(for context I’m writing this before the trailer has been released)
this will not be a “good movie”
unfortunately, it also won’t be bad in interesting ways
you’ll definitely be able to tell that many people who worked on this care about the source material. background details will be filled with deep-cut references to things from across the whole franchise, including things nintendo hasn’t acknowledged in decades
those will be completely overshadowed by the lore references in the script, which are the most Dorkly-ass nostalgia bait “hey remember Mario?” type gags a committee of soulless writers could come up with
it’s (at least partially!) an origin story, obviously, but they’re not allowed to deviate from established “canon” enough to come up with anything interesting. the best they can do is reference relatively lesser-known games like Wrecking Crew. they won’t reference Mario Bros. (Game & Watch) because they’re cowards.
it’s a comedy, but they only have like five good jokes. all five of those jokes will be featured in the trailer, so a bunch of people who don’t know how trailers work will think it looks good
the majority of the gags are jokes you’ve heard a million times before. peach sure gets kidnapped a lot! did you know mushrooms are also drugs? if you’re the Mario Brothers does that mean your name is Mario Mario? hey what if “cake” is a euphemism for something!! mario eats mushrooms he’s on shrooms get it
chris pratt’s mario voice is okay. it sounds kinda like mario’s voice in hotel mario, but with less personality
charles martinet’s cameo is as mario. the first time mario says something, it’s in martinet’s voice, then he clears his throat and has a more boring voice for the rest of the movie
princess peach girlboss moments
there’s a “mario is a bad brother” subplot. mario mistreats luigi consistently, and it’s not resolved by mario growing as a person it’s resolved by luigi doing something cool and “earning” mario’s respect
coincidentally mario DOES grow as a person, when he eats the super mushroom : )
in accordance with the Post-Frozen Law of Animated Villains, there will be a surprise bad guy reveal. there are several ways this could go:
bowser as a villain is played straight for the first act, then mario rescues peach and that’s the end of the Origin Story portion. afterwords, the REAL villain comes in, and the gang has to team up with bowser to stop them! and that real villain, of course, is
Foreman Spike, from Wrecking Crew
Yoshi (revenge for being thrown into pits)
Luigi (mario is a bad brother subplot final form)
Waluigi (featuring meta jokes about how waluigi hasn’t been in enough games)
ALTERNATIVELY, one of the above is the villain at first, then there’s a third-act twist that. bowser is the villain.
there will be one shot, somewhere, where the super crown powerup appears in the background along with a bunch of other items, and people on twitter will freak out about how this is a canon reference to bowsette
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