Buy Super Mario Bros. on Amazon (paid link)
Written by: Parker Bennett & Terry Runte and Ed Solomon
Directed by: Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton
Starring: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis, Fisher Stevens, Fiona Shaw
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer
Plot
Two Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi, must travel to another dimension to rescue a princess from the evil dictator King Koopa and stop him from taking over the world.
Verdict
This attempted to trade in on the Super Mario name by creating a movie that has a tenuous connection. If someone told me this movie was a complete rip off, I could easily believe that. The movie, at times, tries to apply logic to a video game, attempting to provide realistic explanations. The result is a movie that has little connection to the game and lacks any kind of coherency. It's just a bizarre movie. I have to imagine this hoped the Mario name alone would carry it far.
Skip it.
Review
The directors stated they hoped this movie would act as the legend upon which the video games are based; some kind of story passed down after the events.
 |
| Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper play Mario Mario, Luigi Mario, "King" Koopa |
I saw this movie when it released. I was so excited as a kid based on name recognition alone. It was nowhere near what I expected, and my biggest gripe was the cliff hanger ending.
This starts in Brooklyn 65 billion years ago, positing that dinosaurs had their own world where they evolved into humans underground as a parallel to the mammals that evolved topside. You've got to give the movie credit for trying to translate Mario world lore into reality. This starts with a baby born from an egg, likely from the parallel dinosaur world. That's Daisy (Samantha Mathis) who in the present is digging for dinosaur bones in Brooklyn. Luigi (John Leguizamo) falls for her while two people follow her, seemingly wanting to kidnap her for Koopa (Dennis Hopper). I don't know why they waited twenty years to take her back to dino world.
 |
| Koopa, goomba |
Plumbers Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi are struggling against their rivals. Scapelli is either a developer that runs the city with a plumbing division or a plumber that controls the city. Either way there's not much for the Mario brothers. That's right, his name is Mario Mario. They end up following Daisy into this alternate world. It's certainly a strange, dystopian world. This is a comic adventure in a strange world. What are goombas? They're humans that are devolved, but only their heads shrink.
 |
| John Leguizamo, Bob Hoskins play Luigi Mario, Mario Mario |
This is a movie that took the names from the video game and ran with it. The game doesn't make sense, so this makes even less sense. The directors' take is that the video game is based on the mythical events of this movie. Koopa is the despot ruler of the world, but he has plans to merge the mammal and reptile world. Of course Daisy holds the key to that feat.
Mario and Luigi eventually break into Koopa's building to save Daisy. They're aided by a pervasive fungus in this world that happens to be a devolved form of Daisy's father. This is such a strange movie. It's not a Super Mario movie as it shares so little of a connection. The only tie is the character names. It's a bizarre movie that ends on a big teaser. That made me so mad as a kid, though then and now I should have been more upset at what I just sat through.
No comments :
Post a Comment