The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Today on Peacock, I saw “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which came out in theaters in April and on Peacock about four days ago. How is this new take on possibly the most famous video game franchise?

These Italian brothers from Brooklyn, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), plumbers in this realm, superheroes in the Mushroom Kingdom, star in their own video game adaptation, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic which will impress most to fans of the video games and little kids. The animation is on par to the Nintendo franchise that you might feel like you should grab your controller, and for parents, the soundtrack includes AC/DC, a-ha, Bonnie Tyler, and surprisingly Beastie Boys.

What about the accents? Joe Friar said in his review, “When the film’s trailer arrived, fans were concerned with Chris Pratt’s casting as Mario, who up until this point was known for saying “Mama mia!” and “It’s-a-me, Mario!” in a heavy Italian accent.” Good news. The brothers’ accents are somewhat there, at least for their television commercial as they try and attract customers by using exaggerated accents to highlight their heritage. Sadly, it doesn’t work. Instead, Pratt and Day speak in their regular voices in the film. With Day, the casting is perfect.

While trying to repair a broken water main in the city, the brothers are pulled into a pipe that dumps them in the other realm. Mario ends up in the fantastical Mushroom Kingdom, filled with colorful pipes, golden power-up blocks, floating brown bricks, and human-mushroom hybrid citizens called toads, their unofficial leader, also named Toad is voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. However, the kingdom is ruled by the human Princess Peach, voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, who lives in a Disney-like castle.

Meanwhile, Luigi ends up in the scary Dark Lands which gamers will think of “Luigi’s Mansion,” the video game that helped launch the GameCube in 2001. Luigi gets kidnapped and is held prisoner by the film’s villain Bowser, a dangerous Godzilla-like turtle with fire-breathing ability who plans to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom unless Princess Peach accepts his marriage proposal. Jack Black gives everything when voicing this villain that includes hammy songs written by Bowser to impress Peach. Friar credited, “The actor-comedian’s personality comes blazing through as the leader of the Koopas.”

When Peach hears that Bowser plans to attack, she and Mario ask the help of the Kongs ruled by Cranky Kong (Fred Armisen) who agrees to give his army to the battle if Mario can defeat his son Donkey Kong (Seth Rogan) in a fight. Rogan, hands down gives the funniest vocal performance and the fight scene with Mario is one of the best moments in the animated film as Mario becomes Cat Mario (Friar said, “a power-up that gives our hero cat-like reflexes plus he looks adorable in what looks like kitty pajamas”).

Friar continued, “The film’s best scene is the exciting “Mad Max” race sequence straight from the Mario Kart games as the characters race in customized souped-up go-carts which will have you scrambling for a controller.” This makes you feel like you’re watching the film to play the game.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is mainly for fans of the Nintendo games or young children who may become new fans of the franchise. It’s a safe family film with nothing rude (no adult humor) or too violent. If you’re not familiar with video games, there’s little here that will interest you. Older movie fans may compare it to the 1993 live-action film “Super Mario Bros.” which starred Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi. Friar noted, “It’s cheesy, over the top, and many fans of the games consider it an abomination. I enjoyed it in a “so bad it’s good” kind of way plus Dennis Hopper’s outrageous performance is entertaining.” Still, it had little to do with the franchise created by Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto.

Compared to the abomination 30 years ago, this film is a masterpiece. This is one of the best video game adaptations we ever got. You should definitely see this film if you have Peacock. The animation is great and it really brings the video game to life on screen. They really did a great job in trying to make the film look and feel like the way the video games look currently. If anyone were to ask me if I wanted to see this film again, I will definitely say yes, let’s put this on. Kevin Michael Richardson is in this film too. Check it out and have an enjoyable time. I will be happy if this got sequels since there might be more to explore.

Thank you for joining in on this review tonight. Check out this Friday for the continuation of “Child Abuse Awareness Month.”