The Super Mario Bros Movie (2023)
Last Watch Date - March 13, 2026
Total Times Watched - Once
Comments
My kids saw this in theaters with .. some set of grandparents? Maybe? I didn't see it, though. I may have mentioned previously that I am a Mario hater. Not everything about the universe, just Mario himself. I will never understand how a short, fat, Italian plumber became such an iconic character. He doesn't even really have a backstory to speak of, though I guess the live action/animated show from 1989 maybe counts as something. SWING YOAH AHMS FROM SIDE TA SIDE!
This movie doesn't have any of the weirdness of the 1993 Bob Hoskins/John Leguizamo version either. What was even going on in that movie? My wife likes it because she's a Leguizamo lover, but even she can recognize this movie is stupid.
The most noticeable thing from this movie is the voice acting. Chris Pratt sucks as Mario. I don't get the casting when the actual Mario voice actor is around. Why not use him!? Anya Taylor-Joy also sucks as Peach. Could you pick a more lifeless performance for Peach? If I said it was flat, I'd be way too generous. Just.. awful. Keegan-Michael Key would've been better with Toad if they pitched his voice up more. That's Toad's signature sound! Grating. Annoying. Loud. They didn't do any of that. Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong was just confusing. 0 times out of 100 would I have said "you know who would be an interesting Donkey Kong.. Seth Rogen!" Jack Black was pretty good as Bowser. Charlie Day was .. ok? as Luigi. He's such a minor character that he doesn't have enough time to suck it up like Pratt and Taylor-Joy. They had actual Mario voice a couple characters, so it's not like they couldn't have just asked him to be MARIO.
Ok let's ignore that aspect of it. The animation is really fun and brings you right back to the 3d Mario games. I liked the jungle sets for Kong as well, though I wish they spent a bit more time there. I get why they didn't, it's not a DK movie. Whatever. It's still cooler than the mushroom kingdom. WHO EVEN CARES ABOUT TOADS???
The story was decent and had some funny parts. Mario in a cat suit was funny. DK had some funny bits. There's a lot of slapstick humor that works well with this franchise. Also the little star thing was my favorite part. It wanted to die so badly and sometimes I can relate.
It's pretty short so it flies along, but there's one part that was odd near the end. I'll skip it as not to spoil anything (though the stakes of spoiling this are ... NONE?), just know that I think they could've spent a few more minutes explaining how they got from A to B!
Recommended?
Yeah, it was fun. I guess I'll have to watch the new Galaxy movie coming out this year.
