This review may contain spoilers!
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an adaptation of the hit video game series of the same name. In this feature, Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi are transported to a magical land and must join with strange new allies to defeat the villaionous Bowser. I really enjoyed the build in tension towards confronting Bowser in the final act, seeing Mario and Donkey Kong band together in spite of their rivalry to defeat a common foe really scaled up the excitement levels.
Illumination has done a real range of animated features over the years but I'm relatively confident in claiming this to be their best animation yet. The film looks exceptionally vibrant and detailed; with a great deal of love taken to really distinguish all the various elements of this video game universe. I really think there are two solid audiences for this film, very young children and those who are massive Mario fans. The love clearly shown to cramming this film with as many references and hidden content as possible is a nice touch. But not only is the love that goes into the visual design of the film so apparent, the score composed for this film by Brian Tyler goes superbly. The blend of adventurous, jovial music coupled with the famous tracks from the Nintendo video games is such a happy, feel good blend.
Charlie Day, who voiced Luigi, is relatively well suited to his character; Day really portrays his character well in fearful situations and does all the heavy lifting in establishing a relationship between the two title characters. Keegan-Michael Key, who voiced Toad, is one of the more veteran voice actors on the cast and it shows; Key's Toad is such a wild comedic performance and has bundles of energy. Anya Taylor-Joy, who voiced Princess Peach, is a performance that takes a little to warm up to but becomes something very noteworthy by the end of the film; Taylor-Joy's performance is best when she embodies the tough leader fighting back against the bad guy of the film and in a lot of ways she is the real protagonist of the feature.
However, the best performance came from Seth Rogen, who voiced Donkey Kong. Rogen has done voice acting a little bit more recently, my mind immediately going to his work on Invincible. He knows how to bring a sense of gravitas to a character and there is none who needs it more than DK. From the moment he enters the screen you get a major big entrance, he is full of showmanship and knows how to command attention. Rogen plays him cocky and very self-assured, you get the sense he's one of the greatest amongst the Kong kingdom. I also liked his mean streak, the way he really smack talked other characters a lot and built up his rivalry with Mario. Watching him get aggressive in key scenes was really fun and a nice touch by Rogen to actually make this character a little more unique from his own natural voice. Rogen also managed to lend a little bit of soft emotion in how Donkey Kong craves a sense of pride from his Dad, Cranky Kong. Definitely the most defined character in the film.
Illumination is a studio that makes projects which don't have the same level of care and attention to them that a Pixar or Dreamworks film might. Often they'll make something that feels motivated by a consumer friendly idea, things like spinoff movies about the Minions or The Secret Life of Pets. We had just come off a year that boasted Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and even Turning Red; I expected something decent for the first major animated film I watched in 2023. But as Illumination has constantly done in the past they have put effort into the animation where required but very little went into the script or voice cast. Mario and his cast of characters sells, because it is a popular franchise vehicle; it's clear the script is something basic or concocted on the go throughout production. The feature really struggles with introducing Mario and Luigi to us in a way that makes us connect with them. The Brooklyn setting and really heavy Italian-American stereotypes and fake accents gets grating and annoying early on. The fact that Luigi is barely utilised throughout the entire film feels like a mark was majorly missed. The film doesn't really stop to allow us to connect with the characters, I barely cared about Mario because the film wanted to rush to the next setting or Easter egg showcase. This is how pacing works for the entire film everything moves stupidly fast to the next reference or video game tie-in, but these aren't plot points and whoever writes the film clearly doesn't care. But the result of that approach to writing means this really becomes a film inaccessible to those who don't really know the games. Instead what you're left with is a poorly paced feature with a broad adventure narrative that rushes to the final act and doesn't allow us to connect with the protagonists. The final confrontation taking place in Brooklyn instead of the magical words we had been previously watching made me think of the awful final act of another video game bomb: Monster Hunter.
Jack Black, who voiced Bowser, really doesn't feel like he's doing a whole lot to seperate character from performer; having constant obligatory music riffs just felt like a weird way of reminding the audience Jack Black is Bowser without ever actually crafting a semi-decent antagonist. Chris Pratt, who voiced Mario, was a casting choice criticised for a long time and that criticism is well earned; Pratt does nothing to make his voice consistent and accent work is abysmal. Fred Armisen, who voiced Cranky Kong, is a performer i rarely like anyway but his voice work here is entirely forgettable; this old leader type voice he puts on is possibly the most forgettable main character of the whole cast.
Mamma mia. I would give The Super Mario Bros. Movie a 4.5/10.
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