“Please! We’re depressed enough!”

I’ve pretty much been a lifelong Mario fan, so I remember being pretty excited for this movie adaptation when it was first coming out. When I saw it in theaters, it was basically everything I was both wanting and expecting out of it: fun, nostalgic, and just a good time. Even though it’s really not all that compelling on a narrative level, I still find this to be a very entertaining and rewatchable movie.

While story might not be Illumination’s strong suit, their animation is absolutely outstanding to say the very least, and this might just be the very best thing in that area that they’ve put out. Everything is rendered to perfection, with colors, reflections, and all that sort of stuff being basically on the same level as Pixar, where it’s almost too perfect and clean-looking to the point where it borders on realism. I think it’s safe to say that Nintendo made a pretty good decision in choosing this studio to adapt this franchise. Even though a shallow story was inevitable, what else was to be expected with a Mario movie (the games sure aren’t that deep)?

When it comes to bringing this world to life on the big screen, Illumination absolutely nailed it. It was such a treat seeing these different characters, creatures, and locations in such high quality for the first time, because obviously, Nintendo game systems couldn’t replicate this level of quality in graphics. Even on a storytelling level, I do think this is one area where Illumination succeeded because I personally think they did a great job of introducing us to a world that we are already familiar with, just this time in a different medium.

I think the characters were done really well, too. It definitely couldn’t have been one of the easiest tasks to adapt these characters into film, simply because of the main games not really being all that story-driven, but Nintendo and Illumination did a great job in my opinion. Everyone, I think, is appealing and fun to hang out with, even if they don’t get super compelling or deep arcs or anything of that sort.

And while it definitely qualifies as a nostalgia-biased movie, all of the easter eggs are really fun nonetheless. I remember all of the big and obvious ones honestly putting a smile on my face when I first saw this movie, and I’ve even picked up on more and more on every rewatch. Yes, it’s a cheap way to appeal to viewers, but I think in the case of this movie, it was both appropriate and effective.

This section is kind of hard to talk about without going into spoiler territory, just because I don’t remember a lot of this aspect of the movie being in the trailers or marketing, but the action is unsurprisingly a blast as well. The first half of the runtime is more focused on adventure and introducing the world, while the second half is the action-heavy section with even more nods to the games that actually fit into the story in a very fun way. Both halves are really fun, but I definitely have to say that the second is better.

I don’t really have any straight-up negatives, but really just some things that some people might not like about The Super Mario Bros. Movie. For one, I think a few of the voice acting choices were a little bit on the questionable side. Characters like Luigi, Peach, and Toad were cast perfectly, but Chris Pratt as Mario and Jack Black as Bowser are definitely interesting choices, as well as Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong. They don’t really bother me, but as I said, I could definitely see it rubbing others the wrong way.

The last thing is the obvious one of this being a “turn your brain off” kind of movie. If you aren’t a fan of this game series, I really see it being quite difficult to fully get into this movie, as a lot of the appeal definitely relies on understanding all of the big references. While I thoroughly enjoy it, I fully grasp that this is not high art filmmaking or anything like that.

That being said, I can’t wait for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie tomorrow, and hope they can still have some fun easter eggs, but maybe a bit of a better story. With it being influenced by the Super Mario Galaxy game(s) (as well as Odyssey), I’m hoping they can do that since that is definitely one of the “deeper” Mario games.