Along with many other students over spring break, I got to watch debatably one of the greatest video game movie adaptations of our generation. The Super Mario Bros. Movie starring Chris Pratt as Mario and Jack Black as Bowser was a very faithful adaptation of the video games, unlike its 1993 counterpart. However, like other video game movies, it had its flaws. While this film is better than most other video game films like Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat Annihilation, The Super Mario Bros. Movie had some minor issues that I wanted to address. Along with some of my favorite aspects of the film.

This film works as a fan service film and at its core, a children’s film. The film’s demographic was younger kids which they clearly put a lot of time and effort into to make it stand out to children. However, this film also rewards the hardcore Nintendo fans such as myself with little easter eggs and fun references.

My first and biggest issue was the usage of the famous Player 2 character, Luigi. Luigi had very little screen time and felt intensely underutilized. I do think that this was done intentionally to set up future Nintendo movies (which is a likely possibility due to the success of this film). Maybe Nintendo plans on doing a Luigi’s Mansion film, but right now I feel like the character deserves justice for his lack of screen time.

Now, despite what critics originally thought, I think that Chris Pratt as Mario was an excellent choice for the plot of this film. He came through extensively and provided a very good Mario impersonation. Throughout the film, I completely forgot that it was his voice, and I just saw him as Mario. 

The animation was extremely clean and polished, and it was pleasing visually to watch. Of course one of the best highlights of the film was Jack Black’s original song Peaches. It has reached the Top 100 Billboards as of right now, being ranked at 84. It’s funny, cute, and just an overall pleasure to listen to.

This film works really well in comparison to others, and I think that it may go down as one of the best video game film adaptations of all time. Now we just hope that Sega can reach out to create a Mario and Sonic Winter Olympics Movie.