The Super Mario Bros. Movie
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"đ¶Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, I love you!đ¶"
— 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 Nintendo, 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 Queenâs Gambit), and many others Mario taps into his power to stop Bowser.
Plot
Italian-American brothers Mario and Luigi have recently opened a plumbing business in Brooklyn, to the derision of their ex-employer Spike and the disapproval of their father. After seeing a significant water main leak on the news, Mario and Luigi go underground to fix it but are sucked into a Warp Pipe and separated.
Mario lands in the Mushroom Kingdom, ruled by Princess Peach, while Luigi arrives in the Dark Lands, ruled by the evil Koopa king Bowser. Bowser seeks to marry Peach and will destroy the Mushroom Kingdom using a Super Star if she refuses. He imprisons Luigi to threaten Mario, whom he sees as competition for Peach's love. Mario meets Toad, who takes him to Peach. Peach plans to ally with the primate Kongs to help repel Bowser and allows Mario and Toad to travel with her. She also tells Mario that she ended up in the Mushroom Kingdom as a baby, where the Toads took her in and eventually made her their leader. In the Jungle Kingdom, King Cranky Kong agrees to help if Mario defeats his son, Donkey Kong, in a fight. Despite Donkey Kong's immense strength, Mario defeats him using a Cat Suit.
Mario, Peach, Toad, and the Kongs use karts to drive back to the Mushroom Kingdom, but Bowser's army ambushes them on Rainbow Road. When a blue-shelled Koopa General destroys part of the road in a kamikaze attack, Mario and Donkey Kong plummet to the ocean while the other Kongs are captured. Peach and Toad return to the Mushroom Kingdom and urge the citizens to evacuate. Bowser arrives aboard his flying castle and proposes to Peach, who reluctantly accepts after Bowser's advisor Kamek restrains Toad. Mario and Donkey Kong, having been eaten by an eel-like Maw-Ray, learn they both want the respect of their fathers. They escape the Maw-Ray by riding a rocket from Donkey Kong's kart and hurry to Bowser and Peach's wedding.
At the wedding ceremony, Bowser intends to execute all of his prisoners in lava in Peach's honor. Toad smuggles an Ice Flower into Peach's bouquet, which she uses to freeze Bowser. Mario and Donkey Kong arrive and free the prisoners, with Mario using a Tanooki Suit to save Luigi. Bowser frees himself and summons a Bomber Bill to destroy the Mushroom Kingdom, but Mario knocks it off course and directs it into the Warp Pipe, where it detonates, creating a vacuum that sucks Bowser's castle and its current occupants into Brooklyn. Mario attempts to grab the Star but is ambushed by the enraged Bowser, who also swiftly defeats Peach, Toad, and Donkey Kong. As all hope seems lost, Mario is encouraged by his advert to stand up and face Bowser, who almost incinerates him. Luigi saves Mario, with both grabbing the Super Star. They defeat the Koopas, destroy Bowser's castle, and incapacitate Bowser. Peach then shrinks Bowser with a Blue Mushroom and imprisons him. Mario and Luigi are hailed as heroes by Brooklyn's populace, including their parents and Spike. Afterward, the brothers move to a house in the Mushroom Kingdom and begin a day of plumbing work together.
Production
Development
After the critical and commercial failure of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. film adaptation, the Japanese video game company Nintendo became wary of licensing its properties for film adaptations. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario, the idea for a new Mario film came from bringing their older games to the Virtual Console and other services. Such transitions took time for the company, and Miyamoto recognized that "our content business would be able to develop even further if we were able to combine our long-beloved software with that of video assets, and utilize them together for extended periods". Miyamoto knew that the process of making a film was far different from that of making a video game, and wanted a film expert to lead the effort.
Following the November 2014 hack of Sony Pictures, emails between producer Avi Arad, studio chief [Amy Pascal, TriStar Pictures head Tom Rothman, and Sony Pictures Animation president of production Michelle Raimo Kouyate were released, revealing that Sony had been attempting to secure the film rights to the Mario franchise for several years. Arad visited Nintendo in Tokyo in February and July 2014 in an attempt to secure a deal. In October, Arad emailed Pascal and said he had closed the deal with Nintendo. Pascal suggested recruiting Sony Pictures Animation's Hotel Transylvania director Genndy Tartakovsky to help develop the project, while Kouyate said she could "think of 3â4 movies right out of the gate" and hoped to build a "Mario empire". However, after the emails leaked, Arad denied that a deal had been made, stating that negotiations had only begun. BuzzFeed News noted that the emails did not take into account potential conflicts with Sony Pictures' corporate sibling Sony Interactive Entertainment, one of Nintendo's chief competitors.
Through Nintendo's work with Universal Parks & Resorts to create Mario-based attractions, later resulting in Super Nintendo World, Miyamoto met Chris Meledandri, founder of Universal Pictures' Illumination animation division. Miyamoto found Meledandri's creative process similar to his own and felt he would be the proper lead for a Mario film. They had started more earnest discussions by 2016, knowing that if they felt it would not work they could easily walk away. In November 2017, reports emerged that Nintendo was collaborating with Universal and Illumination to make an animated Mario film. Then Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima clarified that a deal had not been finalized, but that an announcement would come soon. Kimishima hoped that if the deal were successful, a 2020 release date would be possible.
In January 2018, Nintendo announced that the film would progress with Miyamoto and Meledandri co-producing. Meledandri said the film was a "priority" for Illumination and that it would most likely come out in 2022. He added that Miyamoto would be "front and center" during production. In January 2020, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa stated that the film was "moving along smoothly" with an expected 2022 release date. Furukawa also said Nintendo would own the rights to the film, and both Nintendo and Universal would fund the production.
In August 2021, it emerged that Teen Titans Go! creators Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic were directing the film after the discovery of an Illumination animator's LinkedIn profile that included the film in their list. Following the full casting announcement, Horvath and Jelenic were confirmed to be directing, with Matthew Fogel attached as the screenwriter after previously scribing Illumination's Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022). According to Khary Payton, who has collaborated with Horvath and Jelenic on various projects at Warner Bros. Animation, the duo flew to Illumination Studios Paris a month after the release of their first feature film, Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, in September 2018.
In September 2022, it was announced by New York Comic Con that the film's teaser trailer would be released on October 6, 2022; the teaser formally revealed the film's title, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Shortly thereafter, Ed Skudder, who previously worked with Horvath on Unikitty!, confirmed that he worked as head of the story on the film.
Writing
Jelenic and Horvath wanted their work on the film to be the opposite of the "irreverent" Teen Titans Go!, aiming to develop a faithful adaptation of the games, which they both felt had not been done before, as well as something "more cinematic" and "more emotional" than Teen Titans Go!. "When people probably first heard our names attached to the movie, they expected we'd do the Teen Titans Go! treatment to Mario", said Jelenic. "But every project we come to, we make new choices depending on who the audience is and what we're going for". Horvath asserted that Nintendo involved themselves with every aspect of the production, "from story to visual development to the animation".
The duo wanted the film to serve as an "origin story" for Mario and Luigi, opting to portray them as "blue-collar guys" by focusing on their previous backgrounds as Italian-American plumbers from New York City in early games (specifically Brooklyn, as in older American media). They also wanted to reflect how gamers win in the games by not giving up despite making mistakes, turning that into a character trait for the film's portrayal of Mario. The duo chose to interchange Princess Peach's and Luigi's roles from the games, with Peach helping Mario rescue a kidnapped Luigi, because they felt having them in their original roles was "too straightforward". The duo drew inspiration from Super Mario 3D World (2013) and its portrayal of Peach as a playable character, stating they wanted to focus on her role as the Mushroom Kingdom's monarch and "how strong that person would need to be to protect the Toads". For Bowser, they "decided to make that character scary, but the other side of Bowser is somebody who's vulnerable and funny".
Casting
In February 2021, Mario voice actor Charles Martinet said the possibility of reprising his role in the film would be a "marvelous thing" and that if he were asked to voice Mario he would "go in and play with great joy and happiness". In August 2021, Sebastian Maniscalco revealed he was voicing Spike, Mario, and Luigi's boss from the game Wrecking Crew (1985).
During a September 2021 Nintendo Direct presentation, Shigeru Miyamoto announced that Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Kevin Michael Richardson, Fred Armisen, and Maniscalco would headline the voice cast and that Martinet would be featured in "surprise cameos". The announcement was met with a mixed reaction from fans; while some welcomed the idea of celebrity actors voicing the characters, others questioned and criticized the choices, in particular Pratt as Mario instead of Martinet (who had voiced the character since 1991) or an Italian actor. Martinet voices the brothers' father as well as a citizen of Brooklyn named Giuseppe, the latter using Mario's game voice. Additionally, voice acting veterans Rino Romano, John DiMaggio, and Jessica DiCicco voiced Mario and Luigi's uncles Tony and Arthur, and mother, respectively, as the intention was to cast actors of Italian ancestry for the brothers' family.
Meledandri said Pratt would not be voicing Mario in a thick Italian accent as Martinet had traditionally done. Voice actor Khary Payton described Pratt's original voice during production as a "New York, Italian guy" and a "cousin to the Sopranos", but the accent was scrapped for sounding too similar to the character Tony Soprano. Voice actress Tara Strong criticized Pratt's casting and expressed a preference for Martinet to voice Mario instead, bemoaning what she described to be Hollywood's disregard for professional voice actors. In response to criticism of Pratt's casting, Horvath stated, "For us, it made total sense. He's really good at playing a blue-collar hero with a ton of heart. For the way that Mario is characterized in our film, he's perfect for it." For his part, Pratt acknowledged the character's "passionate fanbase" and that Mario's traditional voice was "the soundtrack to fans' youth. You don't want someone to come along and cynically kind of destroy it as a cash grab with a movie. I fully understand that. You do not want that to happen." Regarding his vocal performance, he encouraged audiences to "come watch the movie. Go watch the movie and then we can talk."
Charlie Day originally voiced Luigi with a New York accent similar to the film Goodfellas (1990) during production. The accent was scrapped when directors told him it sounded too similar to the gangster film, to which Day responded to the change with, "Alright! I think you're wrong, but fine!" Plot details were kept secret from the actors during recording, according to Day, who noted he had to record his dialogue in many different ways, after which the directors selected the version they believed would be best suited for the film.
Upon the trailer's release, both Payton and Eric Bauza confirmed their parts in the film; Payton voices the Penguin King and Bauza voices the Toad General. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Payton recorded his lines in a closet at his home, though he was unsure if he would appear in the final cut.
In response to backlash for voicing Donkey Kong in his normal speaking voice, Rogen explained: "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."
Animation and design
The film was animated by Illumination Studios Paris in Paris, France. Production was underway by September 2020, with animation ending in October 2022. Post-production work wrapped by March 2023. Jelenic said that Illumination updated their lighting and rendering technology for the film, with Meledandri claiming that it "pushed the technical and artistic capabilities of the studio to new heights".
Jelenic and Horvath wanted the animation to juggle stylized animation with realism, with Horvath claiming that "there are moments of cartoony fun, but we wanted it to feel like a big adventure film and that there are stakes and maybe you believe that these characters can die, so they're not super-squashy and super-stretchy, and we used consistent volume on the characters to make them feel a little more grounded". For the go-karts featured in the film, the directors worked with a vehicle design artist and artists at Nintendo to create go-karts that fit their portrayal in the film while drawing inspiration from their portrayal in the Mario Kart games.
In an interview with GameSpot, Horvath said that he and Jelenic took a "blockbuster approach" when making The Super Mario Bros. Movie: "To me, this is a movie that's been like 40 years in the making, you know, and I've always considered Mario more of an action game. The characters look comedic, but the story is always high stakes, you gotta save the princess or save the world or whatever in the game. So we wanted to reflect that action sensibility." The two brought in artists they knew from television and worked closely with them to craft the film's action sequences. Skudder in particular was crucial in making the action, especially the Rainbow Road sequence. According to Jelenic and Horvath, Skudder spent months working on the sequence, which they also described as the film's most technically challenging. The road itself was a visual effect, and every shot of it had to go through the visual effects department, which was time-consuming and expensive.
Donkey Kong's design was changed for the first time since the video game Donkey Kong Country (1994). For his new design, artists incorporated elements of both his modern design and his original design from his debut appearance in Donkey Kong (1981). For Mario's family, Horvath and Jelenic were given early designs of Mario by Nintendo as references; they ended up using slightly altered versions of those designs in the film.
Music
During an October 2022 Nintendo Direct presentation, Meledandri confirmed that Brian Tyler was set to compose the film's score. Tyler worked closely with longtime Mario composer Koji Kondo to incorporate themes from the games. He described the composition as "big", featuring an orchestra, choir, and bands, as well as "Italian instruments, accordions, live drums, mandolins, whistling human voices", and "eight-bit sounds". Recording sessions began on October 17, 2022, at the Eastwood Scoring Stage at Warner Bros. Mixing took place at Skywalker Sound, where Kondo and Miyamoto responded positively to a 15-minute suite of new themes Tyler had written. The film's music references leitmotifs from Super Mario Bros. 3, Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 3D Land, among other Mario games.
Songs from Jack Black and Keegan-Michael Key were improvised for the film. Black Hydra composed the music for its official trailer, "Super Mushroom", based on the â'Super Mario Bros. theme. The instrumental was released on November 30, 2022, on YouTube.
In a March 2023 video, Seth Rogen shared that Donkey Kong was introduced in the film accompanied by the title theme music from Donkey Kong 64, "DK Rapââ, composed by Grant Kirkhope. In contrast to the licensed songs used in the film, Kirkhope did not receive credit for "DK Rap" in the film's end credits, an oversight the composer found disappointing.
Jack Black co-wrote the song "Peaches", wherein Bowser professes his love for Princess Peach, alongside the directors, editor Eric Osmond, and song producer John Spiker. Having Bowser perform a love song was Black's idea. "Peaches" was released on April 7, 2023, with a music video directed by Cole Bennett. According to Black, it was filmed in a few hours. On its release, "Peaches" was #61 on the iTunes streaming chart. It later appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, debuting at #83 and peaking at #56.
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 trilogy, Smurfs: The Lost Village, Sing 2 (coincidentally, both are Universal Studios and Illumination movies), and Lightyear, 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 a background with the Ground tileset from Super Mario Bros. with the Ground Theme from Super Mario Bros. 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 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, and it's awesome.
- 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's 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.
- 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.
- Kevin Michael Richardson manages to do a great job voicing Kamek as he uses a voice that sounds similar to the late Peter Lorre, and does not use the usual deep voice that he uses when he voices characters in most of his voice roles.
- Seth Rogen also does a great and hilarious job voicing Donkey Kong despite him sounding a lot like Seth Rogen himself.
- Fred Armisen did a great job voicing Cranky Kong.
- Sebastian Maniscalco manages to do a great job voicing Foreman Spike despite his little screen time, adding a level of charm to his voice. This also marks the first time where he has an official speaking voice.
- Even Charles Martinet, Mario's original voice actor, gets to have a role as Giuseppe, Mario's father and Mario (in one scene only) and does a great job voicing him, and still does a great and iconic job voicing Mario through archive recordings in one scene.
- Scott Menville manages to do a great job voicing the Koopa General and the Red Toad.
- Eric Bauza also manages to do great jobs voicing the Koopa Troopa soldiers, Dry Bones, the Toad generals, and Diddy Kong.
- Khary Payton manages to do a great job voicing the Penguin King as he uses his voice that he uses in most of his media.
- Jessica DiCicco does a great job voicing the New York lady, Mama Mario, Pauline, the Yellow Toad, the bully who bullied Baby Luigi at preschool, the Blue Toad and Baby Peach.
- Rino Romano manages to do a great job voicing Uncle Tony.
- John DiMaggio also manages to great job voicing Uncle Arthur.
- Juliet Jelenic manages to do a great job voicing Lumalee.
- Samantha Kelly reprises her role as Toads via archive recordings and still does a great job voicing them, though it can still be annoying at times.
- Kenny James reprises his role as Bowser with some roar via archive recording and still does an awesome job voicing Bowser via roars.
- Nate Bihldorff reprises his role as a Shy Guy via archive recordings and still does a great job voicing the Shy Guy.
- Yuya Takezama reprises his role as Lumalee in his sound effects from Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel via archive recordings and still does a great job voicing Lumalee.
- Kazumi Totaka reprises his role of Yoshi via an archive recording and still does a great job voicing Yoshi.
- 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.
- 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 more than the spin-off series, alongside with 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 such as:
- 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 OryĆri Navi appears on the salt and pepper shakes in Punch-Out Pizzaria in Brooklyn.
- While Waluigi doesn't appear, there is a character in Punch-Out Pizzeria who has the same color scheme of Waluigi.
- For the first time ever 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 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.
- While Sidesteppers from Mario Bros. and multiple other games don't appear, they are at least referenced when the news broadcast about Brooklyn's water main problem mentions "giant underground crabs".
- Even little birds appear.
- 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 don't appear, there is the aforementioned reference of Lakitu as well as Lakitu's clouds being showed in the antiques shop scene.
- Builder Toads appear.
- Super Mario also appears, which this one is obvious judging from the title.
- 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 his piano that Bowser uses during his "Peaches" song.
- Stone-Eyes appear in the Sand Kingdom scene.
- The Yoshis appear in a 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.
- Even Mini Mario appears.
- Even Cat Mario returns.
- Even a Maw-Ray (originally referred to as Unagis) appears.
- Even King Bob-omb and King Boo return.
- Even Tanooki Mario appears after using a Super Leaf and he while chasing a Bomber Bill after getting its attention, and even saves Luigi.
- Even the Balloon Fighter returns on an advertisement on Brooklyn.
- And 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 on him where Kamek teleports like the game and the snowball hitting one of the Koopa Soldiers while Bowser stands awkwardly idle.
- The commercial Lady being confused by the script.
- Foreman Spike imitating 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 where he laughs.
- Mario not liking 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 down with him putting the spoon in his mouth.
- A man saying he's got this and the sewers pushing him up.
- Mario telling Luigi that it is their chance and destiny is calling and Luigi saying "Destiny Del Macchio from high school?".
- Mario about to touch a blue Mushroom (that looks like a Mini Mushroom) and Toad saying "DO NOT TOUCH THAT MUSHROOM, YOU'LL DIE!" and Mario getting scared and calling Toad a "mushroom man".
- Mario saying "Is this a dream?" and Toad wacking him on the stick with Toad asking "That hurt, right?" with Mario yelling "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 seeing a Clear Pipe for the first time and getting hit by it when he sucked into it on 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 putting his hand up to one of the Toad Guards, the Green and Purple one doing the same signal that Mario is doing, them not realizing that Mario is an intruder in Peach's Castle, and them figuring it out.
- The scene where the Toads don't want to rally with Princess Peach to defeat Bowser because "they're too adorable", leading her to ally with the Kongs.
- Princess Peach throwing Mario on the Peach's Castle floor and him hitting it.
- Mario's dislike of mushrooms.
- Mario not wanting to eat the Super Mushroom due to his dislike of Mushrooms and Princess Peach trying 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 failing 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 singing "Peaches" and the playing the song on a piano of the name of "Ludwig von Koopa" which it 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 interrogating Luigi, him not answering who Mario is (where Bowser knows that Luigi knows Mario), and him about to rip off his mustache, Luigi answering and ripping off his mustache.
- The Lumalee being insane in his cage.
- The Penguin King telling the Lumalee to shut up.
- A Blue Toad saying who is he.
- Mario going into a Warp Pipe with him falling out and his hat going off him to into the pipe.
- Mario getting a Cheep Cheep stuck on his face and 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 burning 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, with that causing an explosion and him jumping out of the kart in time.
- Cranky Kong saying that 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 asks him to stop.
- Mario tries to fight Donkey Kong only for the latter to beat up him, Mario turning 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 practice proposing to Kamek (who is dressed up in a Princess Peach outfit) of marring him and the Koopa General interrupting him.
- Mario saying he will buy Princess Peach a turtle in Brooklyn.
- The Lumalee being happy when about to die with getting burned by lava and not going insane.
- Mario calling Donkey Kong a barrel-throwing monkey.
- A Toad drops his Fruit and coins and trying to take them.
- Princess Peach in her wedding dress punching Kamek in the face.
- A Dry Bones saying "Drama..." and saying it.
- 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 still in the dumpster and waiting.
- Luigi holding a manhole as a cover when Bowser breathes fire and is trying to burn Nario and Luigi and them collecting the Invincible Star.
- Bowser punching Donkey Kong.
- 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 putting 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 saying "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.
- Then, there are the hilarious/memorable lines:
- "Ah-ha!" - Stuart.
- "Blockeum glockuym!" - Stuart.
- "Illumination!" - Stuart.
- "Behold, the King of the Koopas!" - Kamek.
- "Open the gates! ...Or die." - Bowser.
- "Open the gates!" - Bowser.
- "Attack!" - Penguin King.
- "That is but a taste of our fury." - Penguin King.
- "Do you yield? - Penguin King.
- "I do not. - Bowser.
- "No..." - Penguin King.
- "Oh..." - Bowser.
- "I've finally found it. Now who's gonna stop me!?!" - Bowser.
- "I've finally found it. And now NO ONE can stop me!!!" - Bowser.
- â« "We're the Mario Brothers, and plumbing's our game! â« - Singer.
- â« "We're not like the others who get all the fame. â« - Singer.
- â« "If your sink is in trouble, you can call us on the double." â« - Singer.
- "Oh, Mario, what are you doing?" - Luigi.
- "Oh, wow! We have hit the big time!" - Luigi.
- "Ah-ha!" - Mario.
- "The drip is right upstairs at the end of the hall." - BrKLNCouple Woman.
- "Ah!" - Luigi.
- "The hellhound is gonna escape!" - Luigi.
- "No he won't!" - Mario.
- "Hey, uh..." - Luigi.
- "C'mon, Lu." - Mario.
- "You are not seriously considering--" - Mario.
- "Mario-...oh!" - Luigi.
- "Mario!" - Luigi.
- "We gotta get to that pressure valve!" - Mario.
- "Mamma mia!" - Luigi.
- "I knew saving Brooklyn was a bad idea." - Luigi.
- "Come on." - Mario.
- "Whoa!" - Mario.
- "I'm telling you, nothing can hurt us as long as we're together!" - Mario.
- "MARIO!!" - Luigi.
- "LUIGI!!" - Mario.
- "What is this place?" - Mario.
- "DO NOT TOUCH THAT MUSHROOM, YOU'LL DIIEEEE!" - Toad.
- "...Oh, I'm sorry. That one's perfectly fine." - Toad.
- "It's a little mushroom man!" - Mario.
- "A little mushroom man talking to me!" - Mario.
- "Pleased to me ya." - Toad.
- "I'm Toad!" - Toad.
- "Uh... Mario." - Toad.
- "So this is- this is not a dream?" - Toad.
- "Ah!" - Mario.
- "Ween-no!" - A Shy Guy.
- "They're all counting on us." - Princess Peach.
- "No pressure." - Princess Peach.
- "My Toads!" - Princess Peach.
- "Our days of terror are almost over!" - Princess Peach.
- "With the help of the Kong Army, we will stop---" - Princess Peach.
- "Uh, who's he?" - A Blue Toad.
- "He's not important!" - Princess Peach.
- "Nervous?" - Princess Peach.
- "Yes." - Mario.
- "A little." - Mario.
- "My army!" - Bowser.
- "Koopas!" - Bowser.
- "Goombas!" - Bowser.
- "Whatever those things are!" - Bowser.
- "After years of searching for the Super Star, it is finally ours!" - Bowser.
- "YEAH!" - Koopa Troop.
- "I am now the most powerful turtle in the world!" - Bowser.
- "Soon, we will arrive at the Mushroom Kingdom...!" - Bowser.
- "YEAH!!!" - Koopa Troop.
- "Where after years of being sworn enemies..." - Bowser.
- "I will ask their princess to marry me in a fairy tale wedding!!" - Bowser.
- "YEAHâ" - Koopa Troop.
- "Yeeeah..." - A Koopa Soldier.
- "Did he say 'marry the princess'?" - A Koopa Soldier.
- "Doesn't she hate you?" - A Koopa Soldier.
- "Of course she hates me." - Bowser.
- "But that makes me love her all the more." - Bowser.
- "Her heart-shaped bangs, the way she floats in the breeze, her immovable tiara..." - Bowser.
- "And when she sees this Star..." - Bowser.
- "Ohohoho, WEDDING BELLS!" - Bowser.
- "But what if she says no?" - Bowser.
- "Then I will power up with the Star and destroy the Mushroom Kingdom!" - Bowser.
- "YEAH!!!!" - Bowser.
- "Let's end this." - Bowser.
- "So prepare yourselves for the best wedding ever!" - Bowser.
- "My earliest memory is arriving." - Princess Peach.
- "I was so lucky they found me." - Princess Peach.
- "They took me in, and raised me like one of their own, and when I was ready, they made me their princess." - Princess Peach.
- "Hey, maybe you're from my world!" - Mario.
- "There's a huge universe out there... with a lot of galaxies." - Princess Peach.
- âȘ "Peach, you're so cool...'" âȘ - Bowser.
- âȘ "And with my star, we're gonna rule..." - Bowser.
- âȘ "Peach, understand... I'm gonna love ya 'til the very end..." - Bowser.
- âȘ "Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!" âȘ - Bowser.
- âȘ "Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches, Peaches!" - Bowser.
- âȘ "I love you!" - Bowser.
- âȘ "Oh!" - Bowser.
- âȘ "Peaches!" - Bowser.
- âȘ "Peaches--" - Bowser.
- "Sire?" - Kamek.
- "What?" - Bowser.
- "A report from our intelligence." - Kamek.
- "A mustachioed human has arrived in the Mushroom Kingdom." - Kamek.
- "The princess has been training him." - Kamek.
- "They are up to something, sire!" - Kamek.
- "Sit." - Bowser.
- "Jam with me." - Bowser.
- "This... uh, human..." - Bowser.
- "Where did he come from?" - Bowser.
- "We... aren't sure?" - Kamek.
- "Does the princess like him?" - Bowser.
- "Sire, look in the mirror!" - Kamek.
- "You have nothing to worry about!" - Kamek.
- "I know that." - Bowser.
- "I'm not threatened." - Bowser.
- "FIND OUT WHO HE IS, AND WHAT THEY'RE PLANNING!!!" - Bowser.
- "I'm on it, sire..." - Kamek.
- "May I lift the cover?" - Kamek.
- "Not yet." - Bowser.
- "Pain is the best teacher." - Bowser.
- "We found him in the Dark Lands." - Snifit.
- "Leave him to me." - Bowser.
- "What is your name?" - Bowser.
- "Luigi." - Luigi.
- "Not sure if you know who I am, but I'm about to marry a princess and rule the world." - Bowser.
- "Wow, uh..." - Luigi.
- "Yay." - Luigi.
- "There's a human, has a mustache, just like you." - Bowser.
- "But there's one problem, Luigi: there's a human traveling with my fiancée." - Bowser.
- "Has a mustache, just like you." - Bowser.
- "Do you know him...?" - Bowser.
- "No." - Luigi.
- "No!" - Luigi.
- "Tough one, I see." - Luigi.
- "Maybe THIS will get you to talk!" - Luigi.
- "Do you think I know every human being with a mustache, wearing an identical outfit with a hat, with a letter of his first name on it?! ...Because I don't!" - Luigi.
- "DO YOU KNOW HIM?!" - Bowser.
- "GAH!" - Luigi.
- "STOP!" - Luigi.
- "STOP!" - Luigi.
- "STOP, STOP, STOP!" - Luigi.
- "I know him!" - Luigi.
- "Yes, I know him!" - Luigi.
- "Yeah, he's my brother, Mario, and he's the best guy in the world!" - Luigi.
- "Do princesses find him attractive?!" - Bowser.
- "THEY DO IF THEY HAVE GOOD TASTE!!" - Luigi.
- "Get him outta my sight!" - Bowser.
- "We'll see how tough this Mario is when he watches me KILL HIS BROTHER!" - Bowser.
- "Where am I?!" - Luigi.
- "Home!" - Lumalee.
- "Pay him no heed." - Penguin King.
- "He's cute, but he is (cuckoo whistle)." - Penguin King.
- "How long have you guys been in here?" - Luigi.
- "Time, like hope, is an illusion." - Lumalee.
- "PLEASE!" - Penguin King.
- "We are depressed enough!" - Penguin King.
- ""There's gotta be a way outta here!" - Luigi.
- "In an insane world, it is the sane who are crazy." - Lumalee.
- "There's no escape. The only hope is the sweet relief of death." - Lumalee.
- "Oh, you've GOT to be kidding me!" - Penguin King.
- "I'm so stoked right now." - Bowser.
- "You ready?" - Princess Peach.
- "Eh... sure?" - Mario.
- "Whaaaat?" - Toad.
- "How are you doing?" - Mario.
- "We are here to see the king." - Princess Peach.
- "Follow me." - Chauffeur Kong.
- "That gorilla's wearing a sports coat." - Mario.
- "Feel underdressed?" - Toad.
- "Hop in." - Chauffeur Kong.
- "WOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!!!" - Toad.
- "Oh, by all means, come in." - Cranky Kong.
- "Great and mighty Cranky Kong." - Princess Peach.
- "So, I heard you want my army." - Cranky Kong.
- "Yes, your Highness." - Princess Peach.
- "Without your help, the Mushroom Kingdom will be annihilated." - Princess Peach.
- "What makes you think you're worthy of fighting alongside the greatest army in the world!?" - Cranky Kong.
- "Because we have heart! And with your strength... we can win." - Princess Peach.
- "Okay, fine." - Cranky Kong.
- "That's it?" - Princess Peach.
- "No, that's not it." - Cranky Kong.
- "The answer is no." - Cranky Kong.
- "Goodbye." - Cranky Kong.
- "But if the Mushroom Kingdom falls, the Jungle Kingdom is next!" - Princess Peach.
- "We're not leavin'... without YOUR ARMY!" - Mario.
- "Who is this guy?" - Cranky Kong.
- "Oh, he makes me laugh!" - Cranky Kong.
- "All right, tough guy..." - Cranky Kong.
- "You want my army so badly?" - Cranky Kong.
- "Defeat my son, in the Great Ring of Kong!" - Cranky Kong.
- "Give us a second." - Princess Peach.
- "This is a really, really bad idea." - Princess Peach.
- "Well, do you have another way to save my brother?" - Mario.
- "Are you two done whispering?" - Cranky Kong.
- "It's a little rude." - Cranky Kong.
- "You, sir, have a deal." - Mario.
- "I'll fight your son and WIN!" - Mario.
- "I'm sure you will." - Cranky Kong.
- "Mario! Mario! Mario!" - Kongs.
- "I'm D.K.!" - Donkey Kong.
- "I'm Donkey Kong!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Oh yeah!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Hi, Dad!" - Donkey Kong.
- "No, don't... don't do that!" - Cranky Kong.
- "Dad, wave back." - Donkey Kong.
- "Enough with the showboating!" - Donkey Kong.
- "What do you mean?" - Donkey Kong.
- "They like it!" - Donkey Kong.
- "It's what they came here for: dancing pecs!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Alright, simmer down!" - Cranky Kong.
- "I said, 'SIMMER DOWN!'" - Cranky Kong.
- "That means you, Diddy Kong!" - Cranky Kong.
- "DK!" - Diddy Kong.
- "D... sorry." - Diddy Kong.
- "Now..." - Cranky Kong.
- "Since I want the fight to last more than 5 seconds, I put power-ups around the area." - Cranky Kong.
- "You're welcome, Mario." - Cranky Kong.
- "I don't need anything special to break EVERY BONE in your tiny body!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Alright..." - Mario.
- "Alright... Let's-a go." - Mario.
- "Oh!" - Princess Peach.
- "Oh my-" - Toad.
- "I-" - Toad.
- "Okay." - Toad.
- ""Guess you're not getting my army!" - Cranky Kong.
- "IS THIS WHAT YOU CAME FOR?!" - Donkey Kong.
- "I love you, DK!" - Fanboy Kong.
- "Hi, Dad!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Love you!" - Donkey Kong.
- "It is on... like Donkey Kong!" - Donkey Kong.
- "You're about to pick on someone your own size!" - Mario.
- "I guess he got the wrong mushroom." - Cranky Kong.
- "Get up, Mario!" - Princess Peach.
- "Had enough?" - Donkey Kong.
- "Not... even... close." - Mario.
- "Mario!" - Princess Peach.
- "It's-a me!" - Mario.
- "THE BOX!" - Princess Peach.
- "He looks adorable!" - Toad.
- "He really does." - Princess Peach.
- "Aw, what?!" - Cat Mario.
- "I'm a cat?!" - Cat Mario.
- "HA! You got the cat box! Oh my- I'm sorry! Okay. Now you die." - Donkey Kong.
- "Huh." - Cat Mario.
- "Meeeow." - Cat Mario.
- "Woo-hoo!" - Toad.
- "Had enough?" - Cat Mario.
- "Not... even... close... - Donkey Kong.
- "I'll take that as a yes." - Cat Mario.
- "Yes!" - Toad.
- "That's my best friend!" - Toad.
- "Mario!" - Kongs.
- "Mario!" - Kongs.
- "Mario!" - Kongs.
- "Yeah, yeah." - Cranky Kong.
- "That was incredible!" - Princess Peach.
- "He kept beating you senseless, and you just kept getting back up?!" - Princess Peach.
- "You just don't know when to quit!" - Princess Peach.
- "Huh." - Mario.
- "I never thought of that as a good thing." - Mario.
- "It's a great thing!" - Princess Peach.
- "Thanks." - Mario.
- "I let him win, just for the record." - Donkey Kong.
- "Really, though?" - Mario.
- "Why would you do that?" - Mario.
- "You wanna know why?" - Donkey Kong.
- "It's MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, that's why!!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Alright, giant monkey!" - Mario.
- "Just go in a corner and SMASH some stuff, Smash Monkey!" - Mario
- "I! AM! MORE! THAN A GUY! WHO SMASHES THINGS!!!" - Donkey Kong.
- "HA! Loser!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Hey." - Tanooki Mario.
- "What does this do?" - Tanooki Mario.
- "Cool raccoon suit!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Really?" - Tanooki Mario.
- "Not at all!" - Donkey Kong.
- "Ah!" - Princess Peach.
- "Ah!" - Cranky Kong.
- "Wheee!" - Lumalee.
- "Ha ha ha ha ha!" - Lumalee.
- "Huh?" - Luigi.
- "Phew!" - Cranky Kong.
- "Boooooo." - Lumalee.
- "Lu!" - Tanooki Mario.
- "MARIO?!?" - Luigi.
- "I told you!" - Tanooki Mario.
- "See?" - Tanooki Mario.
- "As long as we're together... everything is gonna be okay!" - Tanooki Mario.
- "Mario, why do you look like a bear?" - Luigi.
- "What is this?" - Luigi.
- "You did good, kid. Make your pecs dance." - Cranky Kong.
- "You deserve it!" - Cranky Kong.
- "No time now." - Donkey Kong.
- "YOU RUINED MY WEDDING! I WAS FINALLY GONNA BE HAPPY!!!!" - Bowser
- "NOW YOU WILL SUFFER!!!! LIKE ME!!!!!" - Bowser
- "You really thought you could stop me? You worthless, weak little nothing. Come out and fight! Or are you too scared?" - Bowser
- "Hey!" - Blue Toad Guard.
- "Quiet in there!" - Blue Toad Guard.
- "Lights out, little guy!" - Blue Toad Guard.
- "You can't treat me like this!" - Bowser.
- "Do you know who I am?" - Bowser.
- "I am Bow-" - Bowser.
- "Yoshi!" - Yoshi.
- 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 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 in 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.
- Toad is a Mushroom Kingdom Toad who is Princess Peach's loyal companion, and wants to go on his first real adventure outside of the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Bowser is as menacing as ever, and Jack Black's monstrous voice makes him more dangerous and evil.
- Kamek is Bowser's advisor, much like the games. He is a very loyal Koopa and Magikoopa (he is the only Magikoopa to appear in this film), is smart, and helps Bowser with his plans.
- Donkey Kong is Cranky Kong's son. He is a bit childish and bit of a man-child, is rather arrogant in the fight of Mario and Donkey Kong with bit of an ego, is rather rude, and is not eager when Mario wants him to help the Mushroom Kingdom and defeat Bowser. He decides to become friends with Mario after he saves him from drowning.
- Cranky Kong is Donkey Kong's father (not his grandfather, unlike the games) who is the ruler of the Kongs and the Jungle Kingdom (Donkey Kong Island) and initially refuses to let Princess Peach take his Kong army to stop Bowser but does after Mario beats up Donkey Kong. He captured by Bowser but is eventually rescued by Tanooki Mario. He has an awesome design that can be considered better than the games as he wears Aztec-styled outfit fit with a red shirt and can even be seen as badass for some.
- Foreman Spike is Mario and Luigi's former boss of the "Wrecking Crew" company, and bullies Mario and Luigi for leaving his company to start Super Mario Bros. Plumbing. His first scene can serve as a foreshadowing of Mario fighting Donkey Kong and battling Bowser respectively. He celebrates Mario and Luigi's saving of Brooklyn after Bowser gets defeated.
- The Penguin King is the king of the Penguins, as his name implies, where he is the king of the Ice Kingdom. He attempts to stop Bowser, Kamek, and his troops from stealing the Super Star by ordering the Penguins to throw snowballs, and he and the Penguins are kidnapped by Bowser and his troops. He and the Penguins are freed in the near-end of the film.
- The Brooklyn couple is a Brooklyn couple who owns Francis, as their name implies.
- Francis is the dog of the Brooklyn couple. He attempts to bite Luigi over him stepping on his dog bone, messes up the brothers' first client, and provides great comedy to his scene in the film. In the end, he winks at Luigi, showing that he has moved on from his grudge of Luigi stepping on his bone.
- Pauline is the mayor (unlike the games, where she is the mayor of New Donk City). She assures the people of Brooklyn will be safe and that the flooding of Brooklyn will be fixed soon, and she appears praising Mario and Luigi's saving of Brooklyn.
- The Toad General is a smart Toad, and he appears to be the caregiver of Princess Peach, similar to Toadsworth. He assures the Toads in a meeting about Bowser stealing the Super Star.
- Baby Luigi is the baby version of Luigi, as his name implies, and he gets bullied by a bully before his brother named Baby Mario stands up to him.
- Baby Mario is the older brother of Baby Mario, much like the games. He also stands up to Baby Luigi over him getting bullied by a bully.
- The Lumalee is a star-like creature who is trapped in a cage, where he is sucidially morbid, and he annoys the other character. He stays in his cage, and gets freed by Tanooki Mario. He also became a fan-favorite.
- The Driver is a Kong who drives Mario, Toad, and Princess Peach to Cranky Kong's palace.
- Yoshi is a green dinosaur-like character with him being in an egg named a Yoshi's egg, and he first appears in the wedding scene of Princess Peach and Bowser, where a Shy Guy places him on a table with many other wedding gifts (which is ironic, since Shy Guys and Yoshis are enemies in the game), and his egg is sucked in the Brooklyn sewers. He is also allued in the aforementioned post-credits scene, where his egg is shown hatching and he says "Yoshi!".
- 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' teleportations 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 of "Super Mario Bros." with the same font of 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 making 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 tileset 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 on it 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.
- There is a place named "Castle Burger" which is an obvious reference to Super Mario Bros..
- 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 the 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 Kyƫshutsu 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.
- The aforementioned Small Mario reference.
- 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 (in spite of 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 antiques 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.
- Yoshi's Island even returns.
- 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.
- In the flashback of Baby Mario and Baby Luigi at preschool, there is a toy Castle.
- "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 references 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.
- MARIO KART ON RAINBOW ROAD. ENOUGH SAID.
- 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 which 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", that is about his love of Princess Peach and him 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 ending is great/good, as Mario and Luigi decide to stay in the Mushroom Kingdom and go in a Warp Pipe that leads to Brooklyn, and can be seen as setting up the sequel.
- The battle scenes are awesome:
- The opening.
- The dog scene aforementioned is hilarious and great.
- The scene where Luigi runs away from Dry Bones (that gives off Luigi's Mansion, Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon, and Luigi's Mansion 3 vibes) while disturbing, is fun.
- The scene where Mario fights Donkey Kong is hilarious.
- Mario and Donkey Kong fight a bunch of enemies and Donkey Kong uses a Fire Flower to turn into Fire Donkey Kong (which makes his debut here, and the seventh time he uses a Fire Flower following Super Smash Bros., Super Smash Bros. Melee, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.) and Mario eats a Super Mushroom that turns him into Super Mario and eventually uses a Super Leaf to turn into Tanooki Mario.
- The scene where a Banzai Bill chases Mario while angry for Tanooki Mario to attack its left eye and gives Mario attention while chasing Tanooki Mario.
- The Brooklyn scene where Mario gets the Super Star where Mario and Luigi turn use the Super Star to turn into Invincible Mario and Invincible Luigi, defeat all of the enemies and fall on the ground, attack Bowser and use different movements on him and swing him up into the air much like Super Mario 64 where Mario does it and punch him all the way into the ground where Bowser hilariously tries to breathe fire on the Mario Bros. but it doesn't work since they are invincible due to using the star.
- 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 the backgrounds being the following:
- 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.
- Mario's hat and a bunch of Red Mushrooms in a light blue background.
- Princess Peach's crown with two flags with an emblem and a Rainbow in the background.
- Luigi's hat with a bunch of stuff he has.
- Bowser's Castle showing the back of Bowser's shell.
- Toad's hat with his items.
- Donkey Kong's Tie with a bunch of Bananas, two Brick Blocks, a Question Block, and a red girder in a green background.
- Cranky Kong's stuff with a Banana on top in an orange background.
- A Question Block.
- A bunch of dummy Banzai Bills from the training course moving and cutting to a bunch of Coins, with the robot Piranha Plants from the same training course "chomping" them.
- Ludwig von Koopa's piano plays itself with the keys moving.
- A Nintendo Entertainment System controller and multiple Kid Icarus cartridges appearing on a light green background.
- Two Red Mushrooms, a Blue Mushroom, four Question Blocks, and a Coin in an orange background.
- 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 it swimming away.
- Peach's Castle being shown and it being shown of fire when a rendition of the Castle theme from Super Mario World plays.
- A Dry Bones angry and its eyes glowing and opening its mouth with the Bats being shown.
- The Snift mask and a bunch of Shy Guy masks are shown.
- Multiple flags with Bowser's emblem on them in Bowser's Castle.
- Two of Kamek's wands are shown doing a spell.
- The Training course that Mario fails at is shown, in the morning, the afternoon, evening, and night.
- One Yellow Warp Pipe and two Green Pipes, and more pipes are shown with a Piranha Plant coming.
- A Red Mushroom, a Blue Mushroom, a Super Leaf, a Ice Flower, and a Question Block.
- Even Rainbow Road reappears in the credits.
- 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 is great, and he storyboarded the movie greatly, which looks nice in the final movie.
- 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.
- The world building is amazing.
- 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 by 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 and be very profitable, getting mainly positive reviews from audiences and grossing a billion dollars in less than a month.
Bad Qualities
- Prior to the film's release, Chris Pratt's performance was deemed a bit underwhelming as seen in the teasers and trailers, however, his voice acting is great, even though Mario in the film sounds more like Sonic the Hedgehog and Chris Pratt himself.
- Fred Armisen's role as Cranky Kong, while great, sounds way too young for his character as he sounds more like Larry David, ironically leading to a lot of people thinking that Larry David was originally going to be Cranky Kong until he turned it down.
- The humor, while still great, is a bit dark at times even for Mario standards, such as Lumalee's jokes, which can be a bit disturbing at times.
- In the same vein of Popeye disliking Spinach in the 1980 film staring 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, Bowser attempting to burn all of his victims at the wedding, including Luigi and the Lumalee.
- 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 Frienemy 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.
- There are many, MANY missed opportunities:
- It was a big missed opportunity to have the Universal Pictures fanfare be in 8-bit, much like Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
- Even though this is a nitpick, it was a missed opportunity to have the logo be shown in the beginning, combined with the fact that almost of all of the TV spots implied the logo would be shown in the beginning.
- While the Super Star is what Bowser steals after defeating the Penguins in the Snow Kingdom, it was a huge missed opportunity to have it be a Power Star, especially since most people and fans thought it would be a Power Star and the fact that Bowser would try to steal them all to take over the world and marry Princess Peach. Additionally, he is not shown stealing any of the other Super Stars nor trying to get them before Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad despite plot sources online saying that he would.
- While Jessica DiCicco does voice the Commercial woman in the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing commercial as mentioned above, it was a huge missed opportunity to have the lady be voiced by Jeannie Elias, the voice of Princess Peach (known as Princess Toadstool) in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show, especially the fact that multiple sources online said she would be voicing the lady.
- There are no references to several Nintendo franchises as Metroid and Kirby.
- The demolition site where Mario and Luigi used to work at, with Foreman Spike being their boss where his office does not appear, nor does it show any of Mario and Luigi's past jobs.
- It was a missed opportunity to have the movie take place in 1985, Super Mario Bros. release year, and would have fit perfectly.
- Donkey Kong (or a younger Cranky Kong) kidnapping Pauline with Mario going on all of the Donkey Kong levels was a huge missed opportunity.
- Francis could have easily been the Duck Hunt dog. Though the Duck Hunt dog is seen in a painting.
- Mario's family could have been largely shown, with them going in the Warp Pipe to the Mushroom Kingdom.
- While the NES does appear, it was a huge missed opportunity to have Nintendo's other consoles (Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the Virtual Boy, the Nintendo 64, the Nintendo Gamecube, Nintendo DS, the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and the Wii U) appear.
- Shellcreepers, Sidesteppers, Fighter Flies, Slipices, Icicles, Red Fireballs, and Green Firefalls, could have been in the sewers to the Warp Pipe. It would have also have some POW Blocks in the sewers to the green Warp Pipe as well.
- Foreman Spike has little screen time in this movie. It was also a missed opportunity for him to go to the Mushroom Kingdom, find the Mario brothers, and team up with Bowser, and admit that he was wrong doubting the brothers at the ending, it's disappointing especially with the fact that Sebastian Maniscalo is a part of the main cast. Surprisingly, he was not shown in any promotional media except for his review on the Mario Brothers. website.
- On the topic of Foreman Spike, it can come off as hypocritical that they put him in the movie, but not characters such as Yoshi, Princess Daisy, Rosalina, Bowser Jr., the Koopalings, Birdo,
- While Jessica DiCicco does voice Pauline, it was a huge missed opportunity to have her voiced by Taraji P. Henson, as a rumor said online she would appear in the movie and most fans speculated after Pauline was revealed to appear in the movie, she would be voiced by her.
- On the topic of Pauline, it can come off as hypocritical that they put her in the movie, but not Princess Daisy or Rosalina.
- While Charles Martinet does voice some characters, he does not return as Mario (outside of the training course scene where his "Wahoo!" from the games is used), Luigi, Baby Mario, and Baby Luigi nor do Wario and Waluigi appear, which is disappointing, although it makes sense and at the very least he is at least involved. It was also a missed opportunity for both Wario and Waluigi to appear in a post-credit scene for a sequel such as them in Foreman Spike and trying to get hired by Foreman Spike to go into the same pipe and find the Mario brothers, going to the same pipe that the brothers got sucked in, and going to the Mushroom Kingdom, or they could have been voiced by Danny DeVito and William Dafoe respectively. Surprisingly, there is a rendition of Wario's Battle Canon from Mario Party. There is also a character in Brooklyn who has the same purple color as Waluigi.
- The castle that Luigi goes in and gets scared by a bunch of Shy Guys and a Snift could have been Luigi's Mansion. Concept art shows Luigi's Mansion. In addition, he doesn't use his flashlight in the castle at all.
- Luigi could have used a vacuum cleaner much like Luigi's Mansion.
- Surprisingly, despite being Luigi's girlfriend, Princess Daisy is not seen or mentioned. It was also a big missed opportunity to have Princess Peach get her with Princess Daisy choosing to help Mario, Princess Peach, Toad and other characters stop Bowser from taking over the world with an A-list celebrity voicing her, with her building and also driving a kart, and she would have worked in a supporting role, and the end would've teased Princess Daisy and Luigi's relationship together. The closest things to Princess Daisy appearing are her emblem appearing on a bus stop sign, the Sand Kingdom, and a character who appeared to be her on Rainbow Road.
- Yellow Toad and Blue Toad do not appear.
- Toadsworth could have easily replaced the Blue Toad councillor as Peach's steward, especially since he is one of Peach's long-time stewards in the games. You could replace the Toad councillor with Toadsworth and almost nothing would change with adding his iconic "Jolly good!" quote, down to having glasses, a bow tie, a similar outfit to Toadsworth, a deep voice, and even being the highest-ranking member of Peach's Castle. According to concept art, Toadsworth was supposed to appear, but was sadly cut.
- Toadette does not appear in this movie outside of her cameo. She could have served as an ally with Mario, Toad, and Princess Peach, and even could've played a song in the end of the movie. According to concept art, Toadette was supposed to appear physically, but was cut.
- There could have been a cutout Goomba as the first dummy enemy on the obstacle course, and Mario failing at it with him getting hit by it, much like how several people failing at World 1-1 from Super Mario Bros. due to Mario dying after getting hit by the first Goomba in the 1980s.
- While Luigi does get kidnapped, it was a huge missed opportunity to have him and all of the other prisoners and maybe even the Lumalee escape from their cages with help from the other prisoners, even if he ended up getting caught and being put back in his cage, and there could have been more scenes between him and Bowser, especially with the fact that Mario got massive character development, and he doesn't really do anything when he is in his cage waiting for Tanooki Mario. This would've given Luigi more scenes and character development, thus making him less fearless over time. He doesn't even get that much screentime when he is in his cage either. He will likely get more spotlight in the sequel and in his Luigi's Mansion movie. According to concept art, Luigi was supposed to do a breakout in his cage.
- A Lakitu could have filmed the entire movie as a fourth wall joke, with the characters not noticing him doing it, and him revealing himself as a "mistake" of him filming the entire movie which would have been a fourth wall joke. Concept art shows a Lakitu filming the movie.
- The Yoshis and Yoshi could have helped Mario, Toad, and Princess Peach and served as an ally to stop Bowser from taking over the world, especially that Yoshi is an iconic character. But aside from a brief cameo of a Yoshi herd and a third post-credits scene, Yoshi does not appear at all, and he will get a major role in the sequel. The official trailer and TV spots implied that Yoshi's Island would have a bigger role. According to concept art, Yoshi was supposed to have a bigger role and appear outside of the post-credits scene, but was sadly cut.
- It is not revealed in this movie that Kamek is Bowser's caregiver like the games, nor is he shown to be familiar with Yoshi's Island.
- The other places (Bob-omb Battlefield, the Sand Kingdom, and the Yoshi Valley, and Yoshi's Island) could have been explored for a little bit. The training montage is also way too short, only lasting for a few seconds. If the Sand Kingdom had more screen time, then Princess Daisy likely been shown and introduced.
- There could have been an "8-bit" joke in this movie.
- Other locations such as Subcon, Subcon (which could have been in a dream), Sarasaland (in spite of the Sand Kingdom appearing), Giant Land, many Airships (in spite of an Airship from Super Mario Bros. 3 rendition being used in this movie), Dinosaur Island (in spite of Yoshi and the Yoshis appearing alongside Yoshi's Island, according to concept art, Dinosaur Island was supposed to appear in a map but was sadly cut), Whomp's Fotress, Big Boo's Haunt, Shifting Sand Land, Jolly Rodger Bay, Dire, Dire Docks, Snowman's Land, Lava Lethal Land, Wet-Dry World, Tall, Tall Mountain, Tiny-Huge Island, Tick Tock Clock, Rainbow Ride, Hazy Mazy Cave, Cool Cool Moutain (in spite of it appearing in a picture in Peach's Castle), Tick Tock Clock, Rainbow Ride, Cloud Kingdom, Isle Delfino/Delfino Piaza, Pinna Park, Noki Bay, Pianta Village, the Comet Obsertory (which would have made for an obvious Rosalina post-credits scene), Good Egg Galaxy, Honeyhive Galaxy, Gusten Garden Galaxy (despite a rendition of it being used), Toy Time Galaxy, Sunshine Seaside, World 3-2 from Super Mario 3D Land, World 6-1 from Super Mario 3D Land, World 7-1 from Super Mario 3D Land, the Sprixie Kingdom, Super Bell Hill, Koopa Troopa Cave, Switch Scramble Circus, Double Cherry Pass, Hands-On Hall, Lake Lapcat from Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, Soda Jungle, the Cascade Kingdom, the Wooden Kingdom, the Ruined Kingdom, the Snow Kingdom (which would have indeed made for a funny joke), New Donk City/Metro Kingdom, the Seaside Kingdom, the Lake Kingdom, the Luncheon Kingdom (in spite of a rendition of Mount Volbono: Town by Shiho Fujii from Super Mario Odyssey being used in The Mushroom Council), the Moon Kingdom (in spite of Bowser setting up a wedding and even the Moon itself appearing in posters and the actual movie), Bean Bean Kingdom from Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga, Pillo Island, Rogueport, Luigi's Mansion (in spite of this movie setting up a Luigi's Mansion spin-off and the mansion being referenced when Luigi says "Thank you for calling Super Mario Brothers Plumbing! It's-a me, Luigi! Ah, if you need service, please-uh text us the same number you just called! 929-55-MARIO! That's 929-556-2746! Message us about any issues wherever you live! House, condo... mansion? And we'll be sure to text you back right away, because at Super Mario Brothers Plumbing, we don't say, 'Let's-a wait!'; we say, 'Let's-a go!' Oh, and uh, check out our website smbplumbing.com! We're still working on it, so.... more updates to come. Buh-bye!" in the Super Mario Bros. Plumbing call with it appearing in concept art in the Dark Lands), Baby Park, Coconut Mall, etc, do not appear.
- Additionally, the Tosteranas, Knucklotec, the Jaxis, and Harriet are all absent and do not appear.
- Birdo does not appear nor is referenced with an exception of an egg. Birdo is seen in storyboards.
- It was a missed opportunity to have a slower version of Good Egg Galaxy in the Fire Flower yard scene.
- Shockingly, Fire Mario does not appear at all. It was also a missed opportunity to have Mario use a Fire Flower to turn into Fire Mario in the Fire Flower yard. Surprisingly, there is concept art for him, which were sadly cut.
- The "Ludwig von Koopa" piano that Bowsers uses in his "Peaches" song could have easily been the Mad Piano from Super Mario 64.
- Luigi does not use that much power-ups at all with the exception of the Super Star.
- The Kong with sunglasses who drives Mario could have been Funky Kong. Thankfully, Funky Kong is in the movie.
- Cranky Kong could have been a little more crankier, and his normal outfit from the games doesn't appear. Cranky Kong in his normal outfit is shown in concept art.
- Cranky Kong does not say "Hi Donkey Kong!" to his son.
- While the fight between Mario and Donkey Kong in the Great Ring of Kong was great, it was a big missed opportunity to them fighting in a Super Smash Bros.-style fight with no power-ups until Mario win.
- Donkey Kong does not say "Banana slamma!" or "I'll shower you with coconut cream pies!" despite using Seth Rogen's iconic laugh in the hilarious fight of Mario and Donkey Kong and the scene of Super Mario and Donkey Kong fighting the enemies in the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Strangely and surprisingly, while Chunky Kong does appear, Lanky Kong and Tiny Kong are absent.
- Candy Kong is also absent as well, and could have driven a kart on Rainbow Road.
- Bluster Kong is also absent.
- Mario turns into Cat Mario with a Super Bell, but he is not shown touching the Super Bell on-screen. Concept art shows a Super Bell appearing.
- Diddy Kong and Dixie Kong could have helped create the karts and played a slightly bigger role. Additionally, after the fight with Mario and Donkey Kong in this movie, they are never seen again. Concept art of Diddy Kong playing a bigger role is shown.
- It was a missed opportunity to have Rambi physically appear, alongside with Squawks, Expresso, Enguarde, Winky, Ratty, Squitter, Glimmer, Clapper, Quawks, Ellie, Lightfish, Hoofer, Flurl, Orco, and Tawks appear. Squawks is shown in concept art.
- The Lakitu referee from the Mario Kart series could have did the countdown before the characters drive on Rainbow Road.
- Luigi does not make a kart nor get to drive on Rainbow Road, though this is excusable as he is kidnapped for most of the film until he is rescued by Tanooki Mario.
- While Koopa Clown Cars appear, Bowser's own Koopa Clown Car doesn't appear, nor do Junior Clown Cars appear.
- The Koopa Troopas in Clown Cars who kidnap the Kongs including Cranky Kong could have been the Toadies, which is a small missed opportunity. Concept art shows Toadies in place of them.
- While Bowser does convince Princess Peach to marry her, it was a huge missed opportunity to have her and maybe Toad getting kidnapped, with Bowser or one of the Koopa Troopas in a Koopa Clown Car taking Princess Peach, and putting her and/or Toad in a cage to burn them with lava, with Mario defeating Bowser and Princess Peach.
- Kamek's broom only appears in one scene of the film, which is the scene of him telling the prisoners "Hello, prisoners! You don't deserve this, but you're invited to the royal wedding! ...Where you will all be ritualistically sacrificed!".
- While King Bob-omb and King Boo do appear at Bowser's wedding, it was a missed opportunity to have Petey Piranha, King Goomba, and King Whomp from Super Mario 64 be there too.
- For some reason, Mario does not use his Long Jump when multiple items from the Mushroom Kingdom come into Brooklyn.
- While the final battle in Brooklyn is awesome, it was a huge missed opportunity to have it take place in Bowser's flying airship with Mario breaking into it, running over the castle, and using the axe to get rid of Bowser (but it would be revealed that it's a Fake Bowser), with Bowser ground pounding and trying to ground pound Mario while hilarious destroying his own castle, Bowser stealing or going into his own Koopa Clown Car, Mario punching Bowser, him throwing Top hats much like Super Mario Odyssey, and him defeating Bowser in the lava while Kamek uses his magic to turn Bowser into Giant Bowser, Mario and Luigi "stealing" a Super Star behind Bowser's back, and defeating Giant Bowser and using an button that makes him sink in the lava and turning into Dry Bowser. Concept art shows Mario and Bowser fighting on top of a platform of lava.
- Mario could have said "So long, kinga Bowser!" or "So long, gay Bowser!" when he throws Bowser in Brooklyn up in the sky.
- The ending could have had Princess Peach celebrating Mario and Luigi's victory of Brooklyn and the Mushroom Kingdom, with her having a massive celebration with a cake and a party in Peach's Castle, with her kissing Mario on the face, Mario and Luigi building their own house, and Princess Daisy being introduced and hinted. In addition, it is not revealed how Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, Bowser, Donkey Kong, all of the items, (except for the Yoshi's Egg got back to the Mushroom Kingdom after getting out of Brooklyn), revealed what happened to the Penguins, the Penguin king, the Kongs, though it is strongly implied that the Penguin king went home and rebuilt his city and the castle, all of the Mushroom Kingdom items except for the green egg went back into the Warp Pipe, the Kongs went home. Rosalina coming in the Mushroom Kingdom.
- Princess Peach could have gave Toad a headlamp and an adventure outfit and made him Captain Toad in the end, especially since he has a similar backpack and even the Captain Toad theme playing in the scene where Mario goes into the Mushroom Kingdom and he meets Toad. Concept art shows Captain Toad appearing.
- While the end credits are creative, it was a huge missed opportunity to have them be in 8-bit.
- Surprisingly, while The Mario Rap returns, Do the Mario does not appear. Chris Pratt could have sang it and done a cover of it, especially since he was cast as Mario and the fact that multiple fans wanted it in this movie after he was cast as Mario.
- We Are Born To Play from CharlieXCX and Galantis could've played in the end credits, but it did not, instead we just get a massive track named "Level Complete" (which was leaked prior to the film's release) that has an orchestral version of the Super Mario Bros. theme, the Super Mario Bros. 2 theme (part of it, the beginning), the Super Mario Bros. Underground Theme, The Toad Brigade, the Enemy Battle from Super Mario Bros. 3, the Course Clear from Super Mario Bros., the Underwater Theme from Super Mario Bros., the Castle theme from Super Mario World, and Gusty Garden Galaxy from Super Mario Galaxy, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie Main Theme instead.
- Luigi's flashlight could have been in the end credits in place of Luigi's phone on his casting with Charlie Day's name, since it would have been Luigi's Mansion's themed.
- Jump Up, Super Star from Super Mario Odyssey could have also been used in the credits, with Jessica DiCicco singing a cover of it in her Pauline voice.
- Rosalina and the regular Lumas are surprisingly disappointingly not in this movie, especially with the fact that the Lumalee appears without her and the regular Lumas and he is just there as a supporting character. It was also a huge missed opportunity of her appearing in the ending or a post-credits scene setting for a Super Mario Galaxy, such as a scene where she is shown in the Comet Observatory with the regular Lumas, Lumalee coming home, her picking up Lumalee, or her appearing with or without any lines in the scene with Lumalee before the credits, especially with the McDonald's leaks, the speculations, the fact that Lumalee appears in the movie, the Galaxy reference, the Gusty Garden Galaxy theme being used, the aforementioned post-credit scene with Lumalee before the credits start. and a rumor saying she would appear in the ending saying it has been 100 years since she has been in the Mushroom Kingdom. Not helping by the fact that this is the second piece of Mario media where any Luma appears without Rosalina following Mario Tennis Open and even the first media where a variant of Luma appears without any type of regular Luma even yellow Lumas. In addition, it is not revealed how the Lumalee got lost or where the Lumalee came from, such as the Comet Observatory.
- Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings are not in this movie. Speaking of which, Bowser Jr. could have served as a secondary antagonist with Bowser with him helping him with his plans, not helping by the fact that he's Bowser's son. They could have appeared in a post-credits scene for a sequel like Bowser Jr. figuring out his dad is shrunken and calling the Koopalings while they plan on getting revenge on Mario or Kamek calling Bowser Jr. and the Koopalings over to go stop Mario. The closest thing to Bowser Jr. appearing are the Bowser's Fury theme being used and Koopa Troopas in Koopa Clown Cars appearing. Thankfully, Ludwig von Koopa is mentioned on a piano. But at least we have Kamek as Bowser's right hand man.
- While King Boo does appear in this movie, it was a huge missed opportunity for him to appear in a post-credits scene for a Luigi's Mansion spin-off movie, like him showing himself and Luigi screaming, or Luigi showing Mario that he got a note saying he won a mansion, with Mario being happy, and the laugh of King Boo (or possibly reprised by Toru Asakawa via archive recording) being heard as the screen goes up to the Moon.
- Enemies such as Boos (they are shown in concept art), Fire Bubbles (they are they only enemies from Super Mario Bros. not to appear and they are shown in concept art), Spikes (in spite of Foreman Spike appearing, which would have made for a funny joke), Thwomps (they are shown in concept art), Whomps, Wigglers, Bullies, Monty Moles, Rocky Wrenches, Wigglers, Swoops (they are replaced by Bats), Lakitus (in spite of Spinies appearing and the fact that they are shown in concept art), Fire Bros., Ice Bros., Boomerang Bros., Pokies (one is shown on concept art on a box), Peepas, Spike Tops, Galoombas, Fire Piranha Plants, the Angry Sun, Strechs, Goomba Shoes, Broozers, Para-Goombas, Renzors, colored Shy Guys, Munchers, Nipper Plants, Fish Bones, Deep Cheeps, Fire Chomps, Ptooties, Fire Snakes, Mini-Goombas, etc, do not appear. Surprisingly and strangely, King Boo is the Boo to appear, which is made worse by that, and they could have been enemies in the Dark Lands. They could have also appeared in the Castle with Luigi and the Shy Guys, this is made worse by the fact that they were actually going to appear in concept art but were sadly cut.
- Wart could have appeared in a post-credits scene for a sequel, such as him planning out his plans or Mario going to sleep and a silhouette of Wart being shown.
- There could have been a post-credits scene for a Legend of Zelda movie, such as a woods being shown and showing a rock with the Master Sword stuck in it.
- Dry Bowser could have also appeared in a post-credits scene if the possible aforementioned Mario vs. Bowser in Bowser's Castle happened, with a pile of his bones coming up and bubbling in the Lava, while showing glowing gold eyes as the screen pans to black. Fake leaks said that Dry Bowser would appear in the movie.
- King K. Rool could have appeared in a post-credit scene for a sequel or a Donkey Kong spin-off film, such as him setting up his plans to steal the Kongs' Banana horde.
- Starlow doesn't appear in the film and could have been a supporter to Mario throughout the film.
- Mario could have said "Thank you so much for watching my movie!!!" with Charles Martinet reprising his role of Mario from the games after the end credits.
- Surprisingly, while most of the creditors are credited, Grant Kirkhope, Daisuke Matsuoka, and James Phillipsen are not credited for the DK Rap and "Bowser's Fury" respectively.
- False advertising:
- In the teaser poster, a Flying ? Block is seen, but it does not make an appearance in the final film.
- As mentioned above, on the teaser poster, Princess Daisy's emblem is shown on the teaser poster. But in the final film, she does not make an appearance or is mentioned at all.
- A turnip is shown in a video with Toad, but it does not make an appearance in the final film. It will likely appear in the sequel.
- 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.
- In multiple posters of the film of Bowser stealing the Super Star from the Penguins, it shows him stealing it and him 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.
- The Super Mario Bros. Plumbing van is heavily marketed in advertising in this film to the point of having merchandise and even a real-life version of it, but it only has 10 seconds of screen time and the "Luigi" side of the van isn't even shown. Concept art shows the "Luigi" side being shown.
- 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.
- The Koopa General and his team appear on a lot of posters for the film, but he and his team get pretty little screen time in the final film.
- In some promotional material (a hop-scotch-like thing), a 1-Up Mushroom is shown, but it does not make a final appearance in the film.
- In a figure for Princess Peach, he is shown with a Princess Peach's Parasol is shown.
- The Training Course is seen at the afternoon, but it the final film, it only appears at the evening, nighttime, and morning.
- On one of the posters in the film, Mario, Princess Peach, and Toad are sitting on a Mushroom Platform together looking at the Mushroom Kingdom and Peach's Castle, which implies that it would happen during the ending, but in the final film, it does not happen at all.
- On one of the posters in the film, Mario, Princess Peach, Toad, Donkey Kong, and Cranky Kong are shown driving on Rainbow Road with the Koopa General in his Winged Spiny-Shell, but in the final film, this doesn't happen at all.
- Yoshi's Egg is shown on the teaser poster, which implies that Yoshi would be having a main role in the film, but in the final film, he doesn't have a main role at all or is physically seen since he only appears in the post-credits scene.
- Foreman Spike's emblem has him with his original design, but in the final film, he has a different design, and his emblem does not appear at all during the film.
- A Flying ? Block is shown on the teaser poster, but it does not appear at all in the final 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 in 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.
- 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.
- The logo is shown in almost all of the TV spots for the final, but in the final film, the logo is instead shown in the end.
- In multiple posters of the film, it looked like Rainbow Road would take place in space, but in the final film, it takes place at nighttime.
- Kamek's broom appears in many promotional media, but in the final film, it only appears in one scene.
- Bob-omb Battlefield, the Sand Kingdom, and Yoshi's Island appear in many TV spots for the film and some trailers, but in the final film, they only appear in two scenes.
- 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 don't help Bowser and battle Princess Peach when she is clearly putting Bowser in 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 when they were trapped in a Morray Eel, He takes petty on Mario when they talk about their fathers. Foreman Spike could also be unlikable for the same reasons.
- 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 as they likely didn't know its use.
- Mario is able to 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 don't seem to care that Mario and Luigi are not in Brooklyn and are missing for so long. They don't even go around Brooklyn to try and find Mario. Though this can be excused by the fact that they didn't know where he was at and/or they thought Mario and Luigi were in their rooms, respectively.
- As mentioned above in WI'sS#10, the references, while awesome, can be a bit overused.
- For some reason, the Universal Movies opening is shorter.
- 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 really a bad thing overall, there is a brief product placement for iPhones, which feel 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 for increasing 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 similarly to the Sonic Movies, with praise for it's 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 of 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".
The Angry Joe, on the other hands, gave the score 5/10, saying that he likes the visuals, the story and faithfulness to the original. But it criticisms for average voice actor and some of them scenes that he didn't like. He listing incorrectly to the Worst Movie of 2023 and many viewers upset that why he listing here?
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's most expensive film to date, with a budget of $100 million as a result of Nintendo's and Universal's financing.
- Comedian Kevin T. Porter pretended to be the film's supposed casting director on Twitter, and jokingly posted an apology referencing various companies' apologies.
- 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.
- Additionally, Chris Meledandri was announced to be the "outside director" of Nintendo for future media, and even expressed interest in adapting other Nintendo media into films.
- Nintendo would acquire Dynamo Pictures to form Nintendo Pictures for visual content in October 2022.
- A The Legend of Zelda movie was later announced in November 2023.
- This is Illumination's highest-budget film to date, as a result of Nintendo making and controlling the movie.
- This movie is the third movie to reunite Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, following The Lego Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.
- This movie is the third movie to reunite Keegan-Michael Key and Seth Rogen, following the 2019 version of The Lion King.
- This movie is the fourth movie (and the first one outside of the Kung Fu Panda series) to reunite Jack Black and Seth Rogen, following Kung Fu Panda, Kung Fu Panda 2, and Kung Fu Panda 3. This is also the first non-Dreamworks Animation movie to reunite them.
- This movie reunites Jessica DiCicco, John DiMaggio, Phil LaMarr, Carlos Alazraqui, Eric Bauza, Cree Summer, and Khary Payton, as they previously starred in The Loud House, with Jessica DiCicco voicing several characters such as Lynn, Lucy, Benny Stein in "L Is for Love", Zach, and more, John DiMaggio voicing several characters such as Mr. Grouse, Flip, Chunk, and more, and is the second movie to feature them following The Loud House Movie, Phil LaMarr voicing Kotaro,Carlos Alazraqui voicing several characters such as Carlos Casagrande, Sergio, Vito Filliponio, and more, Eric Bauza voicing Rex, Cory Nakamura, Bruno, Nelson, and Cree Summer voicing Paula Price.
- This movie reunites Khary Payton and Scott Menville, following Teen Titans Go!. This makes sense since The Super Mario Bros. Movie has the creators of Teen Titans Go! directing 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 Scumpter and Colleen O'Shaughnessey's names not being in the main Sonic the Hedgehog 2 poster (until it was changed due to backlash), Sebastain Maniscalco and Charles Martinet's names are not in the poster with the cast members names in it.
Videos
Promotional
Official trailer
Actual movie
Gallery
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External links
The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the Internet Movie Database
The Super Mario Bros. Movie on Rotten Tomatoes