Super Mario Bros. Movie Review

Illumination with the animation The Super Mario Bros. Movie proved to be the right partner for the Nintendo company in producing a movie adaptation of the Mario game series.

What do audiences want from film and television adaptations of video games? Hollywood studios have been looking for an answer to this question for years. Many formulas were tested, and numerous adaptations hit the wall. Even some works that reached acceptable sales did not bring extraordinary profits. The often adverse reactions of critics to most of these films and series cannot be forgotten either.
Various companies have been trying for years to finally find a way to make highly acclaimed video games, Attempts that are beyond the scope of this text. But today, we do not recognize the magic of making video game adaptations. This world remembers the beautiful sequences of the Arcane animation, the emotional moments of the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, and the overall success of The Last of Us series.
In such a situation, the time has finally arrived for one of the video game industry giants to re-enter the cinema. Why re-enter? Because Nintendo visited this medium decades ago. Finally, when we talk about the dark spots in the history of video game adaptations, it is impossible not to mention the 1993 movie Super Mario Bros.
Everything we need to know about the change in the approach of the film and television industry towards cooperation with the video game industry is in the general comparison of The Super Mario Bros. animation. The movie can be summed up with that unfortunate effect. That movie didn’t pay homage to the source material, and this one tries to find the right way to pay tribute to the source material.

What is the audience looking to see? What do fans want from a movie or TV adaptation of a popular video game?

The main difference between an abjectly failed adaptation and one that sets various remarkable records is whether or not it has the correct answers to such questions. Like it or not, it must be accepted that the story is not necessarily limited to the artistic dimensions of the production of these works. Even if we only look at the level from the point of view of a few wealthy producers, the intelligent thing is to give the audience what they want. When the basic needs of the viewer are met, more viewers will follow.
The matter is so simple that it makes one angry: Angry at how companies have been constantly getting hit over the years for not understanding the beauty of the video game world and not welcoming gamers with open arms.

The old players and fans of any game series are naturally known as the central audience of such adaptations. Do you know what the most significant demand of most of these people is from adaptations? They remember their feelings while playing the game as soon as they see them. This can happen in different ways. For example, for Last of Ace, the series was obliged to make the audience deeply involved in complex emotions such as sadness and loss in critical sequences. On the other hand, we have works like Arkin and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, which show with excellent illustrations that when a part of the world of a video game is depicted in another medium, it can have new beauty.

Designed by Illumination and voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy, this Princess Peach is cuter than the princesses we’ve seen in Mario games.

In any case, when a gamer sits down to watch a movie or series based on his favorite game, he naturally feels the space of the controller in his hands. The adaptation should be done as much as possible so that he does not have time to think about the open place of the handle. How each successful transformation does this depends on many things, including how much story the source of the adaptation has to tell and what kind of story it narrates.

When we come across video games such as the Super Mario game series, which are inherently loved by the audience because of their gameplay, it is not easy at all. These gameplay-focused games are so tied to the interactive nature of the video game world that many need interaction to understand them. What is Mario without a handle in the audience’s hand?

When fans of the character-centric Mario series sit down and praise them, they’re usually not talking about story or characterization. They talk about gameplay, their complex challenges, and the creativity that Nintendo game makers spend designing these attractive challenges. When the main attraction of the source of the adaptation cannot be brought to the medium of cinema, the first task of the creators cannot be the creation of the adapted animation itself. They must first understand what they will adapt to succeed in this path.

Illumination won Super Mario Bros. when it realized that “millions of people’s sense of nostalgia for the Mario franchise” seemed more potent than any story told in the Mario universe to date.

This issue is seen in different parts of the movie. Many critical sequences of the Super Mario Brothers animation are made to enhance the memory of the experience of a particular stage in the gamer’s mind. Even many people who don’t consider themselves big fans of this series, when they watch the animation, are busy counting the funny Istrags they are in.
As much as this may explain why the film appeals to millions, it also explains the anger of many critics. This type of adaptation production has an extreme dependence on the emotions present in the audience. In other words, the stronger the connection between the audience and the Mario games, the more attractive such a film becomes. The less you care about these games and the world of video games, the less critical the Instagrams and flashbacks become.
Whether you have a negative or positive opinion about such an adaptation, its production is not accidental. Illumination Studio has often proven that it can handle making cute characters and create an attractive and fresh physical comedy centered on them. Even if we pay attention to the story and storytelling itself, there are works like the first Despicable Me animation in the portfolio of this studio, which have a much stronger script than the Mario animation. So when the animation The Super Mario Bros. Movie focuses more on being faithful to a few interesting parts of the games than anything else, it’s a wise business decision, Not a mistake or accident.

The creators knew what they wanted from the work, and they got it. That the story of the animation The Super Mario Bros. Movie itself has nothing to say is not a coincidence. Sometimes, we go ridiculously from one part of the story to the next to see a specific exciting and attractive sequence sooner, not because the creators fail to tell the story. They have chosen to adapt Mario in this way. If you want to see if this choice worked, look at the popular scores and box office records.
The creators’ decision in this regard does not make the work in question uncriticized. By the way, many people attack precisely the business approaches of big studios and fundamentally question such decisions. The number of blockbuster movies that, according to many, did not have any artistic achievements worthy of praise in the last few years is not small. Many consider this the result of the algorithmic and machine-made decisions of producers who pay more attention to the cinema industry than the art of cinema.
I didn’t say this to criticize all aspects of the Super Mario Brothers animation. Ironically, the article’s point is to put all of the previous statements into the background and explain why Illumination delivered one of the best cinematic adaptations of the Mario series.

One of the biggest mistakes that kept video game adaptation from going anywhere for decades was moving away from the source of the transformation. Studios shy away from video games and want to have a deep relationship with the video game industry. But this changed, and there were brilliant adaptations that were faithful to the main elements of their source material.
In collaboration with Nintendo, Illumination has followed the faithfulness approach to the adaptation’s source. Here, we are talking about a partnership with a Japanese company whose old hard knocks have made it highly conservative in new uses of its collections. So, faithfulness to the source of the adaptation was not only an essential element for the film’s success but also one of the pillars of the formation of this project.
Now you have to ask that when you want to be loyal to Mario while making a Mario animation, how exactly do you show your loyalty? What exactly are you supposed to be dedicated to? To a story that has more or less no vital role in many successful games made with the presence of Mario? To multi-line short stories about a princess being saved by a plumber? Or to a challenging and creative gameplay that depends on interaction and cannot be officially conveyed to the audience in cinema?

By asking these questions, we understand that feelings and memories are the only important thing for adaptation. Relying on nostalgia and pre-formed feelings often does not work. But it is right to count on nostalgia when the work’s audience is so big.
What is the result? In one of the film’s most entertaining sequences, Illumination adapts the first video game in history with the presence of Mario called Donkey Kong, produced in 1981. Of course, the creators use a combination of different events that happened in other Mario games to make their work more interesting. By doing this, they give the audience sitting in the cinema and loves Mario a reason to move away from the back of the seat and come forward, The same reason that many failed adaptations could not give them to the target audience.

When the creators have accepted that the best way to adapt the Super Mario Bros game series is nothing else, their priority is to fill the movie with memorable sequences, From driving over rainbows and reminiscing with the Mario Kart series to Bowser’s never-ending quest to marry Princess Peach.
This targeting undoubtedly has costs. For example, it causes the relationship between many sequences to be not established, and the film looks cut to some extent. But each sequence affects the target audience exactly how the creators wanted.
Suppose we swallow the cane as much as necessary and with the most severe view possible. In that case, we are busy scrutinizing the story weaknesses of The Super Mario Bros. animation. The movie Trampling this movie is not brutal at all. For example, while introducing Mario as a member of an Italian family living in the United States of America, the film does not deal with the concerns and complications of his life as a member of a particular society. Why not show the different layers of his relationship with his family more? Why was the serious issue of being attacked by adults for pursuing dreams glossed over? Why isn’t it explored in depth that Cranky Kong, as the king of the jungle, apparently likes to challenge his son and doesn’t take too kindly to his failure?

But suppose you loved Mario, the video game world, or any other critical elements of this anime before you saw it. In that case, you’d be hard-pressed to find time not to enjoy and attack this work. Does this make the questions raised in the previous paragraph ridiculous? Not necessarily. But sometimes you must think that going to all the movies with the same critical view without change seems backward and boring.

The duty of the producers has been clear to themselves and the audience. They adapted what they wanted and excelled at it. Therefore, when the connection between the primary audience and the work is established, the animation can send a flood of its average strengths to them, Strengths that wouldn’t have much value if the primary connection didn’t exist and if the audience didn’t remember the wonderful world of Mario games when they saw the animation. But now they can multiply the value of seeing the work.
The first and most important positive point of Illumination animations that can be seen in the film is the extraordinary power of this studio in creating characters that each one of them has the most lovable appearance possible. Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, Toad, and Princess Peach couldn’t have entered better. In this type of animation, Illumination has reached a position where it can claim to design the most desirable characters, Characters that stand out in detailed and colorful worlds under different lighting and capture the audience’s heart.
The designs made for the animation of Super Mario Bros. have the same precision that works like the animation of The Secret Life of Pets were eye-catching. Just look at the princess’s new outfit while riding a motorcycle to see how hard the creators have worked to keep the visual integrity of the work while keeping it fresh.
It gets even more interesting when the creative team cleverly brings many of the critical animations seen in the old Mario games into their glamorous world. Therefore, even in how Mario deals with brick blocks, there is a commitment to the source of adaptation, perhaps, just as the familiar and old music of Super Mario games can find its way to the film’s soundtrack at crucial moments So that most of the audience can immerse themselves in this experience full of nostalgia.

The following trump cards are undoubtedly the actors. Jack Black was a perfect choice for the role of Bowser. It conveys all the simple mischievousness of this character and his strange and endless love for Princess Peach, Especially when he sings the song Peaches and uses his different voice capabilities in an ideal way.

On the other hand, Anya Taylor-Joy should be addressed in the role of Princess Peach. The voice acting of an infinitely beautiful and infinitely brave princess requires a specific tone and energy from the actor. He has successfully played this role.

The appeal of voice acting in animation is only sometimes supposed to depend on doing strange things to the voice actors. Sometimes, the main reason for the success of playing a person in a role is his right choice. Super Mario Brothers animation has many of these right choices. Charlie D, for example, even if he only speaks in his normal voice, is an ideal choice to play Luigi in such a fun story setting.

The Super Mario Bros. Animation Movie succeeded because it knew it had an audience. Understand that its success does not depend on pleasing everyone. He trusted that we would smile when we heard It ‘s-A Me, Mario.