Mama Mia! It’s a new Mario Bros. Movie!

Ever since The Super Mario Bros. Movie was announced in September 2021, fans have been ecstatic for its release on April fifth 2023. With Nintendo’s track record with the previous Mario movie and memes spreading about Chris Pratt voicing Mario and Jack Black voicing Bowser, the bar was set high in the Mario community. While some fans went in with very high expectations that were not met, we felt that the movie was well crafted and had an interesting story line, but like any movie, there definitely could be a few improvements.

The movie’s storyline starts with Bowser’s arrival in the Snow Kingdom. Bowser’s entrance is covered in dark red colors and followed by dark music melds with the opposite blue icy setting with cute penguins. The way they introduced Bower felt like he was truly the villain, reminiscent of the scene in Star Wars that introduces Darth Vader. It was then when Bowser and the Penguin King had a very one-sided standoff: the penguins attacked with snowballs, dealing no damage at all, Bowser responded by burning down their whole Kingdom and using magic to capture the penguins. This villainous introduction ends with Bowser stealing the question block, receiving the Lucky Star. These actions really set the scene and makes the viewer realize that this isn’t going to be a basic story about Mario saving the Princess.

After introducing the main conflict of the movie, that’s when we finally get to recognize the beloved Mario brothers. The way their personalities are represented in the movie are very adorable and are exceedingly similar to the way they have been represented in previous shows and games. Luigi was portrayed as a scaredy cat throughout most of the movie but it wasn’t overdone like most fans depict him as. Mario was the strong and reliable older brother making sure not to put Luigi in an uncomfortable situation and protecting him from harm’s way. The movie shows a bunch of different references making it fun for older fans to spot and laugh about while also making it fun for newer fans as well. 

The first conflict the brothers go through is a dog trying to attack them while they take care of a client’s sink. The two work together to try and fix things while the dog follows behind them, messing their progress up. During this low-stakes introductory conflict, you get to see what Mario’s and Luigi’s relationship is like while also receiving very humorous moments in the film. Though some critics of the movie say the funny moments were only advertised to children, this low-stakes conflict  was met with laughs from people old and young in the theater

Another thing that was very enjoyable about the movie is the storyline. Even though the story line felt not quite what we expected, the way the creators went about the movie with the information they had felt a lot more enjoyable than the constant repeating story of Peach getting kidnapped. Also the fact that they added a bunch of characters that didn’t necessarily need to be there like Donkey Kong and Toad. The way the characters were added to the storyline even though they weren’t necessarily a big deal in the games felt like they were finally getting a small step into the spotlight.

The way the animators designed the colors in the scenes and the designs of the characters felt like the movie could be enjoyed by anyone. All of the characters felt childish but not to the point they get rid of their additional appeal. The colors are vibrant and very satisfying to the eye for anyone to enjoy and admire. 

I feel as if they could’ve done a better job with character development. Donkey Kong only got one moment to talk about his problems and express his feelings, and it instantly got ruined by him attacking Mario after he related to being seen as a failure by his father. Mario had some character development in the beginning when he was training with Peach, a little with Donkey Kong, and another at the end when his parents were proud of him for saving Brooklynn, but three scenes of development aren’t quite enough. Luigi was portrayed as a scaredy cat throughout most of the movie, but then was given the chance to do something brave at the end. Peach got barely any character development; the very little she did was as a princess and not as the character itself. And Toad got nothing, he was just there protecting the princess.

In conclusion, this film was very entertaining and well crafted but there were some things that should’ve been improved throughout. The film seemed to feed the fans in a positive way and this movie didn’t seem as much as a cash grab compared to the first Mario movie. After hearing information that they’re making a sequel to this movie, we hope they take the fans’ criticism into consideration. Lastly we hope they add more characters in the Mario franchise to this upcoming movie, especially Rosalina.