The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) Review

The Super Mario Bros are about to head on an adventure that they never thought possible when they leave Brooklyn through some strange pipes and end up in the Mushroom Kingdom!

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When a film is mainly based upon a video game that was extremely popular surely it’s essential that it has fun and actually has links to the game or games? I certainly think that’s right and that is something that is done in the best possible manner with The Super Mario Bros. Movie and I am rather happy albeit a little surprised to say that I found myself throughly enjoying this film from start to finish.

In terms of the story I guess it was a big challenge to figure out how Mario and Luigi were going to end up travelling from New York City into the different kingdoms so that was always going to be a tough challenge. Then adding in other characters we know so well from the different games in Princess Peach, Bowser and Donkey Kong.

Everything about it when leaving NYC down those pipes felt like we were just watching a game as the brothers were split up with Luigi heading to the dark lands and then Mario in Mushroom Kingdom. Meeting Toad who wants nothing more than an adventure and then seeing Princess Peach for the first time. I absolutely loved what felt like a tutorial as she was training him with the different power ups and movements through the maze like set up. Seriously haven’t we all been there when playing Mario and getting stuck on different levels? That felt so filled with nostalgic moments for me personally. It wasn’t going to stop with that though as we moved around the different kingdoms and the moment we were all waiting for with the Karts and that was a lot of fun as well.

Sometimes we just need to have a little reminder of our childhood games and memories of those on the big screen, I also went to see this on the SuperScreen and it really did look fantastic. The graphics used within the animation was a joy to watch unfold and that is another positive for this fun filled film. The voice cast put together were very impressive as well, even if I was trying to guess the odd voice throughout.

Oh and just a note on how utterly tragic Bowser was and his being in love and singing, outright hilarious! Not forgetting how funny it was to see the turtles go into the shells when they were hit or bumped into. I really feel as though the filmmakers got it spot on with the links to the games and that was rather unexpected. I guess that means I really had no clue what I was heading into with the film. At least it took a very different direction to the latest Sonic films that we have had released.

Well worth giving this film a watch if you have ever played any Mario games!