Dracula
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Post by Dracula on Jul 11, 2023 19:04:27 GMT -5
The Super Mario Bros. Movie(7/1/2023) So this is the highest grossing movie of the year? Really? This is of course the animated Mario movie that Nintendo made in collaboration with Illumination studios, the people behind the Despicable Me movies and that gives you a pretty good idea of what this movie has to offer: completely disposable animated movie storytelling but with Super Mario. To be fair the movie does manage to avoid some of the scatological humor that these movies can sometimes descend into but the plot is pure hokum and would mean absolutely nothing to anyone not already familiar with the games they were based on. On the other hand, there is some eye candy to be found here. The movie is dense with Mario stuff and I guess the appeal of the movie is supposed to be seeing the world of these games brought to life but… is it? I mean, since 1996 most of the Mario games were already rendered in polygonal graphics, what exactly is gained from bringing said graphics to the screen sans interactivity? Well, you get a slightly more concrete story and you get some humor from the voice cast they’ve assembled. Also I’d be lying if I wasn’t kind of taken in by the nostalgia and the general quantity of Easter eggs to be found strewn throughout the film. When this movie came out there were a lot of people saying “hey, it’s for kids, why are you complaining that this kids’ movie is for kids?” Well, yeah, it’s for kids but it’s for kids the way that a McDonalds Happy Meal is for kids: it gives them a toy and a hint of real food, but it’s also empty calories and it’s training them to accept mass produced blandness that isn’t good for them. I guess it’s preferable to what Illumination normally makes (which doesn’t even have that hint of real food) but this is not a work of animation to be celebrated. **1/2 out of Five |
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Aug 1, 2023 22:58:15 GMT -5
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PhantomKnight
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Post by PhantomKnight on Sept 6, 2023 13:01:58 GMT -5
I feel like I need to preface this review by saying that while I played some Super Mario Bros. as a kid, I was in no way a diehard fan of the property, nor was I all that into video games growing up. I mean, what I saw/played was fun, but it just wasn't a regular institution for me. So, I probably sat down to watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie at something of a disadvantage, but at least still had the hope that it'd be better than the 1993 movie. And I can at least say that it is that. Everything else about this movie, though...? Yeah... So, um. THIS is the 2nd biggest movie of 2023...? Okay, then. Okay, so I should also go ahead and state that this movie just isn't for me; it's for kids and Mario fans, and in that respect, I can say that this movie gets its job done. But, again, coming at this as someone who has no real investment in this IP, the movie honestly left me pretty unmoved. The plot here is rather firmly dependent on Easter Eggs/references to the game and as an overall story, I could still easily follow everything, but the true impact of it all was just lost on me. So much of this movie relies on the pop of things like, "Oh, look, it's the Mushroom Kingdom!" or "Oh, look, they're using the mechanics of the game!" or "Oh, look, they're on the Rainbow Bridge now!" and yeah, okay, sure, but...is that it? From what I can see here, the world of the movie is a very vibrant one with lots of imagination in it, but rather than build a more solid plot around it, the filmmakers just seem content to use the story to stitch together Memba Berries and randomly-placed pop songs. That seems to be Illumination Studio's usual M.O., though, but...does that mean we have to go along with it? Sure, the movie seems to successfully tap into the nostalgia that so many people clearly have for this game, but to what end? The story here functions fine for what it is, but strip away all the nostalgia, references and Easter Eggs, and you're not left with a whole lot. To the movie's credit, the animation is honestly really good and the voice cast breathes life into the characters effectively, but I just can't help but feel that there's a much better version of this movie being left on the table. I get it -- this is a kids movie -- but y'know what? This year, we've also had Pixar's newest film, Elemental, and that's also a kids movie on its most basic level. And yet, something like that offers a lot more beyond just the pop of its basic premise. Sure, there's room for more than one kind of a particular film, but that's the thing -- I didn't find this movie's attempt at being a more simple, uncomplicated kind of kids' entertainment to be that strong. There are many ways in which this movie could have retained its same plot structure, but offered up something stronger within those trappings. But as it stands, with its incredibly rushed pacing and surface-level emotional arcs, not to mention mostly flat humor, this Super Mario Bros. Movie seriously needed to level up. Oh, and the Peaches song ain't good.
*1/2 /****
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Neverending
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Post by Neverending on Oct 11, 2023 0:02:33 GMT -5
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PG Cooper
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And those who tasted the bite of his sword named him...The DOOM Slayer
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Post by PG Cooper on Nov 23, 2023 11:56:59 GMT -5
The nicest thing I can say about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is I can see why kids like it. It's colourful and fast, with fluid animation and a parade of visually distinct characters brought to life with silly voices. And after all, this is a movie for kids, right? That's why it's bursting with references to decades old videogames and its soundtrack is full of 80's needledrops, for the tots, and certainly not to pander to gen Xers and millennials nostalgic for classic Nintendo.
As an adult (one who enjoys his share of Nintendo games but as never been a fanboy), The Super Mario Bros. Movie is certainly watchable, but it's the kind of white noise that passes through you without leaving a trace. The animation is polished and glossy, sure, but the visual design is adapted from the videogames so faithfully you may as well be watching the pre-rendered cut-scenes from the latest Switch release. It looks nice but it's hard to give too much praise to such a literal translation. What we're left with are the story and characters, which are barely more developed than they would be in a videogame but without the ability to, you know, play it. Without that interactivity the experience is fundamentally empty, no matter how shiny the shell is.
D+
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