Nintendo and Universal Studios
From the small screen of my old Nintendo Gameboy, to the big screen of movie theaters everywhere, Super Mario Bros. has come a long way. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” hit the theater on April 5, bringing the classic and well-loved video game to life. This movie is sure to be a hit with children who play the newest Mario games, like Super Mario 3D world, teenagers who played Mario Kart and adults who played the original Super Mario Bros. game that was released in 1985.
The movie begins with brothers Mario and Luigi who are upstarting their plumbing business. Their job as plumbers gives them the perfect gateway to get from the real world to the world of Toad, Princess Peach and Bowser. Mixed in with the normal pipes they are repairing, there are recognizable green pipes from the games. The brothers are sucked into the pipes and from there the story begins.
The movie successfully brought me back to my childhood of playing Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart. The first way this was done was through the sound effects used throughout the movie and the soundtrack. The music from the game was present in the film, but remixed to be more exciting and to differ from the game. The colorful graphics and the incredible details in the world of Super Mario Bros. presented beautifully on the big screen. In a scene where Mario is attempting to complete a parkour course, he must hop to the top of the flagpole and slide down when he completes the challenge, exactly how he would in the game. Later on, all of the main characters, including Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong, ride their Karts on the one and only Rainbow Road, recognizable to any Mario Kart fan.
On top of this, the plot, which primarily consisted of Mario, Toad and Peach on a mission to save the kingdom from Bowser, kept my attention. The movie was short and sweet so I did not get bored, despite it technically being a kids movie. While most of the characters were portrayed on screen exactly how I had imagined them, my only aversion towards the movie is that some of the characters’ voices were not what I had imagined. For example, Mario’s classic Italian accent from the game was not reciprocated on the screen. However, I would still wholeheartedly recommend this movie to anyone who has played a Super Mario Bros. game in the past or still does now, and I rate it 5/5 stars.
