-powerful foe. To be sure, Horvath and Jelenic try to slyly undercut such grandiosity, emphasising how ordinary Mario is. (The film also has pointed fun satirising the cartoonishly Italian voice Mario has brandished in the video games, although Pratt’s affected Brooklyn accent isn’t appreciably better.) The potential appeal of a new Mario picture is the opportunity it presents for filmmakers to bring the property’s memorable set pieces to a larger canvas. Sadly, The Super Mario Bros. Movie isn’t game enough to go its own way.