The Super Mario Bros Movie - Movie Review

Illumination Entertainment has quickly become an animation powerhouse, rivalling animation kings Disney, Pixar, and DreamWorks. Their success has been seen across multiple projects and now franchises including Despicable Me trilogy, Minions & Minions: Rise of Gru, Sing Street 1 & 2, Secret Life of Pets 1 & 2, The Grinch, The Lorax and now The Super Mario Bros Movie. When it was announced in 2018 that a Super Mario Bros Movie was in development, fans from all across the world were excited to see just how it would turn out. Illumination felt like the perfect studio to bring the popular Nintendo video game characters to life, with their signature style of animation fitting the inventive and creative environments that are trademarks of the Mario franchise. With a talented voice cast involved, including the likes of Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach, Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and Keoghan Michael-Key as Toad. The talented cast mixed with the oddball and crazy animation style of Illumination, felt like the perfect combination for an animated, video-game classic. So, was The Super Mario Bros Movie worth the wait?

I ended up having a lot of fun with The Super Mario Bros Movie. It strikes the perfect balance of adventure and fun, whilst also remaining faithful to the game it’s based on. Mario may just be the most recognisable video game character on the planet. The film's monumental success, raking in almost $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office and the universal praise from fans alike, proves that. The film has a sense of fun that a lot of previous video game adaptations seem to lack. The 1993 film of the same name has its moments, but ultimately missed the mark in terms of what the franchise is really about. Here, the 2023 film, manages to capture the video game, whilst also making the film fun, which ultimately is all fans really wanted.

The cast are all great, but the two standouts for me are Charlie Day as Luigi and Jack Black as the film’s main antagonist, Bowser. It feels like Jack Black was born to voice Bowser. If you have seen any of the clips from the press tour, leading up to the film's release in cinemas, you can clearly see that Black has a clear love for the character of Bowser, going as far to perform the song ‘Peaches’ live in a full Bowser outfit. It's wonderful, and I applaud you all to check it out. Charlie Day is also great as Luigi. His interplay with his brother Mario also played well by Chris Pratt, is endearing and also great. They’re chemistry is great, but Charlie Day’s high-pitch voice suits the character, leading to some of the film's more memorable sequences.

The animation is also suitably beautiful. We have sequences that utilise the fun environments, with popping visuals and visceral colours, that look like they have been taken directly from the video games. We have fun sequences including a Super Smash Bros type sequence where Mario fights Donkey Kong in a gladiatorial arena, a Mario Kart sequence where they tackle the most memorable, albeit frustrating track from Mario kart, Rainbow Road. These references never take you out of the film and rather adds to the enjoyment of the overall film. The character designs are also great, with the characters looking like modern 3-D renderings of these classic characters. Their looks are so ingrained in popular culture, so it was great to see they haven’t changed these designs, keeping fans and audiences alike happy.

The Super Mario Bros film is fun, energetic, exciting, and ridiculously entertaining. The cast are all great with Charlie Day’s Luigi proving to be one of the highlights, with Jack Black’s Bowser being the other. Peaches anyone? If you’re a fan of Mario I can’t see you being disappointed with this film and if you’re just after a fun, animated, family-friendly time at the movies, then you can’t go wrong here. The Super Mario Bros Movie is super! Secure your copy of the film on DVD, Blu-Ray or 4K UHD today, by clicking the link below. You can also check out the endless merchandise Sanity has in stock. If you’re a Mario fan, Sanity has something for you!

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here