205. The Super Mario Bros. Movie; movie review

 

THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE

Cert PG

92 mins

BBFC advice: Contains mild violence, threat

It must be at least 25 years since I last played Super Mario - the game where grabbing stars helps the player get little Italian cartoon characters to where they need to be.

Many years before, as a student, the arcade game Donkey Kong was very popular.

But I can't say either made much of an imprint on me, so the detail in Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's animation went a tad over my head.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is based on the famous Nintendo game and stars Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as its heroes, Mario and Luigi.

The brothers from Brooklyn have an ailing plumbing business but are literally sucked into another world when they try to save their hometown from an enormous leak.

On the other side, the usually inseparable siblings are split up with Mario arriving in the Mushroom Kingdom while Luigi emerges in the Dark Lands.

The former is ruled with a gentle hand by the benevolent Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) while the latter's dictator is a megalomaniac turtle, Bowser (Jack Black).

Bowser aims to conquer the world so the princess sets out to enlist the help of the neighbouring Jungle Kingdom and its leader, Cranky Kong (Fred Armison).

To keep with the original concept, there are many trials that Mario and the other characters face during the battles.

I suspect they reprise several elements which will be familiar to regular players of the games.

Anyway, it is all fairly harmless fun and is wonderfully colourful although not what I would describe as gripping.

Actually, I wondered whether younger children would be excited by it because Super Mario is such an old brand but clearly they must have been because it has done well at the box office.

Reasons to watch: If you are a Super Mario player

Reasons to avoid: If you don't know the game

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Did you know? Mario Bros. was a 1983 arcade video game developed and published by Nintendo and a spin-off of Donkey Kong.

The final word. Aaron Horvath: "Super Mario Bros really captured my imagination when I was a kid. There’s just something about the graphics, the movement and the sense of discovery and wonder that just really got me going. It really ticked a lot of boxes for me. And I just kept gaming, like it became my hobby. So I’ve played pretty much every single mainline Mario game." Discussing Film

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