Board 8 > The Super Mario Bros. Movie Reviewzone

(+) Yeah! (+)

I feel like this is going to end up being a blisteringly cold take, but my favorite character was the Cheerfully Existential Luma.

I hope he got his happy ending and found the sweet embrace of death. *Giggles*

Saw the movie with a friend.

It was OK. 6/10 sounds good.

More on topic, but I was surprised to find that Minions: The Rise of Gru has a Fresh rating on RT so I was under the impression Illumination was turning a new leaf or something.

On the other hand, as someone who has actually seen all the films in question, I'm honestly amazed that both Sonic movies, Pokmon: Detective Pikachu, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife have fresh ratings on RT (this is in response to something brought up earlier in the thread). They seem like precisely the kinds of things critics would hate. Not necessarily complaining though, since I outright liked Sonic 2 and didn't think any of the other three were all that bad.

the 1993 movie is definitely outright bad. i'd sit through it to see how they'd adapt some element of SMB lore because it had a mario IP attached to it.

and yeah, critics do get it right sometimes, especially the overall "was it good or not" question. they'll often not like something geekier as much as a genre fan might, but they generally are a good viewpoint of people who aren't going to freak out with excitement due to a passing continuity nod.

TBH I think the reason the four movies I brought up have Fresh ratings on RT is because a lot of critics grew up on their respective source material and were thus more receptive towards them than they would have otherwise been. I felt the two Sonic movies took the right route regarding their approach to adaptation, but the first movie felt like it was just recycling the beats of similar stories like 1978's Superman without any understanding of why they worked in the first place while the second I actually think I liked overall because of the inclusions of Tails and Knuckles and the climax. I think Detective Pikachu was able to realize the world of Pokmon well but the story was nothing to write home about (albeit not as sloppy as the first Sonic movie's), and Afterlife felt like the best way to continue the series on paper but I felt the movie had like no substance even humor-wise (albeit fewer attempts at comedy is probably overall better than too many failed jokes).

Not entirely related to this topic, but since I brought up Ghostbusters I might as well make it known much of the reason I fell in with the alt-right is because I was livid when the initial trailer for the reboot was released. I'm still pulling myself out of the dang rabbit hole I fell into.

Just got back, I'd say a 5 or 6/10 is fair. Good attention to detail, bright and colourful and delightfully animated, but with terrible pacing and writing and a boring, shallow plot. Like inch deep.

That plot point just sounds like being faithful to the games

The pacing was so awful yeah.

A bland plot is fine when you're actively playing a game, but not when you're passively sat there for an hour and a half.

JackMan posted...

Just got back, I'd say a 5 or 6/10 is fair. Good attention to detail, bright and colourful and delightfully animated, but with terrible pacing and writing and a boring, shallow plot. Like inch deep.

You're really not selling this as a 5 or 6/10 lol

I can get that. Im just not surprised at all the plot isnt really interesting considering the source.

Kenri posted...

You're really not selling this as a 5 or 6/10 lol

There's as much bad as there is good. It's nice to look at, there are a ton of references, it's very faithful despite creating some original elements and every scene with Bowser is great. But it was otherwise boring, rushed and every character was two dimensional.

I can think of some movies where the plot is shallow but the movie is still enjoyable, like Jumanji and the first Bill and Ted (didn't see the other two).

I've been so busy with work I feel like I've missed out on some quality LMS posts

glad to see nothings changed

Sounds like I'm not missing anything

Just saw it and yeah things started off kinda strong, but it really started losing steam around the halfway point.

I turned my brain off and enjoyed it.

Bowser song was the greatest, not sure anyone but Jack Black pulls that off. The singing was the only time it was really obvious that it was even him, but for me at least it just worked.

The explanation for the lack of accents was whatever.

Leonhart4 posted...

Sounds like I'm not missing anything

The MCU needs him tbh. LMS was single handedly keeping the MCU backlash at bay.

This was a ton of fun. I greatly enjoyed it as a fan of the games and my heart warmed with every music beat I heard and the little references I noticed.

It's just a fun little movie that doesn't need to be anything more than it was. The plot was nothing special, but who cares? It's just a short, silly Mario movie that just gives you a bunch of fun stuff in it. I very much enjoyed my time watching. Big recommend.

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

This was a ton of fun. I greatly enjoyed it as a fan of the games and my heart warmed with every music beat I heard and the little references I noticed.

It's just a fun little movie that doesn't need to be anything more than it was. The plot was nothing special, but who cares? It's just a short, silly Mario movie that just gives you a bunch of fun stuff in it. I very much enjoyed my time watching. Big recommend.

This is precisely how I feel.

Oh my god. I thought the Mario movie was good. I thought Chris Pratt was a really good Mario. I'm taking such a big fucking L

Chris was actually a pretty decent Mario but I ain't taking an L on this. There's a TON of faults in the film but it's definitely for super fans who just wanna see all the Easter eggs and stuff.

Watching it Saturday.

I stand by the Movie being at least decent. I think it should have gotten like, minimum fresh rating of like 60% for being a functional movie that's fun for the right audience.

GreenMario posted...

I stand by the Movie being at least decent. I think it should have gotten like, minimum fresh rating of like 60% for being a functional movie that's fun for the right audience.

Posted by an account with Mario in the name

(I haven't seen the movie)

Also, big credit to Chris Pratt for his voice acting. He was a hell of a lot better than trailers made it seem. Either they had him re-shoot some stuff after the reception or they just happened to pick the worst takes for some of these voice lines.

Even the "Wahoo!" on the kart that sounded like he was a bored geriatric sounded different and much better in the film.

KamikazePotato posted...

Posted by an account with Mario in the name

(I haven't seen the movie)

this is true, but I did say it was for the right audience lol

PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Also, big credit to Chris Pratt for his voice acting. He was a hell of a lot better than trailers made it seem. Either they had him re-shoot some stuff after the reception or they just happened to pick the worst takes for some of these voice lines.

Even the "Wahoo!" on the kart that sounded like he was a bored geriatric sounded different and much better in the film.

This is true; he wasn't standout, but in that regard he didn't stand out in a bad or a good way... I guess the kart wahoo was better than i expected.

GreenMario posted...

I think it should have gotten like, minimum fresh rating of like 60% for being a functional movie that's fun for the right audience.

Every movie is good if we're only considering "the right audience". It's perfectly fair for critics to not use that as the standard.

a solid 3/5. one of the most shallow plots I have seen in a recent kids movie, but it's Illumination making a Mario movie so what can you really say

managed to still be very fun

Saw it, fine film on the whole, largely inoffensive.

It's very simple but still manages to have enough fun moments.
I don't watch that kind of kids film too often, so I often forget how they like to have licensed music for set pieces instead of an original score.
Though at least this film mixes both in.

Basically what I'm hearing on the whole is that if you're going in expecting a cinematic marvel with a deep, meaningful plot and complex characters, you're going to be disappointed. If you're going in expecting Super Mario Bros. The Movie, you'll probably like it just fine. Does that about sum it up?

Underleveled posted...

Basically what I'm hearing on the whole is that if you're going in expecting a cinematic marvel with a deep, meaningful plot and complex characters, you're going to be disappointed. If you're going in expecting Super Mario Bros. The Movie, you'll probably like it just fine. Does that about sum it up?

No? What are you talking about?

Any argument that it's OK for it to be just fine because "what did you expect" is just absolutely destroyed by Puss in Boots 2.

There's no reason for a fully backed by Nintendo Mario movie to not hold a candle to Puss in Boots 2.

Imagine if they did get DreamWorks for this thing. What a fucking world that would have been.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Any argument that it's OK for it to be just fine because "what did you expect" is just absolutely destroyed by Puss in Boots 2.

There's no reason for a fully backed by Nintendo Mario movie to not hold a candle to Puss in Boots 2.

Imagine if they did get DreamWorks for this thing. What a fucking world that would have been.

This is goofy.

It doesn't need to reach some standard of narration and get as dark or deep as Puss in Boots 2 of all things. It just needs to be a fun and enjoyable movie. Like props to Puss in Boots 2 for being what it was, but not every animated movie needs to be that.

I had a whole 3 paragraph thing typed up about how we shouldn't grade things on a curve due to low expectations, but I sounded way too up my own ass, and I liked The Chronicles of Riddick so what right do I have to judge.

Just saw it and it was fine. Like every Illumination movie, conveyor belt, cookie-cutter story and no real substance to speak of. Won't offend anyone. Won't inspire anyone. Just a perfectly, utterly fine way to kill 90 minutes.

The soundtrack was excellent though, like WOW. Soyo Oka's Super Mario Kart themes really caught me off-guard. Brian Tyler making me pine for the alternate universe where he scored the Sonic movies too, and not that cardboard hack Junkie XL. There is something to say for hearing VGM proper on the big screen.

It certainly entertained the kids in the theatre, good for a family outing.

Thought the movie was fine. Definitely sucks that Illumination is content to keep things around 90 minutes. Plenty of things that really could have used some length and we've definitely seen plenty of recent animated movies use an extra 15-25 minutes effectively.

I just want to get a sequel so that there can be a movie with lots of Yoshi.

Loved it

Most of the humor fell flat. I didn't think it was that great. Plot was perfectly fine, execution less so. Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong was the least convincing voice acting to me. Everyone else was fine.

Jack Black was easily the best. Bowser was the best character too. I had a lot of fun with all the Easter eggs and that was the goal so overall an enjoyable movie. Music was good when the stuck to things from the universe. 5/10 sounds about right, but if you know Mario it's definitely a good bit more enjoyable than most 5/10 movies.

Also what was up with the appearance of that Luma I can't remember the name of.

Here is ZenOfThunders path to success for a Nintendo expanded universe. Youre welcome Universal

Phase 0:
Detective Pikachu
Mario

Phase 1:
Donkey Kong Country
Legend of Zelda (OoT)
Kirby Super Star
Detective Pikachu 2
Mario 2 (adapts Sunshine)

Phase 2:
Yoshi
Metroid
Star Fox
F-Zero
Another Pokmon movie

Phase 3:
Zelda 2 (Majora)
Mario 3 (adapts Galaxy. Wario is in it)
Earthbound
Another Pokmon movie
Super Smash Brothers

Phase 4:
Mario 4 (adapts RPG)
Zelda 3 (does Toon Link shit)
Metroid 2, has Captain Falcon in it
Another Pokmon movie
Kid Icarus
There is a punch-out show on Peacock

Phase 5:
Fire Emblem (Marth but Ike is also there. Fuck continuity)
Kirby 2
Star Fox 2, has Captain Falcon in it
Another Pokmon movie
Punch-out season 2 on peacock
There is a 40-minute mini movie for Ice Climbers on Peacock
Smash 2

Phase 6:
Mario 5 (starts dipping into Paper Mario stuff)
Zelda 4 (Breath of the Wild)
Metroid 3, has Star Fox and Captain Falcon in it
WarioWare
Animal Crossing
Fire Emblem 2, this time with robin? Male robin. Robin kisses Chrom. This is key to the success of this plan. Thank you
Somehow Mr. Game and Watch gets a limited series on Peacock

Phase 7:
Mario 6, somehow
Zelda 5, somehow
Another fucking Pokmon movie
Splatoon
Earthbound 2 (mother 3), Becomes the most critically acclaimed animated movie of all time but only about 5 people see it. Loses best animated picture to Pixars Goopyboopy 2
Xenoblade, which will be the biggest box office bomb of all time
ARMS gets announced for peacock but never happens

Then the third Smash movie comes out and people dont give a shit and Universal does a soft reboot of everything 5 years later

Captain Falcon gets his own movie to start the rebooted universe. It is just called Captain Falcon. It makes $4 billion at the global box office

ZenOfThunder posted...

Earthbound 2 (mother 3), Becomes the most critically acclaimed animated movie of all time but only about 5 people see it. Loses best animated picture to Pixars Goopyboopy 2

This sounds about right.

Just got back. I cant believe how good this movie is, and Disney is in big trouble if they dont get back to this type of entertainment fast.

ZenOfThunder posted...

Xenoblade, which will be the biggest box office bomb of all time

It hurts how accurate this would be

I also hope Disney starts randomly shoving songs like Take on Me and Thunderstruck into movies like Encanto and Luca

(Disney/Pixar and Illumination movies are two completely different things but both are good)

Honestly, I don't think this movie needed to be anything more. I don't think it could be.

Only real gripes with the movie...

Final bit with Luma playing the saxophone fell flat
Didn't like Seth Rogen for DK
Taylor-Joy for Peach was usually a miss, except when she yelled, where I thought she was great
Too much licensed music. After no sleep til Brooklyn it shouldn't have had any more.
Not crediting Grant Kirkhope was fucking awful.

Seth for DK was terrible yeah. Cranky's voice was way off too.

I thought Cranky was good

I had trouble placing cranky's voice at first. It was better than DK but not as good as Bowser.