Product: Super Mario Bros. [VHS] (1993)
Rating: 3.0
Watch it objectively and it's an ok, imaginative movie.
Like a lot of kids of my generation, I grew up anticipating every new Super Mario Bros. game. And like a few other people in the country, I went to see the movie when it came out in theaters. I was almost 15 at the time, but I actually liked the movie.Nowadays, it doesn't stand up. It bombed at the box office, is the source of constant scorn, and is often blamed for starting the "movies based off of video games always suck" phenomenon.But to be quite honest, this isn't a terrible film. If you were to watch it objectively, you'll probably find something in it to appreciate. Sure, to begin with, the casting is off. Though I think John Leguizamo is capable of just about anything (he's played a fat, demonic clown, a character in Romeo and Juliet, a midget, a charismatic boxer, and a sneaky gangster (Benny Blanco from the Bronx!!). His roles have been met with mixed reviews, but say what you will, the guy has range. But here he is playing the taller, mustached Italian brother of the most famous plumber around, yet he's shorter, no mustache, and not at all Italian. Bob Hoskins being british doesn't do great for Mario either.Someone else mentioned that the dinosaur adversary of the game, King Koopa, is played here as a sleazy, suited businessman. Yes, this is strange as well. Come to think of it, a lot of this stuff is just plain bizarre. But therein lies the problem.Super Mario Bros, when taken at its most serious, is a game about a plumber who travels through pipes, beats up turtles with fireballs that he gets from a flower, and hits invisible blocks in the sky all while romping around in the mushroom kingdom while attempting to save a woman named Princess Toadstool. So, how would you film a plot such as this?The filmmakers tried. They really did. And in my opinion, they came up with quite an intruiging world. Somewhere in between Blade Runner and Twin Peaks, the world in this film is flashy, colorful, populated with lots of strange creatures, and almost always with something unique or interesting to look at. That it's packaged inside this strange film is disappointing.But that, again, is almost impossible to avoid. Some may argue that this film should've just played it straight, such as Mortal Kombat- meaning that the things in this film just are. You accept them, their rules and parameters, or you don't. Partly where SMB fails is in trying to make the completely absurd world of the videogame into something acceptable. See, this mushroom kingdom is just an alternate reality, where time flows differently and where prehistoric creatures roam about. Wouldn't you know it, two hapless plumbers stumble in, and boom- now we have a reason to accept the premise of the game.Sure there's lots to complain about. This movie is very silly. But at the same time, I can respect what they tried to do. Dennis Hopper as Koopa is an inspired choice, since he's such a (expletive) all the time anyway. To see him run around, firing guns at everything while screaming "PLUMBERS!!!!!" is a hoot, akin to his freakout at the end of the (more) bizarre Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.That's the thing. You have to just accept this movie for what it is- tongue in cheek, self-aware goofiness. The movie doesn't try to be accepted as a serious entry into the medium of high art, it's just a silly trip into this land populated by characters who are in a video game that was, at the time, 8 years old. And in my opinion, there's lots for fans of the game to look for. Many references are there, from obvious things such as the dinosaur character Yoshi (who is played straight, strangely enough) to much more obscure references such as the character "Big Bertha", who was a fish in SMB3 but here a large african american woman who holds a key central to the plot. Yes, it's strange. But I mean come on, the game's far out to begin with. This movie may very well have been better served as a direct play on the game, such as the successful cartoon series. But instead, we're left with a sort of "alternate take", a slightly more adult and realistic one, on the Super mario landscape. Many view it as a complete failure, and I can easily see why. But for myself, I think it's no worse than any number of video game movies (and better in some cases, such as the film rape of the Resident Evil games).In Super Mario Brothers, there's a lot to make you groan or wish better upon the participants. But if you just accept that the premise of the game is so thin to begin with, and then just accept the movie as a genuine attempt to breathe life and character into this game world, I think at the very least you can gain a new respect for what the movie is.