‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Is Not Ruined by Chris Pratt’s Mario
It’s strange to think of Mario as an underdog. Although he’s been depicted as vaguely blue-collar since his first appearance over 40 years ago, Nintendo’s mascot has always been decidedly super. And despite having had more professions than Johnny Sins, his most notable role is also his simplest: he’s a hero. Which is why the best decision made by the makers of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is to stomp that. This Mario is a loser.
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He’s not really a loser – life isn’t as binary as a video game, but the film’s version of Mario lives at home with his folks, a group of ribbingly stereotypical Italian-Americans living in Brooklyn, and like any immigrant family, they’re hard on him. He’s responsible for his younger brother, Luigi, and although the duo have big dreams – having just struck out on their own as small business owners – there’s a lot of pressure to conform. But how can they give up? They feel destined for something more.
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If this feels familiar, it’s because it’s oddly reminiscent of the original (and gleefully awful) Super Mario Bros. live-action film from 1993. To be fair, both movies and the late ‘80s Super Show! run with this origin, and though there’s some murkiness about its validity in video game canon, it’s a cute setup for another journey through the looking glass. But where the 1993 film took the brothers into a gonzo cyberpunk fever dream, the new Super Mario Bros. plays it safe.
It’s not surprising to say that the plot of the movie adaptation of Super Mario Bros. is thin – there are few game series in existence that have gotten by with less narrative than the Mario series. The setup has generally been “Bowser wants Peach; Mario must save,” and that’s the gist of it.
There are some small changeups. Luigi is the damsel, captured by Bowser after getting split from big bro en route to the Mushroom Kingdom. Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) is a benevolent leader to her people, the toads, and an all-around badass who’s trying to figure out how to protect her kingdom from the looming thread of a super star-powered Bowser. Bowser himself is solely interested in conquering the world to impress Peach, whom he hopes to marry.
Only the most po-faced of fans will take ire here because in the end, it’s a 92-minute children’s movie. The script drops Peach in a mentor-meets-paramour role to Mario, who must get it together and learn what it is to be a hero. It’s the same dynamic that plays out in Chris Pratt’s other animated mega-franchise, The LEGO Movie. And while The Super Mario Bros. Movie never quite hits the emotional (or meta) highs of that flick, it does deliver a visually dazzling and occasionally funny action romp.
And those visuals go a long way. A candy-coated mindfuck, every frame of the film comes from the George Lucas school of thought: these images are dense. The worlds of Mario, Donkey Kong, and even Downtown Brooklyn are teeming with color and texture. The animation is above anything Nintendo itself has ever been capable of and it’s painful to think that we’re likely another decade away from Mario ever looking this good in an actual game.
There’s a manic energy to every locale and character that, compounded with the absolute breakneck pace, makes it impossible to absorb the majority of what you’re seeing the first time around. The Easter eggs have Easter eggs, and it’s the kind of movie tailor-made for repeat viewing.
Whether you’d like to is the issue. The barebones plot doesn’t add up to much outside of fan service, operating in a workmanlike mode to rush the characters from level 1-1 to the finale at a speed runner’s pace. There are some laughs to be mined, especially from the more adult-oriented gags (there’s an underpinning of dark humor around these adorable characters’ nonchalance about death). Sadly those jokes are few and far between, and hint at a version of the film that could’ve been more in line with the more sardonic Paper Mario series – which remain the pinnacle of Mario-based storytelling.
Tepid humor aside, the greatest consolation are the action sequences that elevate the film. From the onset, the visual language of gaming is applied to exhilarating set pieces that rank among the best ever produced for a children’s film (this side of the Spiderverse). There’s jumping, punching, Fury Road-esque karting, and fight scenes that feel ripped straight out of high-level Super Smash Bros. play. The best sequences of the film lean into opulent one-takes that wouldn’t feel out of place in the latest Avengers but are delivered with a level of care actually servicing the work of emaciated VFX artists bound to their desk chairs.
But what about the much-ballyhooed casting choices? Really, it amounts to very little. Donning a slight New York gruff, the Chris Prattitudes are turned way down as his Mario plays the straight man with an inkling of Brooklyn snark. Very early on, there’s a direct contrast between his and longtime voice actor Charles Martinet’s exaggerated take that aims to put the entire debate to bed. There’s no way the film could’ve hinged on “It’s-a-me,” and most viewers will literally forget Chris Pratt is even in the movie after ten minutes. That’s a compliment.
More apparent are the supporting cast. The obvious showstopper is Jack Black as a loquacious Bowser. If it’s possible to chew scenery in a voiceover booth, Black’s take on the King of the Koopas is dining and his Neil Diamond-lite Tenacious D’ing of Bowser as a love-struck tortured artist is a hit. Expect “Peaches, Peaches, Peaches” to soon be a TikTok staple to the chagrin of parents everywhere.
Other standouts include Charlie Day as the more cowardly Mario brother, Luigi, and Seth Rogen as the OG Nintendo foil, Donkey Kong. Another LEGO Movie alum, Day’s exasperated take on gaming’s most famous punching bag is endearing and gives the perpetually sidelined sibling a spark deserving of his own flick. Although most of the talk will surround Black’s Bowser, the film’s subtlest secret weapon is the friend-or-foe pairing of Mario and Rogen’s DK. Played as an arrogant idiot prince, Rogen’s instantly identifiable stoner giggle sandbags the simian’s bravado in wry fashion.
Despite being somewhat shallow and an audiovisual overload, The Super Mario Bros. movie is more than the sum of its pixels. A rarity in 2023, it tells a complete story while setting up multiple backdoor spinoffs, but never overtly pumps the brakes to sell you on what’s next. As Nintendo’s first serious attempt at conquering filmmaking, it’s a lovingly crafted entry point with the potential for more.
And if video games really are to supplant superheroes as The Next Big Thing in Hollywood, it’s fitting that Mario helps lead the charge. Much like how the original game helped revive the gaming boom in the ‘80s following the industry’s post-Atari collapse, the Mario Bros. are here to bolster a cinematic sub-genre long plagued by DTV-quality garbage.
I, for one, welcome our new overlords. Let the game begin.
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