By Carolina Alphonso, Staff Writer
The Super Mario Bros. Movie finally jumped into theaters on April 5th, with both kids and adults excited to witness the film. But even with the excitement for the film arriving, there was one thing that many were uncertain about: would the film be true to the games, or would it be a complete flop and a ‘Game Over’ for Illumination studios?
The movie is based on the groundbreaking game Super Mario Bros., which came out in 1985. However, the character Mario made his first appearance in the game Donkey Kong, which came out in 1983 and was originally called Jumpman. Since then, Nintendo has made over 200 games staring the Italian plumber, making him one of the most recognizable video characters in the world. Senior Anthony Meoni talked his experiences with the games saying, “I’ve always had a love for Mario games. They were always so much fun to play. I would spend hours playing Super Mario Galaxy 2.”
In the film, Mario and his younger brother Luigi end up in a strange new world, completely different from their own. The two are unfortunately separated, with Mario landing in the Mushroom Kingdom and Luigi being in the “Dark Lands.” The Mushroom Kingdom had gotten word that Bowser, king of the Koopas, was heading towards them in an effort to take over the world with the Super Star he had stolen from another kingdom. Princess Peach plans to travel to another kingdom, the Kongs, to request help in defeating Bowser. Mario will tag along with the Princess and one brave Toad to not only save his brother but the world as a whole. When asked about the plot, sophomore Cathy Whitney said, “The plot was actually pretty good. There were a bunch of small ideas that led up to the main plot. Plus, I thought the super star was so cute.”
About a year ago, Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Mario and Legend of Zelda, revealed to the world who would voice the characters in the Mario movie. To say the least, audiences were not impressed with the reveal. Chris Pratt, best known for his role as Star Lord (Peter Quill) in Guardians of the Galaxy and the Avengers and Owen Grady in the Jurassic World movies, would be voicing Mario. Luigi is played by Charlie Day, most known for his work in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia playing Charlie Kelly. Princess Peach is played by Anna-Taylor Joy, known for her role as Beth Harmon in the hit Netflix show The Queen’s Gambit. Finally, the voice of Bowser is Jack Black, whose most prominent roles are Po in Kung Fu Panda, Dewey Finn from School of Rock and Professor Shellyfrom Jumanji. When asked about his thoughts on the cast, sophomore Bennett Ababio replied that “The cast was fine, the only problem I had was Mario. When I first heard about it I was wondering why they didn’t have the original voice actor voice him.”
To honor the games and the audience, the movie had many Easter eggs and nostalgic feels. One such detail was the music choice in the film. The introduction of Donkey Kong has the Donkey Kong 64 “DK Rap” by Grant Kirkhope. Many scenes have Mario Galaxy music from the Mario Galaxy games. There is even a game cube theme song that makes an appearance as well. When asked about the music in the film, senior Jason Nguyen commented, “I absolutely love the music! It’s just so happy and every time you hear you get this nostalgic feeling, so them putting in the movie was so amazing.” Sophomore Jizelle Williams also commented on the topic saying, “The musical references were incredible. The water theme when they went underwater, the Mario kart theme when making their cars. That was by far my favorite details in the movie.”
The end credits already seem to hint for another film in the making, but it’s still too early to be sure. It all depends on the viewers. Will Illumination be given the green light and get to work on making the second film, or will the Mario movie be the first and last of the series?