Super Mario Bros. The Movie is now in theaters, and it sets itself the far from simple goal of bringing a gaming icon to the cinema. Will he have succeeded?
Super Mario Bros. The Movie, a Nintendo and Illumination co-production (Despicable Me, Minions), is finally in cinemas, and – judging by the reception in theaters – is destined to be the next piece of the joyous invasion of the seventh art to work of gaming.
The feature film starring the two Italian-American plumbers Mario and Luigi follows, in fact, a plot well established by the latest videogame-related cinematic tie-ins: see Sonic by Paramount, for example, and Uncharted and The Last of Us by Sony, HBO and Naughty Dog for a clearer idea.
From Sonic, as in part Detective Pikachu before him, the formula is inherited halfway between the real world and the animated world which – after a few hiccups – has brought so much good to intellectual property (Mario even seems to replicate the ending 1:1, on which, of course, we will not dwell here).
How do you make a movie based on a video game? —
Of an Uncharted, for example, we have been good at adopting the production method: there is no longer the major that acquires the rights and distorts without understanding the source material, but there is the one that works side by side with the creators – to understand but also, slyly, to share responsibility in the eyes of the fans.
The result is a very competent film, both in how it treats the Super Mario Bros. IP, and in the surgical way it aims at a target and holds the bar straight from start to finish. Whether it stimulates tension with a darker scene or pours dopamine between a kart race and a platform section (2D or 3D doesn’t count, the language is always the one borrowed from video games), Super Mario Bros. The Movie is a film for children – for those who are and for those who want to feel like one again for a couple of hours.
The film is filled with references to the Mario universe and to the Nintendo universe in a broader sense, macroscopic and microscopic especially in the initial part in Brooklyn, and many will certainly enjoy doing just the exercise of framing them all. Aesthetically, the result of Illumination’s effort is spectacular, one of the most beautiful and most colorful things we’ve ever seen in cinemas.
Mario’s story
And, also from this point of view, the goal seemed to us to be completely achieved: in our experience in the cinema, every wide shot on a world or a panorama, every entry onto the scene of a new character was welcomed by the expression of amazement of the children present, and by the wide smile of their carers who caught or, simply, were satisfied with the reactions of the little ones.
The background, with a structure for some time mirroring the Mushroom Kingdom and reality, is built well and in an ingenious way, even if it soon reveals a not too complex story: it takes many things for granted and cuts the dialogues a lot, which in a couple of cases don’t make the slightest effort not to be rambling, because he knows where he’s going to end up (“the adventure”, as it is generically defined by Toad).
It is in this sense, more than in any other, that the film puts its declaration of intent on paper, that of being a product for children or for anyone who wants to put themselves in their shoes for the duration of the screening. It’s enough? Moreover. It’s a shame?
All-in Nintendo —
A little, because from time to time the authors seem to want to open a backstory on the characters unknown even to those who loved them in video games – Mario and Luigi’s parents, Princess Peach’s origins, and so on – except to close quickly and fury such ramifications, and a greater playing time would presumably have allowed for more interactions between the protagonists and more space for the exploration of this fantastic world, which instead is mostly resolved in short slides. But, again, a film for children, and a product designed for a certain attention span that we know is very small nowadays.
As for the contents, on the other hand, nothing is spared: from the karts, which start out as easter eggs but then turn out to be a key tool for connecting the different moments of the story, to the power-ups of Mario, Super Mario Bros. The film is a all-in in the universe of the Grande N, and nothing is spared – a vice we are used to by modern and twisted transmedia structures – for a possible sequel.
The characters are surprisingly very much based on the Hollywood actors chosen for the part – we don’t know if this is a very good casting or an after-the-fact modeling, but the fact is that watching Bowser, true star of the film, sway and hold the stage with that histrionic, the first thing you’ll think will be “Jack Black!” – and the result is very pleasant.
Characters in music —
Princess Peach And Anya Taylor-Joy, an evolved character who, contrary to the original video games of their time, is no longer the classic damsel in distress waiting to be rescued by the hero, but an action heroine who, if anything, saves herself, trains the own host and lead the people in the fight against the villain of the moment. Doing otherwise would have been easier, and instead both the choice of the interpreter and the whole plot respond to the desire to break the mold.
Naturally, the considerations on the original cast do not detract from the Italian actors who lent themselves to the dubbing: they are all excellent performances, and in particular that of Claudio Santamaria reveals a remarkable commitment – so much so that, if we hadn’t known that it was by the They Called Me Jeeg and Romanzo Criminale actor, we probably wouldn’t even have intercepted his involvement.
Musically, the original songs are very close and on topic, whether they were epic, haunting or delicate, as are the reprises of iconic pieces inserted in a more or less diegetic way; we appreciated less, despite the fun choices (AC/DC above all), the licensed songs, which seemed stuck on their sequences as in an adolescent montage to be shared at the time of the first stirrings of YouTube.
Super Mario Bros. The Movie, the verdict —
In summary, Super Mario Bros. The Movie is the culmination of a process that began not today, not with the epochal advent of mobile, but since the time of Mario Galaxy, when the iconography of Mario as we know it today was consolidated, and that of Nintendo as the Disney of video games.
This is the same Mario that we will see in the Universal theme parks and that will conquer the world (he has already done so) of all-round entertainment. An elaborate and fascinating project also for how it starts from gaming, and which for now gives us a film for children, grown up or not, and something that – if you are a fan or have toured these worlds at some point in your gaming life – will often put a very wide smile on your face.
And isn’t that why we fell in love with Mario and Nintendo?