My Review of SUPER MARIO BROS. The Movie

[JTurner]

Funny on an amusement "guilty pleasure" level, but aside from a few moments, hardly a film worthy of its source material.

As a longtime Nintendo junkie I have to admit that the SUPER MARIO BROS. video game series is a legendary franchise. It was this platformer involving two plumbers rescuing a princess from an army of monstrous turtles (the Koopa Troopas) that single-handedly saved the video game market in 1985. The game proved popular enough to spawn multiple sequels and even a cartoon TV series (which, admittingly, is pretty dated and formulaic, but it did do a respectable job recreating the feel of the series). Given the successful reputation of SUPER MARIO BROS. as a game series, it doesn't seem surprising that a theatrical feature would be attempted. That film version premiered in the summer of 1993, and I was among those who were eager to see it.

Unfortunately, the movie turned out to be a major box office disaster and was trashed in almost every newspaper. As a matter of fact, it started the whole "videogames don't make good movies" craze. I hope that this argument can be proved wrong, but SUPER MARIO BROS. probably will not be a likely candidate to challenge this accusation.

This movie gets so many things wrong it's almost a miracle that I can write anything nice about it. With the exception of the characters' names and a few throwaway references, SUPER MARIO BROS., the movie has absolutely nothing in common with the video game series it's based on. The production completely eschews the lighthearted, colorful atmosphere of the Mushroom Kingdom and instead slaps on a dark, fungus-covered metropolis inhabited by dinosaurs evolved (yes, I said EVOLVED) into human beings. (One figures the scriptwriters mixed up SUPER MARIO WORLD--the only game in the series to set in a dinosaur-populated environment--as the ideal atmosphere for the MARIO franchise in general.) Instead of power-up mushrooms, fireflowers, and goombas, we get a human cast of villains acting (and looking) bizarre (even the chief villain, King Koopa is disturbingly portrayed as a human), raptors, exploding flameguns, and some totally ridiculous concept called "de-evolution." The nasty goombas are transformed from puny mushroom baddies into hulking lizards, and Yoshi, the beloved dinosaur sidekick of Mario, becomes a cuddly but woefully fake-looking baby T-Rex (and get this--he's Koopa's pet!). The whole atmosphere of this "Dinohatten" is too weird, chaotic, and cold to be engaging.

This may sound bad enough, but the movie's biggest mistake is its failure to provide anything in the way of a coherent (or compelling) narrative. The plot is a jumbled mishmash about meteorites, alternate universes, and fungus that spends too much time indulging in its own stupidity rather than offering some intelligence. The movie's action sequences should provide spark and energy, but here they come across as strangely pointless and uninvolving. Despite the clamor occurring in the scenes, the viewer feels a strange sense of detachment to the whole thing. This makes the movie as a whole a major chore to sit through, as if there aren't any duller moments to bore viewers to death (such as a slow, inactive sequence where Mario and Luigi escape from a goomba-infested elevator). Matters are not helped by the ridiculously cheesy special effects, which are so fake that they come across as laughable.

Even the aural aspects of the movie are displeasing; the soundtrack starts out promisingly with an electronic-sounding ditty of the classic MARIO BROS. theme, but aside from that, we got a fully-orchestral score (from Alan Silvestri) which is distressingly un-MARIO like. The same is true for the throwaway rock-and-roll songs, which were obviously slapped on for commercial reasons. The overabundance of screaming and overloud sound mixing is tempting enough to make one turn the volume down.

Yet as problematic as the final result is, I do have something of a strange attraction to SUPER MARIO BROS. the movie. I admit to being crazy about the film when I was younger, even when all the critics were tearing it to pieces, and to this day I still wonder why I enjoy watching it every now and then. Perhaps because it's such a sorely misguided, warped, unimaginative mess that it ends up being a flick that can be fun to laugh at.

To its benefit, however, SUPER MARIO BROS. does support a high-quality cast--which is quite surprising given that this is hardly the kind of movie that demands one. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo work chemistry as the brothers, even if they are nothing like their video game counterparts, and Samantha Mathis holds her own ground as the pretty Princess Daisy. Dennis Hopper's portrayal of King Koopa, on the other hand, is disappointingly uncharismatic and spends more time chewing the scenery than creating a character worth rooting against; Fiona Shaw is more effective as his dastardly secretary. All seem to take on their jobs with a good-natured attitude and do what they can with the mumbo-jumbo material.

But even that isn't enough to qualify a good recommendation for SUPER MARIO BROS. as a movie. It's too unfaithful a recreation for MARIO fans, too noisy even for action-buffs, and too preposterous to reach a smart audience. If there's anything that I can say about this movie, it could be that it is a "guilty-pleasure" time killer that evokes plenty of laughs. So if you want to sit through a convoluted, incomprehensible action-flick that blatantly disregards its source material, then this is the movie for you. Otherwise, SUPER MARIO BROS. is not an example of great film-making, much less adapting a video game into a movie.

Update: I found out recently that the reason why this film turned out the way it did is because of its rather messy production period, with directors and actors clashing on set, constant rewrites, and conflicting ideas on how the film should be. It really is no wonder, as the final result clearly shows.

[1upmushroom]

While I do agree that SMB can get very -if not- extremely loud and jumpy, that's mostly because the film is actually incomplete. Plus do to the fact that the film doesn't know what it wants to be certainly doesn't help. I however like the fact that you don't comment on things like Luigi not having a moustache or the brothers names being both Mario or the fact that Princess isn't Peach but Daisy!

However the way you stated that dinosaurs evovled into human was as if that was a bad thing. I personally think that's kind of interesting. Also I think you're being unfair when you criticized the city for being too weird, chaotic and cold. I found the city to be quite awesome. Also you must must MUST remember that the CGI effects may not be high quality stuff but it's the best they could do at that time especially with they're kind of budget!

I found the goombas and Yoshi to be pretty impressive, I didn't think Yoshi was fake looking, he was a neat effect.

Also I got to you the most important thing, if SMB was a carbon copy of the games, there would still be a lot of bashing. One, because people will find flaws in anything and I mean anything. And two, because it would probably be boring and pretty forgettable. At least the version these so called haters want the movie to be.

Overall I suggest giving it a 3 at least.

[Redstar]

Thanks for re-posting this review, JTurner. You make a strong case for the film meriting a two-star rating, so it's one of the few reviews in that category that I've truly enjoyed reading. You offer a respectable opinion in an insightful fashion.

Still, there's a few points I'd like to comment on. Feel free to respond with your own thoughts!

Unfortunately, the movie turned out to be a major box office disaster and was trashed in almost every newspaper.

The film wasn't "trashed" so much as just looked at with wonderment and confusion. Our collection of reviews demonstrates that while it was rarely outright considered a good film, it was still more than not praised for its acting, set design and special effects. It had a lot going for it and people recognized that despite the flaws.

The production completely eschews the lighthearted, colorful atmosphere of the Mushroom Kingdom and instead slaps on a dark, fungus-covered metropolis inhabited by dinosaurs evolved (yes, I said EVOLVED) into human beings.

The film was intended to tell the 'origin' story behind how Mario and Luigi became the Super Mario Bros., so it does make sense that the parallel world wouldn't be the colorful fantasyland that we're used to in the games. Early scripts did take care to show that at the very end of the adventure, once the fungus rots away, water flows freely again and plantlife begins to flourish. If a sequel had been mind it would have no doubt featured a more lively world, even if would have been more primordial than 'Alice in Wonderland.'

Yoshi, the beloved dinosaur sidekick of Mario, becomes a cuddly but woefully fake-looking baby T-Rex (and get this--he's Koopa's pet!).

This is meant to be nod to Yoshi's role in Super Mario World, in which he and his friends were imprisoned in eggs by Bowser before being rescued by Mario. Yoshi being kept on a chain and abused by Koopa until freed by Daisy/the Mario Bros. is a clear parallel.

Matters are not helped by the ridiculously cheesy special effects, which are so fake that they come across as laughable.

It should be pointed out that Super Mario Bros. was a runner-up nominee for the Special Effects Oscar. Chris Woods and his SFX team utilized state-of-the-art technology to create effects that had never been done before and had in fact been deemed impossible. The CGI model of Dinohattan alone took took over six months of work by one man to complete.

The only reason the movie didn't go up against Jurassic Park as intended was because Disney lobbied hard to have A Nightmare Before Christmas considered in that category despite clearly being better suited under animation. Yes, the special effects may seem a bit dated and cheesy now, but at the time they were groundbreaking work.

But even that isn't enough to qualify a good recommendation for SUPER MARIO BROS. as a movie. It's too unfaithful a recreation for MARIO fans, too noisy even for action-buffs, and too preposterous to reach a smart audience.

That really is the movie's one real problem: it never knows what it wants to be or who it's target is. Ghostbusters found the perfect balance in tone to attract both children and adults while Super Mario Bros. languishes somewhere between. It's really just sad because there are elements of the film that are suited for each.

Update: I found out recently that the reason why this film turned out the way it did is because of its rather messy production period, with directors and actors clashing on set, constant rewrites, and conflicting ideas on how the film should be. It really is no wonder, as the final result clearly shows.

The production was a huge mess. As fans we won't deny that it clearly has its faults, but if you understand what they were attempting and overall what they accomplished you can appreciate it better.