Product: Super Mario Bros. [VHS] (1993)
Rating: 5.0
Simple elegance
Super Mario Brothers the movie is simple elegance captured on celluloid. It's the tale of two brothers from New York City that embark on an epic journey into a strange world with fantastic creatures and a villain that ranks up there with the other classic cinema villains such as Darth Vader, Hannibal and Super Shredder.The best part of this movie is that I'm never distracted by all of the familiar elements and characters from the video game. Not once in Super Mario Brothers the movie was I overwhelmed with nostalgic thoughts or feelings causing my mind to drift off to the countless happy moments of playing Super Mario Brothers on my NES.I was firmly grounded in the truly original and unexpected world created by Rocky Morten and Annabel Jankel. I admire them for taking such a beloved franchise and re-imagining it into a unique representation that is free from familiarity and nostalgia. It allows for the tale of two plumbers, fighting dinosaur creatures, with a fungus king, and a villain with a de-evolving ray-gun to stand on its own. Bravo.