Okay, this is not a drill but yes, they released a live-cartoon action movie of Super Mario Bros this 2023 and it’s better than the video games. If you’re a fan of Nintendo Games, then you’ll know who Super Mario is, well, there’s so much to catch up on if you don’t know him. Most 90s kids know him, even the ones who have been breathing in 1985. It is the most popular retro game of all time, that even generations of today still enjoys the game and the game has improved so much that Nintendo released 4K games and they’re closer to real. This April 2023, they have released the movie which is all about Mario and Luigi and their journey to saving friends which based entirely with the game.

The movie started with Mario and Luigi getting their dream plumbing business into reality, however, fate is not always in favour of them; even their own family doesn’t want to believe in the things that they can do, hence, the low-self esteem of Mario. However, as we all know, Mario was made to do extraordinary things, just like int the game and so they tried to keep their business by trying a much bigger challenges like saving Brooklyn from flood. In the course of trying to look for the root cause of the flooding in the city of Brooklyn, they end up being sucked up by the pipe, just like in the games, leading them into two different worlds, Luigi fell into Bowser’s Kingdom, the evil turtle who kidnaps Princess Peach in the game while Mario ends up in the Mushroom world where Princess Peach and the toads live.

In the beginning of the film, they also showed that Bowser was in possession of the Superstar, the Star that can make someone invincible and than makes Bowser the strongest creature in the land and he is about to conquer the whole world using the star.

With the bad intentions of Bowser, Princess Peach wanted to save her kingdom and then she met Mario, who doesn’t know anything about their world, he is bound to save his brother, Luigi upon learning that he is imprisoned by Bowser. In order to save the Mushroom World from being invaded and to save Luigi, Princess and Mario need to work together and so, Princess tried to teach Mario the ways in their world, mostly, since he is a little too small, he needed something to make him taller, that enters the bonus boxes, which we all know exists in the game, and they give different powers to the player; red mushroom to grow taller, Sunflower to gain the ability to shoot fire balls, Cat box to essentially become a cat and the Blue mushroom to make you tiny. She also taught Mario how to face obstacles along the way.

However, the challenge doesn’t end there, they need an army to help them defeat Bowser’s own army and so they seek help from the Jungle Kingdom. Mario had to defeat Donkie Kong in order to get additional armies and so they did. Bowser wanted to marry Princess Peach (kudos to the piano playing, Bowser!) Princess peach agreed to save her toads but not for long, in the movie she is the kind of Princess who doesn’t need saving, a strong and independent Princess was shown. But even if she is strong, Bowser is stronger but not as wittier than Mario.

In the movie, they tried to race their way to Bowser and then they tried to get the superstar from him. In the middle of the battle, Mario was chased by a bomb which he intelligently directed form the pipe that sucks up things that goes near it. Well, he did succeed but they ended up getting sucked up as well, due to the explosion, causing them to return to the human world.

In the human world, they still need to defeat Bowser and so Mario and Luigi were able to get the superstar before even bowser did and the two became invincible as promised, just like in the game. They were able to defeat Bowser and had Princess Peach shoved a blue mushroom into Bowser’s mouth, making him tinier than a jar.

The movie ended up having Mario and Luigi be known into their world as the two guys who saved Brooklyn and then they lived in the Mushroom World, do to things extraordinarily.

The Verdict

Oh yes, Chris Pratt was the voice of Mario, Anya Taylor-Joy was Princess Peach, Jack Black for Bowser, Charlie Day for Luigi and Seth Rogen for Donkie Kong and also there are other well known celebrities who participated in this movie which makes this a real-star studded movie. The movie was fun, it was meant for children but also I strongly believe that it is also meant for gamers and the old ones who knew the game Super Mario. I love how they incorporated a story that is close to the game and all the elements in the game were actually there.

I also love the ‘mario kart’ elements, the mario game from 1985 up until today was there, care about odyssey and mario and friends, boom! Also present. This was fun to watch in the movie theater for kids which I was able to do so. I was seating with a full house of kids and all the laughters and giggling were there especially when Mario was trying so hard to get bonus boxes.

I even heard parents laughing with their kids during the show. And as of today, the gross earnings of this film has reach 434 million dollars, making it the highest grossing universal animated movie of all time, followed by the Minions: The Rise of Gru which was first in the list before.

Animated films like this should at least be closer to the origin, it maybe be a story book or retro games. I definitely can say that this movie is one of the movies that the kids need to watch. Aside form the whole Super Mario Bros. Elements being present in the film to also teaches kids the importance of brotherhood and family and that’s what Mario and Luigi showed us.

All in all, I’d definitely give this 97% wonderroanne rating. Do I even have to defend my answer? I mean if you think I’m wrong, you should watch it for yourself.