The first teaser trailer for the “Super Mario” film, which is scheduled to hit theaters in April 2023, will be released on Thursday (October 6th). After the legendary botched “Super Mario Bros.” from 1993, the next attempt to bring the cuddly plumber to the big screen. This time there are Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and Co., but in the animated version. That should reduce the flop factor to a minimum.
Thursday. Official teaser trailer. Live on Nintendo Direct. pic.twitter.com/Ttrpn5TXJ5
— Super Mario Movie (@supermariomovie) October 4, 2022
Not only the Nintendo games since 1985, but also the “Super Mario Brothers Super Show” make it clear that you don’t need good stories and, above all, a certain recognition value to do Super Mario justice. The first attempt to be successful with the pixel hero on television started in the USA in 1989. This was achieved with a look that is nostalgic today (the series could get a price for its eighties-likeness): In well over 50 episodes, King Koopa (Bowser) wants to capture the lovely Princess Toadstool or seize her mushroom kingdom.
What is probably remembered more than the cartoon part is probably the sitcom framework around the moody Mario short films. Lou Albano and Danny Wells played Mario and Luigi as cranky plumbing professionals who keep getting into absurd everyday situations. They were always supported by guest stars. In the first episode “Cleanliness is Everything/The Bird! The bird!” This was the later “Baywatch” mermaid Nicole Eggert, who for some reason shows up in the brothers’ cosmetics cabinet and checks the expiry date of the toothpaste there.
Improvised dialogues, nicely staged animation
From this moment at the latest (and after quotes like: “What’s that cute spaghetti doing on your overalls? Thank you, Mr. Luigi, and what’s that splash of Promodoro doing on your shirt before lunch?”), you also know in retrospect that that warm childhood memories that some viewers might have while rewatching is stronger than what’s there on screen. Most of the dialogue was improvised by both actors. Anyway, the giggle rap (“Do The Mario” in the original) with video game midi beeps in the opening credits should evoke far more memories than all the cute rest.
But if you banish the live-action part carefully into the Gammelbox (as was later done with some repetitions), the cartoon sequences certainly promise a nice gain. For Nintendo fans, the “Zelda” episodes that will be added later should be of particular interest.
It may have been forgotten, but within a few short years Super Mario had become so popular that at the time the Disney company was wondering how to get its famous Mickey Mouse back into the limelight.
In case you are wondering where you know the German voices from: Mario speaker Reinhard Brock spoke Mr. Burns in the “Simpsons” for many years (until 2014), Luigi speaker Gudo Hoegel has been acting for the yellow bartender Moe Szyslak for several years.
You can watch the first episode of the Super Mario Brothers Super Show here: