Rating: 9/10
We have always been told to listen to professionals as they know best. But do Rotten Tomatoes critics really know what’s best?
Personally, I don’t think so.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was already being talked about as one of the biggest movies of the year, but it has exceeded box office predictions. The movie has made over $500 million in the global box offices within the first week, earning the biggest worldwide opening for an animated movie, according to Variety, and has become the highest earning video game movie in history.
So the movie received the hype it was bound to get, but still Rotten Tomatoes critics gave the movie a 55% on their Tomatometer.
I’m not saying that I am on the same level as the critics, but some of them likely walked into the theater with higher expectations of what the story was going to be.
Sorry it was not Martin Scorsese’s “The Godfather” or Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” but “The Super Mario Bros Movie” did what it needed to: give characters and the plot big heart with a perfectly drawn-out musical score, while still keeping the nostalgic elements that we loved from the video games.
When I see Mario, Luigi, Peach and all the other Nintendo characters it brings me back to some of my favorite childhood memories of playing classic Nintendo games. From “Super Mario Bros.” to “Mario Kart,” I get sent back in time to the games I grew up on.
I would be lying if I didn’t say the “Mario Kart” scene did not give me chills, as l knew what racecourse would be ahead of them (yes, it was rainbow road). The love/hate relationship I have with rainbow road made me more excited to see it in the movie and to be included as it was from every “Mario Kart” game from Nintendo 64 to the Switch.
The “Super Mario Bros.” style platforms are recognizable to any kid that grew up with Mario games. From the mystery blocks to growth mushrooms, to going through green pipes, the movie hits on some of the biggest video game easter eggs in the franchise.
While some may have expected a bigger story to be in the movie, a full plot line has never been around in Mario games, so I didn’t care about a full story.
We all know that Mario saves Peach from Bowser and that’s exactly what the movie gave us. No, we did not need to see Mario and Luigi go through a big dramatic fight, go separate ways only to realize that they need each other in the end.
Mario games have always kept it simple, keeping it fun and competitive when playing multiplayer games with friends. The movie did not go crazy and I’m glad the writers kept it that way.
Though the plot stayed tame, character plots were a lot more fun. Princess Peach did not keep her usual “damsel in distress” character. She was protective of the people in the Mushroom Kingdom, while kicking butt when needed.
Mario and Luigi had the brother team up we all wanted that may or may not have made me shed a few tears, but having Lumalee, a depressed star hoping for mercy that Bowser burns them in the lava, was the comedic relief I needed.
As I said, a well thought out story was not needed, but what I definitely needed was “Peaches” by Bowser, voiced by Jack Black.
The music score was definitely one of the best parts of the movie. From “Peaches,” to “Holding out for a Hero,” to the music that plays when the characters get a star powerup, it combines perfectly together and flows throughout the movie.
“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” hit every nostalgic childhood memory of playing Mario with some of my closest friends and that’s all the movie needed to do. It was not played out to be something more than what it already was and that’s what made it great. We expect so much to come out of movies that we forget the words of Leonardo Da Vinci, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
The beauty of what “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has is the memories it holds within the games we played growing up. For that reason, it puts Rotten Tomatoes to shame.
