Unfortunately, the Super Mario Bros Movie was released on April 5 — years ago, my Mario Kart-obsessed, fourth-grade self would’ve devoured the predictable plot line unlike high-school me. I would have died to see the characters I loved to play come to life.
The screenwriters obviously based this movie more on nostalgia than the plot. The movie follows heroes Mario and Princess Peach on a journey through the various kingdoms in the fictional world that Mario and his brother Luigi fall into while trying to prove themselves as plumbers in the “real world.”
When the brothers are separated after falling through one of the classic tunnels, Mario has to find a way to save Luigi from antagonist Bowser. He teams up with Princess Peach to defeat their common adversary before it’s too late — basically the most predictable plot line to exist for those who have played even just one Mario video game.
Despite the obvious plot issues, the way the screenwriters created it was confusing. I had trouble following the plot of the movie — especially at the beginning. The opening scene — Bowser barraging a castle of penguins to steal their “Super Star” — was unnecessary and askew from the actual storyline. The reason for his hostile attack isn’t clarified until long after the main plot regarding Mario and Luigi is introduced, effectively confusing the viewer.
The different plot lines of Mario, Bowser and Luigi seemed jumbled together and at the end of the movie, I had all too many unanswered questions. Many of the scenes were unnecessary and only added to the confusion such as a scene showing a commercial made by the Mario brothers about their plumbing business at the beginning. Even with this confusion, however, the movie was predictable from the very beginning.
Its chaotic storyline pushed The Super Mario Bros. Movie too close to the territory of flops like The Emoji Movie, with a headache’s worth of cutesy animation and typical pop culture references. Relying more on familiarity than a cohesive plot, the movie was excellent for kids used to Octonauts and Paw Patrol, but not for anyone over the age of 12 — a letdown considering its 7+ age recommendation.
However, the characters were brought to life in a bubbly and colorful way with their animation that is similar to the newer Super Mario Bros. games like Super Smash Bros. adding to its nostalgia. They also had multiple admirable traits like courage and perseverance that any parent would love for their children to learn from the movie.
A surprising role model in the movie is Princess Peach. The creators of the movie chose to steer away from the classic damsel-in-distress portrayal of her character, instead depicting her as a woman in power. She chooses to help her subjects in the Mushroom Kingdom and never wavers from her core beliefs, such as her refusal to abandon her toad subjects.
Mario’s positivity and family loyalty in the movie is also admirable. He never diverges from the end goal of saving Luigi despite many battles with other characters. Their brotherly love is a powerful lesson for kids with younger siblings watching the film. Older siblings — even high schoolers such as myself — might get teary-eyed at their bond.
Delighting the viewers, the movie also wove in several allusions to the old and new Nintendo games. The most noticeable was an homage to the very first Super Mario Bros. game with a scene in which their object was to avoid mushrooms and other deadly objects.
References to Super Mario Odyssey and even Donkey Kong were embedded in the movie’s whimsical scenery filled with lifesize mushrooms and castles. Details such as cart customization, bananas and the green tubes cleverly tied together all of the Mario Universe Games, a satisfying union for players.
As is the case with most children’s movies, older audience members can easily predict the end of the movie. But that didn’t stop kids in the theater from audibly gasping. Their joy and excitement to see that Mario and Princess Peach had (can you even call this a spoiler?) won the battle was contagious and made the $15 ticket worthwhile.
As I walked out, almost every kid in the audience was singing the Super Mario Theme Song or pretending to gain powers after eating an invisible mushroom. I may be too old for the movie but never old enough to play Super Mario Bros. games, which I’ll be sticking to for now.
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