Upstream the Movies: The Super Mario Brothers Movie (2023)

"Peaches, Peaches, Peaches Peaches Peaches..."

Having caught this on Netflix, all I can say is that I wish I had mustered the courage to see it in a theater, because believe it or not, this is one of the best movies of 2023. Not one of the best “genre” movies, or “movies based on a video game,” one of the best made, funniest, heartwarming, and even heroic movies of the year. Granted ‘23 set a low bar, but SMB would be a welcome addition to any year’s catalogue.

For every reader of my generation and adjacent ones, it will (hopefully) wash out any residual trauma leftover in your brain from 1993’s failed attempt to bring the beloved video game franchise to the big screen. I mean, get a few drinks in me, and I can make a semi-plausible argument that Hell Comes to Frogtown was a more faithful SMB adaptation.

Let us pause for a moment, because Bob Hoskins deserved far better than that.

Thank you.

The Story

If you already know the drill, feel free to skip this part.

Bowser, King of the Koopas, has acquired a powerful item called a “Super Star,” which he intends to use to conquer the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and impress Princess Peach in the hopes of marrying her. With her kingdom under threat and her subjects all but powerless to resist Bowser’s forces, Princess Peach prepares to begin a quest to convince the Kongs of the Jungle Kingdom to render aid.

Meanwhile, two bumbling Italian American brothers from Brooklyn, Mario and Luigi, who have just started an already failing plumbing business, respond to a massive main water break in the borough in the hopes of reversing their fortunes and impressing their dismissive family and their former boss. During their valiant but apparently futile attempt, the brothers discover a vast underground complex, where they are sucked into a Warp Pipe, and transported to the world of the Mushroom Kingdom and separated. Luigi is taken captive by the evil Bowser, while Mario joins with the Princess to save his brother, and the world!

Yes, really.

The Characters

Again, if you know the score, feel free to skip.

Since this is Mario and Luigi’s Origin Story, they begin the film incompetent and discouraged. As portrayed in the games, Mario is optimistic and determined, Luigi timid and cautious. Thankfully, the story allows them to grow into their heroism and have ample opportunities to rise to the occasion, master their environment, and win the confidence and trust of their friends and allies. There’s no subversion, there’s no edgy reimagining, they love each other, are sincere and honest.

In other words, the opposite of what is often done to male “heroes” in print, film, and comic art today. Believe it or not, despite this really being an ensemble cast with the brothers, Toad, the Princess, Donkey Kong, and King Bowser, Mario and Luigi are allowed to be the central characters and heroes in a story bearing their name, something you don’t find in certain other franchises that shall remain nameless marketed to arguably nonexistent “Modern Audiences.”

Mario has a bit of a hero’s journey. Mario is taught how the Mushroom Kingdom world works by Toad and the Princess, and his own (usually painful and humiliating) trial and error. This includes a “Rocky montage” sequence that brings back fond memories of the game, and is fun to watch, even though at this point no one knows who he is, and the Princess is skeptical of his ability to help her.

Luigi is most often “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” in the games, and this movie follows that pattern. However, despite Luigi spending most of the movie as Bowser’s prisoner, he rises to the occasion and displays courage where it counts.

As this an ensemble cast, Donkey Kong is also allowed to show growth and becomes a key ally of the good guys, Toad is along for competent comic relief and brief exposition.

The voice acting for the heroes is good, and even Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong doesn’t ruin the movie, probably because the directors (the team behind Cartoon Network’s Teen Titans Go!) were smart and didn’t allow Seth Rogen to just be himself.

But let’s talk about Bowser. Jack Black steals the movie. Period. He’s hilarious and perfect. Yes, that bit with “the song,” is the funniest moment in a very funny movie.

Lastly, the supporting characters in both the “real world” and the Mushroom Kingdom completely sell it. The “real world” scenes are played for laughs, especially Mario and Luigi’s stereotypical Italian American family. I can’t complain one whit about this, and I laughed because there’s a reason the stereotypes exist, I’ve lived some of them, and the cast nails it. I had no choice but to throw the malocchio at the screen.

The Mushroom Kingdom is a cast of thousands, with Koopas, and Goombas, and Bullet Bills, and Toads, and those annoying fish, undead Koopas, the Venus fly-trap thingies, the penguin guys, the Jawas with the Scream mask before Scream was a thing, little dudes with gas masks, Yoshis in the background, the works. And they are funny.

There’s even a dancing, nihilistically morbid Luma. It’s a funny gimmick on its own, if you’re deep into the games, it’s drop-dead hilarious.

The World

Let’s start with the animation quality and the art. It’s gorgeous. The film was made by Illumination, the studio behind the Despicable Me / Minions franchise. They successfully recreated and even enhanced the world of the games and then some. Even the parts set in cartoon NYC are deliberate nods and references to the arcade and 8-bit console Mario Brothers, Donkey Kong, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!!, and “Nintendo-hard” games.

The Mario family’s home is a parody, but good-natured riff on a stereotypical Italian neighborhood city rowhome. For authenticity’s sake however, it was missing pictures of St. Pope John Paul II, Fiorella LaGuardia, a statue of the Blessed Mother, and maybe a picture of either FDR or JFK.

Mario’s room is a bit of “meta” fun, with his own NES console and boombox, and that one articulated desk lamp everyone had in the ‘80s.

By far, the film’s visual climax is the rainbow track Mario Kart battle sequence, and to say more would ruin it. As a great little Easter Egg, there’s even a blink-and-you-miss-it Terminator 2 homage.

The Mushroom Kingdom, the Jungle Kingdom of the Kongs, and the Dark Lands are pitch perfect to the game world, and the fan-service is constant. Don’t even try to understand how the place works, but it’s internally consistent (enough). Mario points out or falls victim to many of the inherent absurdities of the world, and this provides most of the movie’s physical comedy.

The Jungle Kingdom is a wonderful presentation of the great Donkey Kong Country series from the SNES in its heyday.

The sound effects and music are exactly what you want in something like this, even lamp shading the old Super Mario Brothers Super Show and the often cringey “Itsa me!” dialogue when the games graduated to 3D and advanced consoles.

However, the movie almost lost me right away with yet another gratuitous and unnecessary use of Tomoyasu Hotei’s “Battle Without Honor or Humanity,” made famous by the Kill Bill movies and terribly misused and abused ever since. There are other pop culture music cues that mostly work well.

Politics

The film is pretty much completely devoid of politics and culture war antics. At worst, Princess Peach is arguably a “girlboss,” however it’s not as ham-fisted, grating, or as eye-rolling as in many other contemporary works. It’s even justified by the story to an extent. Peach arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom as a toddler and is reared by the Toads and thus knows the rules the world operates under and has the mindset and training to match. She’s a beloved ruler, and in many of the games and their voluminous spin-offs she’s also presented as a more than capable heroine, including one of my favorite entries, 1996’s Super Mario RPG.

Where this movie fails perhaps, is that it almost turns her into a “generic hyper-capable perfect action girl,” even though there are also brief nods to her unique abilities as depicted in the games. That those depictions also tend to be more traditionally feminine, well feel free to draw your own conclusions.

As this is Mario and Luigi’s origin story, they’re just getting introduced to powerups and Mushroom Kingdom physics, karts, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle. Given their humble origins, they need the space and opportunity to grow into heroics, and the movie does that well. A man (or Kong)’s natural desire to impress and earn the approval of the father is addressed and even celebrated.

Content Warning

Bowser is one thirsty turtle.

Who is it for?

Do you like video games? Do you like the Super Mario Brothers franchise? Do you want to laugh and smile for a bit? Do you want to be able to enjoy something with your kids but also feel able to enjoy it on your own, for its own sake? If so, it’s for you.

Why buy it

I’m planning to buy it. The movie is nostalgic, fun, and presents genuinely heroic characters. It’s faithful to the games and gorgeous to look at it.