The Mario franchise has made Super Mario one of the number #1 video game series in the world. Created by the Nintendo video game company, it has become a fan-favorite video game for many people around the world.
With the excitement and popularity of the Super Mario franchise, it is no surprise that a movie was released for fans of the video game series, as well as children. The film, titled The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was released on April 5, 2023, by Universal Pictures’ Illumination animation studio creator of the Despicable Me movies as well as the Nintendo company.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 computer-animated adventure film that was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel. The cast consisted of Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, and Fred Armisen.
The new movie follows the origin story of brothers Mario and Luigi, who fall through a pipe and are transported to an alternate world. The brothers then become entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, who are led by Bowser.
The film itself received mixed reviews from critics and is currently the highest-grossing film of 2023 and the 11th highest-grossing animated film of all time.
As a huge Mario fan, I had extremely high hopes for the movie and went to watch it during its opening week. Right off the bat, I was very intrigued by the movie’s animation and seeing all my favorite Mario characters on the big screen. However, once the movie was over, I felt like it had been rushed and that there were elements of the movie I had hoped would be there but weren’t.
While I didn’t hate the movie, I was a bit disappointed in the rushed plotline and lack of character development over the course. I don’t believe the characters were very interesting, as most relationships and friendships between characters were underdeveloped. One example is Mario and Toad, as it had been hinted that Mario has some sort of distaste for Toad early on in the movie, yet it is never explored further.
The pacing also came as a shock because, for a one-hour and 32-minute movie, they tried to include a lot of different elements into it.
As a rule of thumb, the lack of character development and the pacing is what made it difficult for viewers to fully enjoy the movie. If the creators want viewers to care about these characters and their journeys, we need to be given time to process what’s happening rather than running through everything so quickly.
I did enjoy watching the movie, though, and I recommend people watch it. These are just some things I believe could’ve helped to create more impactful connections between movie viewers and fans of the Super Mario franchise.