Rating of
1.5/4
Box office juggernaut that felt thoroughly generic
Indyfreak - wrote on 02/24/24
Weird how this movie was such a big hit despite its extremely bland characterization and by-the-numbers plotting. As far as 2023 video game movies go, I wish the new Dungeons & Dragons was a bigger success. I will credit the movie animation for being honestly beautiful to look at. The world of Super Mario Bros. has not looked better on film. Certainly better than the 1993 live-action misfire.
But it's a shame that the actual story is so forgettable and the characters are so one-note despite their iconic status. Jack Black stands out as the one good vocal performance as the evil Bowser. Chris Pratt and Anya Taylor-Joy are kind of just phoning it in as 'plucky hero' and 'spunky heroine'. Charlie Day on paper should be a slam dunk as Luigi but he's actually pretty annoying in this. Seth Rogan is pretty much playing himself as Donkey Kong.
Perhaps I'm expecting too much of a Super Mario Bros. movie, especially one that is a cartoon. But I look at other recent releases like Encanto, the Spider-verse movies, and Puss in Boots 2. All are family oriented animated movies that still tried and still cared about quality storytelling. The level of emotional depth is the same for any Saturday morning cartoon throwing in a random 'life lesson' by the end.
Another thing I'll lend some positive attention to is that the movie doesn't waste time and honestly it flew by quicker than expected. Gamers and families with little kids might get what they were expecting.
