What it should be: In Review of The Mario Movie

This fan favorite but critically slated film released in 2023 and was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. The film follows the journey of two plumbers, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), as they explore an alternate dimension; the Mushroom Kingdom.

From looking through the reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it seems that the driving force of the negative reviews is how much it relied on nostalgia and how much of an easter egg hunt it was. This was also accompanied by the lack of narrative complexion and innovation. However, one could see this as an unfair conclusion as this film was designed for the fans and when watching the film, it was clear that this was the intention; almost like the easter egg hunt they described. This removed some of the narrative invention but then again, the simple nature of the narrative could be seen as a positive as it didn’t need to be anything more than the basic plot of the original Mario games. Going back to the basics was a great call.

Another negative that was stated was the film wasn’t very subtle. While one can definitely agree with this, since the intertextual references where very clear, it seems that this was the point as they weren’t trying to make anything new with this film, just something fans of the series could watch and appreciate as a consolidation of what they loved from the games in a film format.

And now, the cast. The lack of Marioness(?) from the performance of Chris Pratt was fine when watching the film and could have honestly damaged the character rather than improved it. It wasn’t an Oscar winning performance but it wasn’t too anomalous that it was distracting. Charlie Day performed Luigi quite well as the nervous inflections that Luigi normally has could be found within the voice acting. Anya Taylor-Joy voiced Peach and did a fine job. It seems that the whole cast was just, ok. The only notable performance from the Voice Actors was Jack Black in Bowser’s performances using the piano but other than that, the cast gets an ‘it was ok’.

The score and the soundtrack however, was like aural nectar as this is where the innovation came in as classic Mario Osts were transformed to fit a modern style which sounded amazing. The way that 80s songs were employed really put the icing on this already amazing cake.

Overall, I really enjoyed this film and may be one that I purchase to own to compare to future video game films as an example of how to encapsulate a franchise in cinematic glory. I also just can’t get over how could the score was, amazing stuff. Plus, that luma was hilarious. '‘There’s no escape. The only hope is the sweet relief of death’ . Great stuff.