The Super Mario Bros. Movie

THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE

Today, let’s cover the Super Mario Bros. movie, specifically meaning the 2023 Chris Pratt movie produced by Illumination, not the old 1993 film starring Bob Hoskins. The film came out about a month and a half ago, at the time of his writing, and has since been pretty much killing it at the box office and in audience reception, even if critical reception was initially mixed. The film stars Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black among others and mostly retells the basic premise of the original game, with Bowser trying to take over the Mushroom Kingdom, which Mario had just recently come to from Brooklyn. The film does swap out Peach for Luigi as the “Damsel in Distress” role, but I do feel that helps Mario build a relationship with Peach in the movie while already having that brotherly relationship with Luigi, which would have been difficult if she’d been in a cage the whole movie.

Right off the bat, we have the double-edged sword of the movie being really accurate to the games this time around, which while being awesome in its own right, kinda means that we can’t really pull a unique version of Mario or the other characters from this one. Best I can say is have a “movie version” color swap on either the standard Mario or Film Mario specifically with this design and Chris Pratt’s voice work replacing the standard Charles Martinet voice bytes for that one. As it stands, most of what we see Mario do in the movie are things we see him do in the games, such as running, jumping, punching, and using such powerups as the Super Mushroom, the Cat Suit, the Tanooki Suit, the Mini Mushroom, and the Starman. He also rides a Kart, throwing a green shell at one point, but that all also falls under the Mario Kart moveset. He also uses some plumbers’ equipment but nowhere to the extent used by Bob Hoskins’ version or the Super Show! version.

Charlie Day’s Luigi is sidelined for much of the movie, but when he is in action, he does most of the same as his brother, even joining him in the use of the Starman at the end. Anya Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach is also pretty standard to Peach’s more action-heavy game appearances, also using such powerups as the Fire Flower and Ice Flower at different points. She does wield a halberd at one point but not through any extended action scenes.

Keegan Michael Key plays Toad, specifically the main red-spotted, blue-vested Toad, at somewhat of a midway point between his original appearance and Captain Toad, being a bit of a wanderer laden down with a backpack and a bunch of camping gear. He wields a frying pan and drives a very large kart, but is otherwise pretty standard to his normal appearances. Same goes for basically every other Toad in the movie, though they are given a significant downgrade in courage and fighting ability (I choose to believe the two guards at the friend of the castle were Buckenberry and Alagold respectively).

The Kongs make a pretty significant appearance throughout the movie, Mario, Peach, and Toad visiting them to request aid. Donkey Kong and his (now) father Cranky are the main to appear, played by Seth Rogan and Fred Armisen respectively. Donkey Kong fights with a bunch of standard DK moves, throwing barrels, punching, slapping, grabbing, flying on a rocketbarrel, and so on. He does use a Fire Flower at one point, which was really cool, but other than that, he’s basically Donkey Kong. Again, great for the viewers, not great for our purposes here. Cranky mostly sits on his throne and acts . . . crankily, but not much else. Other Kongs appearing in the background include Diddy, Dixie, Kiddy, Chunky, and Swanky. There’s also a bouncer Kong who I don’t think is supposed to be Funky, but I’m not totally certain. He drives a kart and tosses a banana peel at one point.

Other minor characters include Mario’s family back home, including a mom, dad, two uncles, an aunt, a cousin, and a grandpa, most of whom do basic NPC stuff. Foreman Spike also makes a notable appearance in the movie played by Sebastian Maniscalco as a rival plumber who bullies the brothers. He grabs and threatens Mario at one point but not much new. There’s also a character named Giuseppe played by Charles Martinet, who almost feels like a confirmed distinct Jumpman, and a Secret Life of Pets extra named Francis owned by a rich couple who tried to bite and claw at the brothers at one point. He also fills the shower to get at them, so there’s that. We also have an army of Penguins, led by a king voiced by Khary Payton, who are shown attacking with snowballs and even a snow catapult. Then there’s Lumalee, voiced by the director’s kid and portrayed as a cheerily nihilistic Luma who has given up on all of existence. Pauline also has a brief cameo, baby versions of Mario, Luigi, and Peach are seen in flashbacks, and Yoshi is teased for the sequel.

On the villain end of things, we have Bowser, played brilliantly well by Jack Black, who leans very heavily into the “Bowser simps for Peach” angle of the character. He is seen breathing fire, clawing, biting, spinning in his shell, and performing an epic piano solo. He is also force-fed a Mini Mushroom at the end of the film. Again, pretty basic Bowser stuff. He is backed up by a nearly unrecognizable Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek, who uses his magic to levitate people off the ground, and once uses it to nearly compress Toad to death. I don’t think we’ve ever seen him use his magic specifically in those ways, but other than that, he’s basically Kamek.

One standout is the Koopa General voiced by Scott Menville and portrayed as the origin of the flying blue Spiny Shell. He is seen carrying a spear, drives a kart with giant crushing teeth on the front, from which he can also fire a Bullet Bill. After he is forced to crash by Mario and Donkey Kong, he turns into a kamikaze pilot and, well, blue-shells the both of them.

Across all of Bowser’s army, we see Koopas, Goombas, whatever those things are (Spinies), Shy Guys, Snifits, Swoops, Bramballs, Biddybugs, Dry Bones, King Boo, King Bob-Omb, Bob-Ombs, Bullet Bills, Buzzy Beetles, Chain Chomps, Hammer Bros, Piranha Plants, Sledge Bros, Bloopers, Cheep Cheeps, and the Unagi or Maw-Ray.

As for our stages, we start the story in Brooklyn, relatively based on real world Brooklyn, including a swanky high-rise apartment and a large sewer area taking some inspiration from Mario Bros. In the Mushroom Kingdom, we have Princess Peach’s castle and the city surrounding it, all built on and around one of the giant round mountains familiar to the series, with several structures and systems in place that make platforming a standard part of everyday life. Around the back of Peach’s castle there is a training course that Peach puts Mario through, based on the standard Mario levels.

From there, the heroes travel to the Kong Kingdom, visiting a few Easter Egg locales along the way. The Kong Kingdom seems entirely built around kart racing, working in a plot-relevant reason for Mario Kart to be part of the story. Mario and Donkey Kong also face off in a Smash-style arena at one point. After obtaining the Kong’s help, an extended action scene takes place on Rainbow Road. Finally, we have the Dark Lands, Bowser’s flying castle and kingdom all wrapped into one and combined with his castle from the Paper Mario games, covered in lava and featuring several castles. We also have the Ice Kingdom shown briefly that Bowser destroys at the beginning.

All items were previously listed, so let’s get it done! Here’s what we’ve got so far:

Characters:

Mario: run, jump, punch, Super Mushroom, Cat Suit, Tanooki Suit, Mini Mushroom, Starman, kart, green shell, plumbers’ equipment, van.

Luigi: Starman

Princess Peach: Fire Flower, Ice Flower, halberd, run, jump, punch, kick, bike

Bowser: fire, claw, bite, spin in shell, piano, Mini Mushroom

Toad: frying pan, kart

Donkey Kong: barrels, punch, slap, grab, rocketbarrel, kart, Fire Flower.

Kamek: levitate, compression

Cranky Kong

Koopa General: spear, kart, crushing teeth, Bullet Bill, fly, explode

Toads

Diddy Kong

Dixie Kong

Chunky Kong

Kiddy Kong

Foreman Spike: grab, push

Francis: bite, claw, shower

Mario’s family

Penguins/King Penguin: snowballs, snow catapult, everything else they can do

Lumalee

Pauline

Koopa

Goomba

Spiny

Shy Guy

Snifit

Dry Bones

Bob-Omb

Buzzy Beetle

Chain Chomp

Hammer Bro

Piranha Plant

Blooper

Cheep Cheep

King Boo

King Bob-Omb

Stages:

Brooklyn

High-rise apartment

Sewer area

Mushroom Kingdom

Princess Peach’s castle

Training course

Kong Kingdom

Kong arena

Rainbow Road

Dark Lands

Ice Kingdom

Thanks for reading! Next up, we have two newcomers to address, starting with the Penguins!