This movie is Absolutely Gorgeous. Every mushroom, every brick has been lovingly crafted. I LOVE the attention to details, I love how hard each hit feels in this movie. The Choreography in this and flow is incredible. Illumination's eye for visual slapstick is still on a league of its own and it fits very well with the movie.
The character expressions all flowed great and you felt sucked in by the expression. It was like watching a Mario game. Brooklyn, The Mushroom kingdom, The Dark Lands, The Ice Kingdom, The Kong kingdom and Rainbow road ALL felt distinct and flowed. I am IN LOVE with this movies asthetic. The action was perfectly paced, I would even say it matched and surpassed the flowing animation of Puss in boots Last wish.
So its pretty straight forward, Bowser tries to take over the kingdom, and he needs to be stopped. Mario and Luigi end up sucked into the mushroom kingdom trying to make a name for themselves as plumbers and get separated.
Mario ends up meeting Toad, Peach and Donkey Kong and the crew end up fighting Bowser and Saving Luigi. It starts as a trip to get reinforcements to fight the koopa army, turns into a race on rainbow road, then turns into a fight at a wedding and then finally a showdown in Brooklyn.
Mario and Luigi save the day and end up finding a connecting route to the the Mushroom kingdom and Brooklyn.
Now there is a LOT that happens in between these plot points and I will say it does feel a bit fast at times. But It is entertaining, Mario and Peach bond. And the scale and excitement never decreases. It is solid.
7.5/10
I wish more time could be spent in some places but thats mainly a pacing thing. and its the only real gripe I have.
I think I will break this up into multiple sections.
Mario: I will say it, the previews took all the worst bits of Chris Pratt's VA work. Because he actually did a bang up job, I didnt hear Chris Pratt, I heard Brooklyn Mario (And the Accents are explained to be part of the commercial which has Charles cameo AMAZINGLY done)
I liked Mario's character, he was a guy that wanted to prove himself and doesnt know when to quit. Mario also doesnt like mushrooms, it was funny. He can get down on himself, but push comes to shove he is Mario and will do anything for those he loves. He has some cute bonding moments with Peach and they have a good chemistry, which I can say could be romantic or not, both are fine ways of interpretation. His goal and lengths he is willing to go to save his brother are great and I love it. Mario is great in the movie.
Peach: I will admit, I was worried on how they handled peach here. I knew they were going to make her a girl boss. And I do think that she is not as Feminine or Charming as what one would expect from Peach... BUT she has the good heart and cares for her subjects. Which Peach will be self sacrificing to help her people, but also will do what she can to mess with Bowser. As shown in her fight at the wedding. She and Mario got a good dynamic and I enjoy the roll. Though I do like that she isnt invincible, she can be outmatched and there are things even she thinks are too risky.
Luigi: I feel robbed. Not because Luigi's performance was bad, FAR FROM IT. I wanted MORE Luigi. Luigi was captured for most of the movie and had the funniest bits. He also had his big hero moment and really helped drive home one of the big lessons. I am glad that he is supportive of brother and he thinks he is the coolest guy. The characterization of Luigi was PERFECT. But as mentioned before, I wanted more of him
Toad: He was a delight. I think he has great comedic moments and I love how he just claims Mario as his BFF. He gets really funny jokes and the bits are usually out of left field. My favorite has to be how he distracted the guards, I wont dare spoil it, but it involves a Frying pan.
Donkey Kong: I thought I would hate DK. I still am not sold on the voice... THAT BEING SAID. Donkey Kong being the show off big shot that cant see past his own ego and just wants his dad to be proud of him was not what I expected but enjoyed. He also has some good moments. One moment you think he is gonna bond with Mario over Dad issues but then left turn, he goes "Well your dad's right, you suck"
It just sort of works for them, they have this frenemies vibe that I love.
Bowser:
Bowser steals the movie. He is the funniest character. He is the best character. HE WROTE A LOVE BALLAD FOR PEACH called "Peaches". He is goofy yet Intimidating. Jack Black's voice for him was perfect and the Character acting was on point. Jack Black NAILED BOWSER. He is DEFACTO Bowser. I cant say enough of how amazing his bowser was. It was just so perfect.
The others: From Mario's extended family, The Koopas, Kamek, kranky, the Luma, The Penguins. I LOVED all the side characters. I cant name one I didnt enjoy. Shout out to the Blond Kong in a sports Blazer who casually caused a kart crash of a By-stander
Now Aside from Bowser I cant say the characters are deep, but they were not meant to be. They were what they needed to be. I enjoyed all the characters on screen and never felt myself loathing not seeing a certain character for longer.
solid 8/10 (Jack black and bowser are 10/10 tho)
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Music
So I wanted to give this a 10/10, but I cant.
I found some of the random 80's rock songs a bit out of place. It is Illumination.
But outside of those songs, when they are doing the mario music and themes they ARE GLORIOUS. Bowser's fury theme and the Remixed Star theme were my personal favorites
All of the mario music is beautifully crafted. You know papa nintendo made sure they did it justice.
Overall, 8/10
The 80's songs werent the worst pick but they werent needed. Should have just stuck with the mario stuff.
I wasnt expecting the Super mario bros Movie to have a lesson, and to my surprise it had 2 lessons.
Never give up. Mario shows throughout the entire movie his grit and determination no matter how much people look down on him or underestimate him. He got back up and kept fighting.
The power of Brotherly love. Luigi had faith in his brother who was always there for him. And he knew that things will be alright as long as they were together. And Luigi took it to heart, learning that what his brother said was true. Brotherly love made them invincible (well actually it was the power star, but it was because of that love they were able to get it.)
I am not gonna put it at the level of Puss in Boots the last wish. But its some good lessons
