FRISCO, TEXAS— On Sunday, April 16th, I had the pleasure of taking a trip to the movie theater and watching The Super Mario Bros. Movie, starring actors such as Chris Pratt voicing Mario, Jack Black voicing Bowser, and Anya Taylor-Joy voicing Princess Peach, as well as other acclaimed actors. I will be reviewing three different parts of this movie: plot, character design, and casting. My rating out of 10 for each category will be averaged out at the end for one overall rating. Warning: spoilers ahead. 

PLOT: 

The plot of The Super Mario Movie was as follows: two brothers, Mario and Luigi, looking to start their own plumbing business, spend their savings on a commercial. When a water main bursts in Brooklyn, they task themselves with saving the day, ultimately failing and making things worse. 

After this failure, a stream of water sends them through a wall into a seemingly abandoned sewer maintenance room, where Luigi is sucked into a green tube, and Mario follows soon after. They are transported into a fantasy land where Luigi is sent to Bowser’s castle, and Mario is sent to Mushroom Kingdom. 

Thus begins a quest to rescue Luigi and save The Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser’s plans to take over the world with Princess Peach at his side if she accepts his proposal, and destroying the world if she declines. 

Overall, following the plot of this movie was easy, and enjoyable, and there wasn’t a struggle to keep up with the pace. This movie is incredibly family friendly with its humor and pacing. It had enough action, emotion, and comedy to keep the watcher constantly entertained, and it lived up to the standards set by the media frenzy of tweets, memes, and Tik Toks, that preceded its release. 

I would rate the plot of this movie a solid 8.75/10. 

CHARACTER DESIGN: 

With a popular line of video games being the basis for these characters, their personalities matter. Mario and Luigi have been the subject of gamers’ interests for generations, and many of the fans that got to know this dynamic duo and their gang of friends as kids have grown up. 

One major grievance that many of the viewers had with the character design of the Super Mario Bros. Movie is that Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, has lost her damsel-in-distress personality that was displayed in the video games she has been featured in. In this movie, she did most of the rescuing in the first half of the film. 

A Twitter user with the handle @Soul_StormOP tweeted: “Wasn’t a fan of Peach’s portrayal either. There wasn’t a need for the whole damsel in distress trope. I just wish she was more of a wise and smart tactician rather than someone who’s perfect at everything. Her character felt more like Daisy, didn’t even feel like Mario was needed.” 

Mario, however, did act as his brother’s crutch for many parts of the movie, and whenever they saw each other, however, something that didn’t track was how Luigi matched Mario’s strength, and bravery in the final showdown with Bowser, despite being captured for most of the movie, and being somewhat of a coward whenever shown, as evidenced by a scene where Luigi is clearly afraid of a client’s dog. 

Bowser, and Donkey Kong, two other characters we see taking primary rolls in the movie, fit their character bill. Bowser and Donkey Kong, while being on opposing sides, are arrogant and sure they are unable to fail. Bowser is even sure his sweet proposal to Peach will erase everything he’s done, and she will marry him, no questions asked. 

Overall, the design of these characters fits the plot of the movie, but some fail to capture the characteristics of their video game counterparts. I would rate character design a 7.9/10 

CASTING: 

The casting list for this movie sports actors such as:

• Chris Pratt voicing Mario 
• Charlie Day voicing Luigi 
• Jack Black voicing Bowser
• Anya Taylor-Joy voicing Princess Peach 
• Seth Rogen voicing Donkey Kong

To name a few of them, however, there is a plethora of other recognizable actors voicing supporting characters. 

Chris Pratt is the one person I could think of to voice someone like Mario, who shares some of the characteristics of another character Pratt plays, Starlord, in the popular movie series titled The Guardians Of The Galaxy in the Marvel Franchise, Starlord and Mario being heroic, funny, and somewhat unaware of their own actions. 

Charlie Day also fits Luigi very well, and his voice is able to portray Luigi’s constant state of anxiety and fear throughout the movie, while he awaits rescue. 

Jack Black being cast as the voice of Bowser created a mass media frenzy, and I can see why: Jack Black is Jack Black. Black is known to put his entire being into the roles he plays, and is able to embody his characters on and off screen. The actor and musician delivered an extraordinary performance in his role as Bowser in the film, and even outside of the recording booth for the movie. Black released a full length track of the song that caused a media frenzy in the first place for this film, “Peaches.” 

Anya Taylor-Joy being cast for this strong and confident Peach was a good fit, although I do lament the loss of Peach’s signature soft, delicate voice sported in the games. 

I don’t know how they managed to make Donkey Kong look like he always has, while simultaneously looking like Seth Rogen, but they did, and he delivered his role extremely well, being arrogant and funny throughout the film. 

The casting crew did extremely well in my opinion, and I would rate casting a 9.5/10. 

As this review comes to an end, there is the question of rating this movie as a whole. Adding up and averaging the scores for each aspect of the film I reviewed presents us with a grand rating of 8.71/10. This movie was a wonderful watch and I enjoyed it very much, and hearing the laughter, and cheers of the other moviegoers around me assured me I wasn’t alone in my enjoyment of the film.