This post was last modified: Dec 9, 2022 at 10:29 PM by Draku.

It all looks great. The general attitude here has been really cynical and I just don't get it. Looks like a super faithful and fun adaptation with the coolest version of Toad Town I've ever seen. They even gave it some verticality; this is the first iteration of the Mushroom Kingdom where the floating obstacle courses actually seem like they belong in the same world

I like the setting work a lot and the background details and little bits of animation are great, even if the character designs aren't. Everyone on the team handling that is doing god's work trying to prop up the rest of the film. The major issue is that, as stated before, the writing and general delivery of the movie is completely obnoxious, to the point where even things that could theoretically be decent jokes come off as grating. Add in all of the low hanging fruit that people have already beaten to death long, long ago and there just isn't much there.

I'm not exactly asking for high brow writing here, I thought both Sonic movies were pretty good even with several gags that may not land for everyone. They knew how to be actual family movies that appealed to everyone sitting in the theater and were aware of the shittier ones they were making due to framing them right and contextualizing them with the correct characters. Then in the other corner, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed this film even as a kid.

I do intend to watch it and give it a full fair shot despite everything since I fully acknowledge trailers and sneak peeks are not always the best indicator of an overall film, but prospects are not particularly great.

"EXCUSE ME EVERYBODY COMIN' THROUGH THIS GUY'S BROTHER IS GOING TO DIE IMMINENTLY"
"heh just trying to clear a path that's all i'm doing he's gonna be fine"

Like even this fails to land for me despite being a decent gag concept somehow. The "imminently" part is pretty funny thanks to the line delivery but it still has that same obnoxious air as so much else in the movie overall. I can't help but feel like the writer's room had them all winking at each other every 5 seconds. I'm HOPING there's some more down to Earth and genuine stuff in the script that just isn't getting shown but it's hard to assume as such. As much as it may seem counterintuitive a big part of what makes absurd comedies work is grounding themselves every so often. And no, I don't mean in a "HAHA MARIO IS NORMAL HUMAN HE CARTOON FAIL" way.

Trailers are always full of the most obnoxious parts of a movie, for what it's worth. The writing seems serviceable to me and I'm mostly just interested in seeing these characters do in-character stuff. The "this guy's brother is going to die imminently" got a chuckle out of me and felt a little pixar-y

This post was last modified: Dec 9, 2022 at 10:34 PM by Spritanium.

I guess we haven't seen much heart so far, but there are parts like when Peach is telling Mario about all the Super Mario Galaxies that seem like they might be more grounded. They also need to have some kind of emotional journey considering M and L decide to stay in this weird/dangerous place after showing up by mistake

i love the look of everything and the writing is what i expect from a movie for children

Trailers are always full of the most obnoxious parts of a movie, for what it's worth.

Oh I know. That's why I said I'm willing to give it a fair full shot in the theater despite everything else I'm saying.

I guess we haven't seen much heart so far, but there are parts like when Peach is telling Mario about all the Super Mario Galaxies that seem like they might be more grounded. They also need to have some kind of emotional journey considering M and L decide to stay in this weird/dangerous place after showing up by mistake

Yeah but then they cap that shit off with "no pressure" which completely ruins it and you can feel the stupidass snark sting you right in the ears.

Funnily enough, the Japanese trailer simply has her say "Let's get going" afterwards instead which, while not matching with the animation of Peach's dumb smug face at all, makes for such a better moment because she herself is taking the matter seriously as she should be.

Yeah the comedy sort of reminds me of Superstar Saga honestly, just a tinge of deadpan and meta-ness inside a fairy tale that doesn't necessarily need a groundbreaking story or characterizations. It has a bit of an edge and seems more goofy than saccharine, so it doesn't seem like it'll be annoying to watch at all. As long as they don't do a fart joke we're in the clear

Just watched the movie, I can't think of a single thing I didn't like about it, smiled the whole way through, it would take next-level cynicism to watch it and have a bad time. Hands down the best versions of these characters we've ever seen

How's Pratt's Mario voice?

Pratt is actually fine, he's doing the same all-around NY accent as Charlie Day's Luigi and they work really well together. Mario and Luigi feel like real people and real brothers (they even have an entire family, which I won't consider a spoiler since they're shown like 5 minutes in) and they have something to prove.

People are calling the plot thin, and yeah it is, but it's still the most detailed and emotional plot these characters have ever been involved in. It's not a movie for critics but as a Mario fan it nearly made me cry

It was a lot better than it seemed like it would be. The movie LOOKED fucking fantastic, basically every sequence was eye candy heaven. I got used to Mario and Luigi's designs pretty quick in the end. Toad's pants still looked glaringly weird throughout, Peach's expressions were bizarre, and most blatantly, Bowser's head was too small for his body which constantly bugged me.

Stream of consciousness thoughts below the cut.

Full Movie Spoilers: Show

I don't know why they made Bowser an omega incel but it worked all right and the scenes with him being walked in on and embarrassed were at least supposed to be as cringey as they were. Lead to some direct Odyssey references which was nice. Mixed feelings on stuff like the Doomer Luma, who was hysterical at points but so poorly done even right next to the lines that hit a funny bone that I didn't know what to feel and would stop chuckling immediately after something had just gotten me. I think they may have gone a little TOO far on trying to aim for game references, as amusing as it was to see them. The Mario Kart segment is really long for something that ultimately doesn't really go anywhere. The Kong Army was completely pointless and never once mattered the entire movie, but Donkey Kong was well utilized.

It was quite questionable to call this the "Super Mario Bros. Movie" when Luigi is shat on pretty much the entire time up until the VERY end and the deuteragonist was Smug Strong Peach. Which I don't really know how to feel about because she would have some decent bits and I don't mind Peach being a protagonist character but her stealing Luigi's role and even being a mentor to Mario who was better than him and got several elaborate action/platforming scenes was just weird. I probably wouldn't mind as much if not for the Smug part where she'd get shit eating grins and always undercut most of her moments with some stupid snide remark with delivery engineered to make you groan. I of all people am all for a female character getting a prominent ass-kicking role even if it breaks disbelief but not when they're trying to fill the Strong Woman Who Don't Need No Mario template at the same time. Again, mixed feelings because her willing to sit and wait for Mario to slowly improve on the intro course and make him feel better about not nailing it initially while also caring for the Toads but admiring the one who was brave enough to stand by her and not questioning his decisions were all great bits. Just weird to have it be like that when the opening shows Mario being fairly skilled at parkour and such and Luigi being the one who has to catch up to him, which could have lead to them having a similar relationship between each other where Luigi has to chin up to be able to back up Mario who was already good with the ropes.

The music was REALLY good and then would randomly be cut out on to have some stupid well-known and already beaten to death song play to try to woo American audiences. Always killed the mood. A lot of my compliments about the movie are like this really, it'd have me entranced and fully in the swing and then something stupid would happen and remind me that I was watching an Illumination film. I'm amazed at the restraint shown by having an incredible Invincibility theme redux playing during the climax instead of yet another awful insert track, that was great. Speaking of, why "Super Star" and not "Power Star"? Strange choice that made every line about it sound off.

What was with Cranky Kong's voice? Worst miscast out of the whole set, threw me off every time he opened his mouth. Everyone else was basically fine to pretty good, I liked Mario and Luigi's voices a lot honestly. Their characters were solid and I really liked the Brooklyn framing and how it wound up mattering even at the end of the film which was something I wondered about after the extended opening sequence there, despite the Banzai Bill (Bomber Bill?) coming out of nowhere to enable that. Mario caring deeply about his brother and having a psychological deal about how his dad has always been disappointed in him until the very end was pretty good. Donkey Kong and him bonding over that was nice itself, their developing camaraderie was a highlight of the film. Also, Yoshi keeps his original cast despite everything. Guess it's too iconic to can?

Someone in the writing room REALLY liked death. It gets brought up every couple of lines. Felt weird for a family movie. Laughed a fair bit at some mentions of it and internally sighed at others, the entire movie's script was hit vs enormous miss like that.

People are calling the plot thin, and yeah it is, but it's still the most detailed and emotional plot these characters have ever been involved in. It's not a movie for critics but as a Mario fan it nearly made me cry

You really should play the RPGs (possibly again) if you think this.

The plot was basic but it did work and I liked the family stakes a lot so I'm not shitting on it there but I'd hardly call it the most emotional piece of Mario media. I suppose as far as Mario HIMSELF is directly concerned though, possibly. Even in the RPGs it's usually not he himself who is getting the emotional focus.

This post was last modified: Apr 7, 2023 at 12:48 PM by Spritanium.

The Mario RPG plots are pretty equally thin and the english dialogue way more hokey than the movie imo

Superstar Saga and TTYD are outliers for sure, but I don't remember any other Mario plots blowing me away. I'd actually love to see either of those adapted into a movie with these versions of the characters

Seth "Chad" Rogen

In response to backlash he received for using his normal speaking voice to portray Donkey Kong, Rogen told Kotaku: "I was very clear that I don't do voices" and "If you want me to be in this movie, then it’s going to sound like me and that’s it. That was the beginning and end of that conversation." He added further, "I think in the film and in the game, all you seem to know about Donkey Kong is that he throws barrels and does not like Mario very much. And that’s what I ran with."

how quickly we forget the donkey kong tv show

Seth "Chad" Rogen

In response to backlash he received for using his normal speaking voice to portray Donkey Kong, Rogen told Kotaku: "I was very clear that I don't do voices" and "If you want me to be in this movie, then it’s going to sound like me and that’s it. That was the beginning and end of that conversation." He added further, "I think in the film and in the game, all you seem to know about Donkey Kong is that he throws barrels and does not like Mario very much. And that’s what I ran with."

His performance was honestly fine, he got the emotive beats right and delivered his lines well. I don't really pay attention to any Hollywood actor shit or watch western movies often so I'm not overexposed to his voice like some people apparently are.

Ok now what the fuck. That makes all of the dumb licensed songs they threw in even MORE aggravating.

I totally forgot about the licensed music but yeah that's cringe. I guess someone will probably edit the leaked song back into the movie and I'll just keep that version on Plex

Sounds like a positive review

This post was last modified: Apr 11, 2023 at 9:05 PM by Spritanium.

Does anyone else think the Superstar Saga plot would work perfectly with these versions of the characters? Incel Bowser sends in all the troops only to get shot out of the sky, stuck in a cannon, and is generally the butt of the joke at every turn. Peach isn't kidnapped (at least not right away) and could easily be given more anti-damsel things to do; her trip to Little Fungitown could just be her and Toadsworth so it's not the world's dumbest escort mission. It's just a shame they can't get Jessica Walter to do Cackletta. Maybe Popple can be Joe Pesci