The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is an animated visual delight of kid-friendly action and video-game player nostalgia. The story is the old basic ‘unlikely hero’ concept where a couple of New York City plumbers save the city. They also save the Mushroom Kingdom, a far-off land of mushrooms and toads, and one lovely princess.

Two brothers in Brooklyn start a plumbing service. It is led by Mario (voiced by Chris Pratt) and his brother Luigi (voiced by Charlie Day). They get off to a rough start, but the brothers are determined to make the business successful. They find a big plumbing problem in the city. They are exploring the lowest sub-levels of the sewer system, and tumble into a weird blue drain pipe. Soon they are flying in some type of portal to another world. Luigi goes one way, and Mario goes another way.

Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom. There is a small little creature named Toad (voiced by Keegan-Michael Key), and this helpful little guy tells Mario that he needs to talk to the Princess. She would be able to help Mario find his brother Luigi. Toad leads Mario off on an adventure into and through the magical huge mushrooms and crazy creatures that live in the Kingdom. They get to the city and up to the Castle.

Mario and Toad sneak into the Castle to find Princess Peach (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy). She is the beautiful and kind ruler of the Mushroom people. She fears that Luigi has been captured by the most evil person in the Dark Lands. This person is named Bowser (voiced by Jack Black). Bowser is king of the turtle-like Koopas. He is a turtle-type mutant. But he is not a teenaged ninja. Bowser is prepared to destroy all the Kingdoms in the land, because he has captured the all-powerful ‘Super Star’.

Bowser has also captured Luigi, and keeps him with a number of other captured prisoners. One of them is a hilariously nihilistic Blue Star that spouts the most awful discouraging things — all while being the cutest thing around. Bowser has a secret crush on Princess Peach, and he makes up a rock ballad to profess his love.

Princess Peach gives Mario a quick ‘training montage’ to set him up for the battle against Bowser. There is one other ally they might be able to get, and that is the Jungle Kingdom. This group of apes lives in a remote area, and they never want to help the Mushroom Kingdom. But if Princess Peach goes there, with the help of Mario, they might be able to convince them to help.

The Princess and Mario arrive, and the leader of the Jungle Kingdom will see them. It is Cranky Kong (voiced by Fred Armisen), and he controls the Kong Army. His son is Donkey Kong (voiced by Seth Rogan). Cranky says the only way he will get the Kong Army to help out is if Mario agrees to a fight with Donkey Kong. It’s a classic fight on girders and blocks up in the sky, swinging on ropes and grabbing any power-ups – and Donkey Kong tossing barrels everywhere.

Princess Peach and Mario, they are also joined with Toad, they begin the fight to save the Mushroom Kingdom. They have some new partners in the fight against the evil Bowser. They are working with Cranky Kong and Donkey Kong, and the entire Kong Army. The Kong’s have given the fighters some souped-up Karts, powerful go-karts that have weapons and fast engines. You might even call these ‘Mario Karts’.

The Dark Lands have overwhelming forces, and the evil Bowser forces Princess Peach to marry him. Luigi and the other prisoners are about to dropped into hot lava. But Mario and Donkey Kong are missing. They are presumed dead, after an epic struggle with Bowser’ army of Koopas that Bowser controls. Everything looks bleak, and everyone is doomed. The little Blue Star could not be any happier…

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” plays a lot on the warm memories of the original game. So many of the creatures, and the side-scrolling landscapes – they are all in there. Nintendo, the original video game creator, is hugely involved. The movie score has many of the initial music themes from the game. Even the guy who did the voices of Mario and Luigi (Charles Martinet) has a few vocal roles.

Mario and Luigi are shown to be from the ‘Little Italy’ section of New York City, rather than from the country. That allows them to have less of an accent, so Chris Pratt (as Mario) and Charlie Day (as Luigi) don’t need to adopt phony-sounding phrasing. Charlie Day gets side-lined in much of the movie, which gives Chris Pratt a much more prominent role.

Anya Taylor-Joy (Princess Peach) adds vitality to her character. She is a caring leader, who can also kick some serious butt. Jack Black (Bowser) makes the best use of his growly voice to be an evil monster – but smitten with love for the Princess. Seth Rogen plays Donkey Kong with a lot of humor. Keegan-Michael Key (Toad) has a great time making his character the newest best friend of Mario and the Princess.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” – Bring your own Nintendo game controller, because the action is plentiful and the power-ups are ready to take. Mamma Mia!