The Super Mario Bros. Movie

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♥

This article is dedicated to the fourth president of Japanese Nintendo from 2002 to 2015, Satoru Iwata (December 6, 1959 - July 11, 2015), Madeline Montero, and the Indonesian voice actor of Richard M.R.Toelle (August 14, 1977 - February 6, 2024).

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

"There's a huge universe out there. With a lot of galaxies, and they're all counting on us."
— Princess Peach.

Genre:	Animation Fantasy Adventure Comedy
Directed by:	Aaron Horvath Michael Jelanic
Produced by:	Shigeru Miyamoto Chris Meladandri
Written by:	Matthew Fogel
Based on:	Super Mario Bros.
Starring:	Chris Pratt Anya-Taylor Joy Charlie Day Jack Black Keegan-Michael Key Seth Rogen Fred Armisen Sebastian Maniscalco Charles Martinet Kevin Michael Richardson
Distributed by:	Universal Pictures
Release date:	April 5, 2023
Runtime:	92 minutes
Country:	United States
Language:	English
Budget:	$100 million
Box office:	$1.36 billion
Franchise:	The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Sequel:	The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2

"🎶Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, I love you!🎶"
— Bowser

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a 2023 American computer-animated adventure film distributed by Universal Pictures and animated by Illumination in collaboration with Nin tendo, the film is based on the iconic Mario franchise and tells the origin story of how Mario and Luigi entered the Mushroom Kingdom. This is the first film in The Super Mario Bros. Movie franchise.

Synopsis

Mario and Luigi are plumbers who work for their boss Foreman Spike but eventually quit due to "spiky bosses" and start their own plumbing business named Super Mario Bros. Plumbing while working underground to fix a water main, Brooklyn plumbers Mario (Chris Pratt; Jurassic World and The LEGO Movie franchises) and brother Luigi (Charlie Day; It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) are transported down a green mysterious pipe and wander into a magical new world. But when the brothers are separated, Mario embarks on an epic quest to get the seven Power Stars before Bowser (Jack Black; Kung Fu Panda) gets all of the Power Stars to take over the world and find/rescue Luigi. With the assistance of characters such as a Mushroom Kingdom resident Toad (Keegan-Michael Key; The Lion King), some training from the strong-willed ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy; The Queen’s Gambit), and many others Mario taps into his power to stop Bowser.

Why It's-a Super

It's a major and massive improvement than 1993's infamous live-action adaptation and more faithful to the video game franchise since Nintendo was in charge of the film to make it more faithful and appealing to Mario fans while Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, would be producing it alongside Illumination CEO Chris Meladandri, which reinforced the possibility that the film would be well received as he is none other than Mario's creator. This was honestly a very good sign for Mario fans worldwide, given that a lot of video game companies have hardly any involvement in video game movie production at all.
Similar to media and movies such as the Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe, Smurfs: The Lost Village, Sing 2 (coincidentally, both are Universal Studios and Illumination movies), Lightyear and especially the two Spider-Verse movies, it has gorgeous and amazing animation that is reminiscent of the cutscenes and shockingly is comparable to a live-action film, due to being animated by Illumination Mac Guff, the same animation company for the rest of Illumination films, not to mention, believe it or not, the film would use the Mario-esque style due to Nintendo being involved, while also taking inspiration from Studio Ghibli, Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion and Turning Red.
The Illumination logo is creative with Stuart driving a kart which is the one from Minions: The Rise of Gru with Gru's emblem on it with the red and green logo and gets a Dud Boost, he hits his kart with his hand and makes it go fast.
- The Nintendo Studios logo is creative too as it shows a ? Block in a sprite from Super Mario Bros. (though with its modern colors) in background with the Ground tile set from Super Mario Bros. with the Ground Theme playing for a few seconds and Mario and Luigi in their modern sprites from Super Mario Maker appear and Mario jumps on Luigi's head, they hit the? Block, and the black background turns from black to red and the iconic Nintendo logo is shown with Mario and Luigi holding on their caps and running.
The music by Brian Tyler is amazingly composed (it also helps with the fact that this is his second animated movie composing music on following Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and ironically, this movie was released one month before the anniversary of Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers) and also fits the Mario universe very well, this is shocking since he is known for composing action movies, it also helps that Koji Kondo was co-composing with him to integrate multiple of the game's soundtrack to the film.
- Not to mention, the movie has brilliant uses of the songs "Battle Without Honor or Humanity", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn", "Holding Out for a Hero", "Take On Me", "Thunderstruck", "Wedding March", and "Mr. Blue Sky", for some scenes, such as the beginning with Kamek, the Koopa Troop, the Koopa General, Bowser, the Penguin King, and the Penguins, the scene with Mario and Luigi trying to run to the Brooklyn Couple's house that is a reference to Super Mario Bros., Mario's training montage, the scene where Mario, Peach, and Toad go on a tour in Donkey Kong's Jungle Kingdom, the scene with Mario, Princess Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong getting ready to leave the kart garage and drive on Rainbow Road, the wedding scene with Princess Peach about to go out and Toad giving her an Ice Flower bouquet before Kamek gets punched in the face, and the ending with Mario and Luigi moving in the Mushroom Kingdom and jumping in a green pipe that is named a Warp Pipe to Brooklyn.
- Even The DK Rap returns when Donkey Kong is flexing his muscles, and it's awesome to see it after five years since 2018's Nintendo Switch game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Despite mostly consisting of celebrities, the voice acting is pretty great with Chris Pratt, the voice actor for Mario, being a huge fan of the Mario franchise in general, like how Ben Schwartz, the voice actor of Sonic the Hedgehog from the Paramount Pictures' Sonic the Hedgehog movie franchise is a fan of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise.
- Chris Pratt manages to pull off a great Italian Brooklynite accent which surprisingly fits Mario and is on par with Lou Albano's and Walker Boone's respective performances from the cartoons despite sounding a lot like Chris Pratt himself.
  - Pierre Tessier even does a great job voicing Mario in the French dub, sounding closer to Charles Martinet's Mario than Chris Pratt's.
  - Mamoru Miyano does a great job voicing Mario in the Japanese dub.
- Charlie Day also does a great job voicing Luigi despite sounding a lot like Charlie Day himself.
- Anya Taylor-Joy also does a great job voicing Princess Peach despite her voice being slightly lowered down as well as sounding like Wyldstyle from The Lego Movie and The Second Part (coincidentally, Chris Pratt stared as Emmet Brickoski, Rex Dangervest in its sequel, Charlie Day as Benny, and the fact that she starred in Playmobil: The Movie which is a blatant rip off of The Lego Movie and its sequel) and she sounds similar to Jeannie Elias' and Tracey Moore's respective performances from the cartoons as well as being on par with Leslie Swan's performance.
- Keegan Michael-Key's impression of Toad is decent as it sounds like a mixture of John Stocker's, Samantha Kelly's, and Keegan Michael-Key's voice.
- Jack Black's role as Bowser is amazing, as Jack Black's monstrous voice suits Bowser so well that people consider Jack Black's role as Bowser as the best interpretation.
Surprisingly great direction from Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, who despite creating the critically panned Teen Titans Go! which is a spin-off of Teen Titans, made Teen Titans Go! To the Movies which was massively superior to the show and even had the passion and love than the spin-off series, alongside four sequels, it also helps that the show has references to various Mario media.
Most of the characters from the games besides Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Bowser, Kamek, Donkey Kong, Cranky Kong, and Foreman Spike, most of the objects from the games, most places, and many characters, whether obscure or separated from the mainline series, return including:
- Most of the enemies from the games such as Goombas, a Goomba Tower, Koopa Troopas (both red and green), Piranha Plants, Koopa Paratroopas (both red and green), Bloopers, Blooper Babies, Biddybuds, Spiny Cheep Cheeps, Jellybeams, Urchins, Shy Guys, a Snift (where it has voice acting), Bob-ombs, Buzzy Beetles, Banzai Bills (both real and fake and are referred to Bomber Bills in this movie), Bullet Bills, Spinies, Hammer Bros., Sledge Bros, Bramballs, Chain Chomps, and the Bats from Super Mario Galaxy return.
- The penguins from Super Mario 64 and multiple other games return as inhabitants of an Ice Kingdom, with the ruler being a penguin king.
- While Link from The Legend of Zelda doesn't appear, he is referenced and mentioned on a fictional street named "Link Street" in the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial in Brooklyn.
- Even Benjamin Franklin returns on a bunch of 100-dollar bills, and he first made his appearance in Mario's Time Machine and not Mario is Missing!.
- Cape Mario and Cape Luigi appear.
- The Duck Hunt Duck from Duck Hunt returns in a painting and as a fictional French restaurant named "Chasse au Canard" which is the French translation of Duck Hunt.
- Even Bear Hugger from Punch-Out!! returns.
- Even Piston Hurricane from Punch-Out!! returns in a photo, which is nice.
- Even Glass Joe from Punch-Out!! returns in a photo.
- The Chef from Shaberu! DS Oryōri Navi appears on the salt and pepper shakes in Punch-Out Pizzaria in Brooklyn.
- For the first time since Super Mario Maker and Mobile Golf, we finally get to see a long lost character returning from an old yet obscure game Wrecking Crew, respectively named Foreman Spike, who is voiced by Sebastian Maniscalco, though he was hidden in promotional media and was hidden until the film's release.
- Even Little Mac and Doc Louis from Punch-Out!! return in a photo.
- Even the Duck Hunt Dog from Duck Hunt returns in a colored painting, which is cool and a nice reference.
- Even Uncle Tony, who was first mentioned in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! episode "Glasnuts", appears.
- Even Mama Mario and Papa Mario return.
- Pit from the Kid Icarus series returns where Mario in a scene is playing Kid Icarus in his bedroom and the game cartridge in CGI-animation is shown in the end credits.
- Starman and The Amazon from Pro Wrestling are seen in a poster in Mario's room.
- While the Lakitu referee from the Mario Kart series doesn't appear, his cloud appears on the news broadcast.
- While the Ice Climbers don't appear, they are at least mentioned in the news broadcast about the Brooklyn flooding.
- While Ryota Hayami from Wave Race 64 doesn't appear, he is at least mentioned in the news broadcast.
- Pauline, Mario's original girlfriend, returns in her Super Mario Odyssey form as Brooklyn's mayor.
- The Toads appear and are of multiple colors (red, yellow, green, blue, purple, and pink, with the pink one being a Toad named Toadette only in a picture).
- Toads saying the princess is in another castle.
- Toadette despite not physically appearing in this movie makes two cameos in a picture.
- While Lakitus doesn't appear, there is the aforementioned reference to Lakitu as well as Lakitu's clouds being shown in the antique shop scene.
- Builder Toads appear.
- Baby Mario and Baby Luigi appear.
- Lumalee from Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel appears as well which hinted at a Rosalina appearance. (despite Rosalina herself not appearing at all despite speculation much to most fans' disappointment)
- While Ludwig von Koopa doesn't appear, at least his name is mentioned on the piano that Bowser uses during his "Peaches" song.
- Stone-Eyes appear in the Sand Kingdom scene.
- Fire Peach from Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury and many other games returns.
- Even Baby Peach appears.
- Rambi despite not physically appearing makes cameos on some emblems on the Kongs' kart.
- Most of the Kongs from the Donkey Kong Country franchise other than Donkey Kong and Cranky Kong who appear such as Diddy Kong, Dixie Kong, Wrinkly Kong, Funky Kong, Kiddy Kong from Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! and Donkey Kong Land II, Swanky Kong from Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy Kong's Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Diddy Kong's Double Trouble!, and Chunky Kong from Donkey Kong 64.
- If you stayed for the post-credits scene, we see a green spotted egg beginning to hatch, just as it finishes hatching the screen cuts to black and the green creature says... "Yoshi!".
- For the power-ups:
  - The Dash Peppers appear on hot sauce in Punch-Out Pizzeria in Brooklyn as easter eggs.
  - Super Mushrooms (referred to as Red Mushrooms) appear.
  - In the Fire Flower field scene, there are a bunch of Fire Flowers.
  - Mario eats a Mini Mushroom to turn into Mini Mario when he is fighting Donkey Kong in the Great Ring of Kong.
The humor is great with there being a lot of funny scenes and memorable hilarious quotes that fit. the tone of the movie and franchise very well, such as:
- The aforementioned Illumination logo.
- The opening scene where the Penguins attack Bowser by throwing snowballs at him in the beginning, with the Penguin king throwing a snowball at him where Kamek teleports like the game and the snowball hits one of the Koopa Soldiers while Bowser stands awkwardly idle.
- The commercial Lady is confused by the script.
- Foreman Spike imitates Mario and his laugh by saying "Yeah, it's a me!" when Mario and Luigi come over to his table.
- Luigi dropping his phone.
- Mario and Luigi unclog a bathroom sink while being menaced by an angry dog due to Luigi stepping on his bone named Francis with the sink clogging and flooding (no pun intended) the bathroom.
- The BrKLnCouple seeing their bathroom.
- Uncle Tony laughing at the Mario brothers, alongside Uncle Arthur and Mario's grandpa laugh, with him joking around about them getting the worse Oscars and his wife smacking him on the head.
- Uncle Tony says to Mario about him not quitting his Foreman Spike job but he did and he laughs.
- Mario does not like mushrooms, which is ironic because Mushrooms are the most common power-up he uses in the games.
- Mama Mario feeding Mario's grandfather food on a Spoon and it is falling with him putting the spoon in his mouth.
- A man saying he's got this and the sewers pushing him up.
- Mario tells Luigi that it is their chance and destiny is calling and Luigi says "Destiny Del Macchio from high school?".
- Mario is about to touch a blue Mushroom (that looks like a Mini Mushroom) and Toad says "DO NOT TOUCH THAT MUSHROOM, YOU'LL DIE!" while Mario gets scared and calls Toad a "mushroom man".
- Mario says "Is this a dream?" and Toad wacks him on the stick Toad asks "That hurt, right?" Mario yells "YES!".
- Luigi running into a tree and a Dry Bones falling apart and having Luigi's hat.
- Luigi is in a castle and getting scared by Shy Guys and yelling off-screen.
- Mario sees a Clear Pipe for the first time and gets hit by it when he is sucked into it in the face.
- Mario getting stuck in a pipe maze.
- Mario going out of Warp Pipe with his hat falling out and falling on the ground.
- The Blue Toad guard and Yellow Toad guard lying and joking about not knowing any princess where the Blue Toad guard says "Our princess, though, is in another castle!" This is also a reference to one of the most iconic phrases in the Mario franchise.
- Toad puts his Frying pan in his hand and looks like he is about to hit two of the Toad Soldiers, but cooks Tomatoes and Apples for them while Mario sneaks into Peach's Castle.
- Mario puts his hand up to one of the Toad Guards, the Green and Purple ones doing the same signal that Mario is doing, They do not realize that Mario is an intruder in Peach's Castle, and they figure it out.
- The scene where the Toads don't want to rally with Princess Peach to defeat Bowser because "they're too adorable", leads her to ally with the Kongs.
- Princess Peach throws Mario on the Peach's Castle floor and he hits it.
- Mario's dislike of mushrooms.
- Mario does not want to eat the Super Mushroom due to his dislike of Mushrooms and Princess Peach tries to get him to eat it but forces him to eat it where Mario puffs up like a balloon and turns into Super Mario.
- Mario fails his training in a way that can be on par with hard and difficult Super Mario Maker, Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS, and Super Mario Maker 2 levels.
- Bowser sings "Peaches" and plays the song on a piano named "Ludwig von Koopa" which implies that the piano belongs to Ludwig von Koopa which is about his love for Princess Peach, and getting interrupted by Kamek.
- Bowser saying to Kamek "Does the princess like him?"
- Bowser slamming the piano on Kamek's fingers.
- Bowser interrogates Luigi, not answering who Mario is (where Bowser knows that Luigi knows Mario), and him about to rip off his mustache, Luigi answers and rips off his mustache
- Mario going into a Warp Pipe with him falling out and his hat going off him into the pipe
- Mario getting a Cheep Cheep stuck on his face, Princess Peach getting it off and Toad getting it on. (not in the final film)
- A Koopa Troopa asking Bowser what if she rejects you and Bowser burns him until he turns into a Dry Bones and remains that way.
- Toad getting scared by a Kong in the Jungle Kingdom with glasses once the Kong opens the door.
- The Kong with sunglasses and a sports coat throwing a Banana peel on the ground with Swanky Kong driving on, slipping on it, causing an explosion and him jumping out of the kart in time.
- Cranky Kong asks who is Mario and he makes him laugh.
- Diddy Kong cheering for Donkey Kong and Dixie Kong looking at him with Wrinkly Kong and Chunky Kong and Cranky Kong asking him to stop.
- Mario tries to fight Donkey Kong only for the latter to beat up him, Mario turns into Mini Mario after eating a Mini Mushroom, Donkey Kong holding Mario, Cranky Kong telling Princess Peach that he has got the blue mushroom, Donkey Kong doing the Seth Rogen laugh, Mario turning into Cat Mario, him sitting down and making a face and (with him getting annoyed), and Donkey Kong laughing at him and Cat Mario scratching Donkey Kong.
- Bowser in his wedding outfit from Super Mario Odyssey practices proposing to Kamek (who is dressed up in a Princess Peach outfit) to marry him and the Koopa General interrupts him.
- Mario saying he will buy Princess Peach a turtle in Brooklyn.
- The Lumalee is happy when about to die by getting burned by lava and not going insane.
- Mario calling Donkey Kong a barrel-throwing monkey.
- A Toad drops his Fruit and coins and tries to take them.
- Princess Peach in her wedding dress punching Kamek in the face.
- A Dry Bones saying "Drama...".
- Luigi questioning Mario's Tanooki Mario suit while thinking he looks like a bear.
- Luigi sees various items from the Mushroom Kingdom like Mushroom Platforms and Question Blocks falling and debris where he hides in a dumpster and waits.
- Luigi holding a manhole as a cover when Bowser breathes fire and is trying to burn Mario and Luigi and them collecting the Invincible Star.
- A Piranha Plant getting Invincible Mario and Invincible Luigi in its mouth, Mama Mario and Papa Mario looking, and them getting out of its mouth because they are invincible
- Bowser tries to breathe fire on the Mario brothers when they are invincible but it doesn't work and he realizes that because they are invincible
- Princess Peach forces Bowser to eat a Mini Mushroom, turning into Mini Bowser, and Princess Peach puts him in a jar.
- Donkey Kong saying that Bowser got the blue mushroom.
- Mario joking to Princess Peach he will buy Princess Peach a turtle in Brooklyn.
- Lumalee says "Now that's a happy ending. Or is it? Because everything's over now, and all that's left is you and the infinite void. Kinda makes you wanna play saxophone, huh?" while playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on a saxophone before the end credits start.
- Bowser reprising his "Peaches" song and getting interrupted by one of the Toad Solders at nighttime
Many of the characters get some decent characterizations.
- Mario is an ordinary Brooklyn plumber who originally worked for Foreman Spike but he and his brother eventually quit him and now runs a plumbing service along with Luigi named Super Mario Bros. Plumbing which has a lot of great reviews. He and Luigi are sucked in a pipe and must find each other and Mario must save the day by getting the seven Stars and defeating Bowser. He also gets massive character development.
- Luigi is an ordinary Brooklyn plumber who worked for Foreman Spike but he and his brother eventually quit him and now runs a plumbing service along with Luigi named Super Mario Bros. Plumbing which has a lot of great reviews. He and Mario are sucked into a pipe, and they must find each other and has to be rescued from Mario.
- Similar to Super Mario Adventures, Princess Peach finally gets a proper characterization, as she becomes a woman capable of fighting against Bowser, rather than being the damsel in distress like the games.
- Bowser is as menacing as ever, and Jack Black's monstrous voice makes him more dangerous and evil.
There are a lot of references to the games, shows, and even other Nintendo franchises, which is awesome though they can be a bit overused.
- The opening logo with Stuart is a reference to Mario Kart: Double Dash!!.
- The opening "Nintendo" logo has the Super Mario Bros. theme song playing in the background with the sprites of Mario, Luigi, and a ? Block but with their modern sprites.
- In the Penguins scene, if you look closely, you can see Kamek's shapes from the games.
- The Magikoopas' teleportation sound effect from Super Mario World are also used.
- The Mario Rap (now named The Mario Brothers Rap) from The Super Mario Bros. Super Show returns in the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing rap, which is awesome.
- The Super Mario Bros. Plumbing van has the name "Super Mario Bros." with the same font as the New Super Mario Bros. New Super Luigi U games and has artwork of Mario and Luigi in the style of the 2D games artwork of Shigehisa Nakaue.
- Luigi makes a shocked face in the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial when the commercial lady says "Thank you Super Mario Bros.! It seems like the only thing you haven't drained is my bank account..." That seemingly is a reference to his iconic shocked face in Luigi's Mansion.
- The game that Gissupe plays Jump-Man is an obvious reference to Donkey Kong.
- Punch-Out Pizzeria has the same white tile set from Super Mario Bros. 3.
- The Nintendo GameCube ringtone on Luigi's phone.
- When Mario and Luigi run to the Brooklyn Couple's house, there is a travel agency named "Super Sunshine Travel Agency" with Dolphins that look like the ones from Isle Delfino and suns that look like the ones from Mario's Life Meter which is an obvious reference to Super Mario Sunshine.
- In that montage, a French restaurant named Chasse au Canart is shown, which is the French name of Duck Hunt.
- When Mario and Luigi go to a construction site, there are construction things that are referencing World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros.
- Mario slides down on a pole, and the Goal Pole sound effect plays.
- In the Brooklyn couple's house, the husband is shown reading a book named Galaxy with the Gateway Galaxy place where Rosalina is shown (even though she doesn't appear at all as mentioned above) on a book cover with the book named Galaxy, which is a reference to Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
- In the Brooklyn couple's house, there is a framed picture that looks like the green triangular texture patterns used for the hills that look like the ones from Super Mario Bros. 3.
- Uncle Arthur's head looks a lot like Weegee.
- When Mario's family first appears, a picture of Mario with his tennis outfit from Mario Tennis Aces is shown.
- In Mario's family room, there is a phone thing that resembles the Nintendo Switch.
- Sheeps from Super Mario Odyssey appear as figures in the background.
- A scene of Mario playing Kid Icarus for the NES.
- The aforementioned scene where Mario plays Kid Icarus is a reference to the scene in Super Mario Bros.: Peach-hime Kyūshutsu Dai Sakusen! where Mario plays a Famicom.
- When Mario uses a black TV remote to change Kid Icarus to the news channel, the TV remote resembles a black Wii Remote.
- When Mario and Luigi are going down to fix the water main, the place is named "World 1-2".
- When Mario gets sucked into a Warp Pipe in the Brooklyn sewers, the Warp Pipe sound plays from Super Mario Bros.
- In the scene where Mario meets Toad in the Mushroom Kingdom, a Wiggler (despite them not appearing at all) sound from Mario Party 5 can be faintly heard in the teaser trailer.
- When Luigi first arrives in the Dark Lands, he is in a black wooden forest, similar to Luigi's Mansion.
- The Crazy Cap store briefly appears.
- The antique shop where Mario and Toad pass by has a sprite of the treasure chest from the Super Mario All-Stars and Super Mario All-Stars Limited Edition on a wooden thing.
- Mario runs with his run from Super Mario 3D World and its Nintendo Switch port Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury briefly.
- There are things on Princess Peach's Castle's flying platform that resemble Super Crowns.
- The power-ups of the Mario universe not only appear but also serve the function of when the character is hit they lose the power-up.
- Bob-omb Battlefield from Super Mario 64 and its Nintendo DS port Super Mario 64 DS appears.
- The Sand Kingdom, referred to as the Desert Area, from Super Mario Odyssey appears.
- Rock-Candy Mines from New Super Mario Bros. U, New Super Luigi U, Mario Golf: World Tour, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and Warioware: Get It Together, referred to as the High Cliffs, returns.
- "Bowser's Fury" from Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury returns in the scene of the Koopa Rock band playing that song and shows all of the Koopa Troop enemies, which is amazing.
- In the scene of Mario fighting Donkey Kong in the Great Ring of Kong, there are multiple red girders and a bunch of light blue ladders, which reference Donkey Kong.
- Princess Peach appears in her racing outfit from Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 7, Mario Kart 8, and its Nintendo Switch port Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
- Rocket Barrels in its designs from Donkey Kong Country Returns and its Nintendo 3DS enchanted port Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D returns as a part of Donkey Kong's kart, with him using one to destroy the Koopa General's kart, he also uses one to get out of the Maw-Ray, he later uses one to defeat enemies, and uses one to ride with Mario to Bowser's Castle.
- When Invincible Luigi defeats a Dry Bones, he uses his shell as a shield to prevent a Hammer Bro. and a Spiny to defeat him.
- One of the many attacks that Invincible Mario and Invincible Luigi use on Bowser to defeat him is swinging him by the tail, which is a reference to Super Mario 64.
The movie has many scenes that will most likely make you cry such as Mario and Luigi being separated in the Warp Zone, Luigi's flashback of Mario defending him from a bully when they were younger, Baby Peach coming through the Warp Pipe, Baby Peach successfully catching a Cheep Cheep, Princess Peach succeeding at the Goal Pole, Princess Peach being crowned Princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Mario and Donkey Kong falling off Rainbow Road when the Koopa General seemingly kills himself while he crushes the course, King Bob-omb blowing up, Mario and Luigi reuniting, and the hilarious scene of Luigi holding the manhole cover to protect Mario.
Much like Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel, this movie broke the video game curse and continued the streak of video game movies and even shows such as Arcane and The Last of Us.
Bowser's song, "Peaches", which is about his love for Princess Peach and his trying to get Princess Peach to love him with his Super Star, marring him, and taking over the world, is awesome and beautifully composed, despite being played for laughs. It was so iconic that Illumination and Jack Black made music videos on it, such as a live-action version, an animation version, and one behind the scenes.
The end credits are very creative and great, as they show backgrounds of various items and many places (Bowser's Castle, the space that is imagined by Bowser when he plays "Peaches", the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach's Castle, the Dark Lands, the castle where Luigi goes into and is later kidnapped by Shy Guys, the Training course, and Rainbow Road) that appear in the movie with the names of the cast members and people, with notable backgrounds including:
- A Super Mushroom coming out of a Question Block, with the Red Mushroom going into another Question Block and making a bunch of Brick Blocks out of it, and a Green Koopa Shell coming until it gets hit by a Warp Pipe.
- Several Bloopers and Cheep Cheeps in the underwater area where Mario and Donkey Kong get swallowed by a Maw-Ray with the aforementioned Maw-Ray coming on-screen and scaring all of the enemies away, and a Blooper inking and swimming away.
- Peach's Castle is shown and it is shown of fire when a rendition of the Castle theme from Super Mario World plays.
- The Training course that Mario fails at is shown, in the morning, afternoon, evening, and night.
- The Super Star that Bowser stole from the Penguins appears in the credits.
The writing by Matthew Fogel is great and amazing, as he is a massive Mario fan and wrote previous films such as Big Mommas: Like Father, Like Son, The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and Minions: The Rise of Gru.
- There are also many original elements that offer great moments and overall delivers some of the best writing the film has to offer, such as Bowser's Castle being a giant floating airship, the film having an original character by the name of Koopa General who has a Winged Blue Shell on his back despite his little screen time, another original character by the name of Penguin King who is the ruler of the Penguins, the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial, Mario and Luigi running an awesome plumbing service named Super Mario Bros. Plumbing, another original character by the name of Giuseppe that resemblances Jumpman and has Mario's iconic Italian accent provided by Charles Martinet and acts like Mario's iconic game counterpart, which is a great nod to the original Donkey Kong arcade game from 1981, Mario and Luigi's family being shown, Papa Mario actually looking like Talon from The Legend of Zelda franchise and he is voiced by Charles Martinet and has a voice that sounds similar to his normal-speaking voice and Wario's voice that can also be a nod to fans of Nintendo and their rich history in general, the training course that is a reference to Super Mario Maker, Stone-Eyes being in the Desert Area, the Fire Flower Garden that has a bunch of Fire Flowers as its name implies, Princess Peach not originating from the Mushroom Kingdom and being raised by Toads (like the Toad General who could have been Toadsworth), only to later be crowned their Princess, Cranky Kong being the ruler of the Kongs and the aforementioned Jungle Kingdom and being Donkey Kong's grandfather unlike the games, and The Great Ring of Kong.
The editing by Eric Osmond is great, and he edited the movie very well.
The storyboards by Ed Skudder are great.
There is a nice dedication to Satoru Iwata in the end credits, "Former President of Nintendo Satoru Iwata".
The concept art is great and is very interesting and can also be seen as admittedly better than the actual movie.
All of the dubs are amazing as well, such as the French dub and the Japanese dub.
Brett Hoffman, Bill Ryan, and Yusuke Beppu do great jobs executive producing this movie, it helps the fact that Brett Hoffman produced Sing, Despicable Me 3, The Secret Life of Pets 2, and Minions: The Rise of Gru. It also helps by the fact that Bill Ryan executive produced Home Alone, Baby's Day Off, and Miracle on 34th Street. It also helps by the fact that Yusuke Beppu executive produced Kirby: Right Back at Ya!.
- Overall, this movie is a giant love letter to the franchise and all fans of it with lots of fan service in it. This ultimately proved to the world that Mario can finally have a film close to decent or great and be very profitable, getting mainly positive reviews from audiences and grossing a billion dollars in less than a month, even surpassing several animated movies.

"Mamma Mia!" Qualities

The humor, while still great, is a bit dark and disturbing at times even for Mario standards, such as Lumalee's jokes.
- In the same vein as Popeye disliking Spinach in the 1980 film starring the late Robin Williams, Mario's dislike of Mushrooms, while funny, is ironic as Mushrooms are the power-ups he uses the most in the games. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, it was his idea to have Mario hate Mushrooms.
On that topic, there are a few disturbing scenes including Luigi running away from the Dry Bones, Donkey Kong almost being thrown in the water, and Bowser attempting to burn all of his victims at the wedding, including Luigi and the Lumalee; Additionally, some of these scenes even got cut in some television airings as well (especially in the UK and the Middle East since they are against this type of stuff).
Surprisingly, similar to Hop, Escape from Planet Earth, Minions, The Grinch, Wonder Park, Scoob!, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, Rumble, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, and Hotel Transylvania: Transformania, the pacing is also way too fast, even for a Mario film, most notably the scene where Mario tries to succeed at the training course and the traveling montage scene. This leads to some character development like Luigi becoming more fearless over time, Donkey Kong & Mario's Frenemy Relationship, and Mario's insecurity at becoming a hero being somewhat underdeveloped.
- Additionally, potentially interesting plot points, like Peach being from another world and not from the Mushroom Kingdom are barely focused on.
The movie is admittedly predictable, although this makes sense since Mario is always predictable and was always aimed at casuals.
False advertising:
- In multiple posters for the film, Swanky Kong is shown in the audience of the Great Ring of Kong, but in the film, he is seemingly not in the audience as he only makes one cameo.
- Toad's voice actor, Keegan-Michael Key said in an interview with Variety that Toad would get a song in the film. However, in the final film, there is no actual song of Toad, thus likely the song was cut.
- In several posters for the film, Mario, Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Cranky Kong are shown driving together on Rainbow Road with the Koopa General in his Winged Spiny Shell following and chasing them.
- Multiple posters of the film of Bowser stealing the Super Star from the Penguins, show him stealing it and standing on the ground, but in the final film, he is shown stealing it when Kamek uses the ice from the castle to make stairs, and he steals it out of a Question Block.
- In one of the posters for the film, Bowser and Kamek are shown having a musical number with a bunch of Koopa Soldiers (Koopa Troopas) on the top of Bowser's Castle, but "Peaches" takes place in space, and Kamek does not get to sing a song in this film.
- One of the posters of the film, Donkey Kong is shown crushing a red Barrel, but he doesn't do this in the final film at all.
- In the teaser trailer and one of the posters of the film, Mario says "Mushroom Kingdom, here we come!", but in the final film, he doesn't say this at all.
- In One of the posters of the film, Luigi is shown being tied up in a rope with a group of Shy Guys and a Snifit, which implies he would escape the castle to be caught by them, but in the final film, they instead take him out.
Idiot moves:
- For some reason, Ice Peach blows up King Bob-omb at the wedding with a spear even though he didn't do anything wrong, which is sad and disheartening. Thankfully, she does get her comeuppance when the explosion of King Bob-omb makes her lose her Ice Peach suit. In addition, she does not even run away when King Bob-omb is exploding.
- Bowser's army doesn't help Bowser and battle Princess Peach when she is putting Bowser on ice. King Boo doesn't do anything to help at all.
King Boo's design looks terrible, a bit off, and a little bit kinda rushed, as his face is smaller, and he lacks his iconic eyebrows. Though this can be excused as King Boo's design was most likely added last minute and they didn't have enough time to finish it.
Donkey Kong can be a bit unlikable due to being a jerk to Mario at times. one example is the extremely infamous scene where they are trapped in a Moray Eel, and when Mario expresses his feelings regarding his father, Donkey Kong, instead of feeling sorry for him, yells "YOUR FATHER WAS RIGHT!!!". Foreman Spike could also be unlikable for the same reasons.
In the Mario Kart games, the Blue Shell would attack the racer who's in first place at the time, but in the movie, the Koopa General -- the film's equivalent of the Blue Shell -- goes after Mario & Donkey Kong, who were in second place at the time. If anything, he should gone after Peach and Toad as they were in first.
Plot holes:
- In the beginning, the Penguins don't try to use the Super Star to turn invincible and stop Bowser, Kamek, the Koopa General, and his minions. This can be excused by the fact that they likely didn't know its use.
- Mario can do great stunts as seen in the scene of him and Luigi running to the Brooklyn couple's house, but he fails at the training course until he gets better and almost completes it, which is odd.
- It is never shown how Fire Peach lost her Fire Peach power-up and turned back into Princess Peach.
- Why didn't Luigi exit the dark lands instantly?
- Mario's family doesn't seem to care that Mario and Luigi are not in Brooklyn and have been missing for so long. They don't even go around Brooklyn to try and find Mario. However, this can be excused by the fact that they didn't know where he was and/or they thought Mario and Luigi were in their rooms, respectively.
As mentioned above in WI'sAS#10, there is a mild overuse of pop culture references, as there are a total of a staggering 345 references throughout the movie, some of which even got cut in some television airings as well.
The fourth post-credits scene featuring Yoshi, while great, can come off as slightly underwhelming and/or slightly disappointing, especially with the facts that Wario, Waluigi, Princess Daisy, Rosalina, the regular Lumas, Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, King Boo, Wart, and King K. Rool could have been in it, combined with the fact that the Yoshis were already seen in the traveling montage scene in Yoshi's Island and the fact that Yoshi's Egg is shown at the wedding.
While not a bad thing overall, there is a brief product placement for Apple including the iPhone, which feels out of place in a Mario movie. Thankfully, this is the only product placement in the movie.

Reception

Pre-release

When the cast was announced, it was met with initial skepticism due to using the same practice as other films such as replacing voice actors with celebrities to increase box office revenues, however, since the same thing happened to Sonic the Hedgehog, some believe that Chris Pratt would do a decent impression as Mario, as proven by his latest Instagram post, where he was confirmed to be a Mario fan.

However, as the trailers were released, fans were extremely positive with praise for the visuals and performances of the cast, although Pratt's performance was considered divisive by many. However, that all changed with the release of the sneak peek of the Mushroom Kingdom and then the final trailer, with many praising Pratt for faithfully capturing the spirit of Martinet's voice and using a Brooklyn accent.

Critical Reception

The Super Mario Bros. Movie has received mixed to positive reviews from critics, but critical acclaim from reviewers, fans, and audiences similar to the Sonic Movies, with praise for its faithfulness, animation, and soundtrack, although the plot, character development and imagination were criticized. On Rotten Tomatoes (as of 4/18/2023), the film has a "rotten" score of 58% based on 235 reviewers with a critic consensus that states: "While it's nowhere near as thrilling as turtle tipping your way to 128 lives, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a colorful -- albeit thinly plotted -- animated adventure that has about as many Nintendos as Nintendont's." On Metacritic (as of 4/18/2023), the film has a score of 46 out of 100 based off 51 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews" like Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The audience scores on the other hand, have a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes from 5,000+ verified ratings and an 8.6 from 555 ratings, indicating "universal acclaim".

Box Office

As of January 14, 2024, the film has grossed $574.9 million in the United States and Canada, and $788.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.36 billion. It is the highest-grossing film of 2023 and became the highest-grossing film based on a video game after just one week of release. In the United States and Canada, the film was released alongside Air, and was initially projected to gross around $125 million from 4,025 theaters in its five-day opening weekend. It was also expected to gross around $100 million internationally. After making $31.7 million on its first day and $26.5 million on its second, five-day estimates were raised to $141 million. Projections were re-adjusted yet again to $191 million after the film made $55 million on Friday. The film went on to debut to $146.4 million during the traditional three-day weekend and $204.6 million over the five-day frame, surpassing the $72.1 million opening of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to become the top opening weekend for a video game adaptation, as well as surpassing its $190.8 million lifetime gross to become the top-grossing video game adaptation ever. It was the third-highest Easter opening weekend of all time, behind Furious 7 and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The film not only surpassed Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for the biggest five-day Wednesday opening of any film but also surpassed Minions for Illumination's largest opening weekend ever. Additionally, the film surpassed Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania for 2023's biggest opening weekend. Overall, it generated the third-highest domestic opening weekend for any animated film, after The Lion King (2019) and Incredibles 2. It over-performed in other territories, making $173 million for a global opening weekend of $377.2 million, surpassing Frozen II's record. Furthermore, it surpassed Warcraft to have the highest worldwide opening weekend for any video game adaptation. It also became the highest-grossing film based on a video game after just one week of release.

Trivia

This is the very first Mario movie since Hollywood Pictures' infamous 1993 film.
This is Illumination Entertainment's most expensive film to date, with a budget of $100 million as a result of Nintendo's and Universal's financing
In May 2021, during an interview, due to production "moving smoothly", Shuntaro Furukawa announced that movies based on other games would be possible if the Mario film was profitable enough, and most fans speculate that there will be spin-offs and happening after this film if the film succeeds well.
This is Illumination's highest-budget film to date, as a result of Nintendo making and controlling the movie.
Similar to Ben Schwartz's name not being in the first poster (though the second poster fixes this mistake) in the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie and Tika Sumpter and Colleen O'Shaughnessey's names not being in the main Sonic the Hedgehog 2 poster (until it was changed due to backlash), Sebastian Maniscalco and Charles Martinet's names are not in the poster with the cast members names in it.
Mario's European Portuguese voice actor Luís Barros also voices the talking flowers in the European Portuguese dub from Super Mario Bros. Wonder.