Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom (2003 film)

***Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom***is an 2003 animated film related to the *Super Mario* series of video games produced by Nintendo. It was created by the now-deceased Randy Solem, and posted on the American-based entertainment and social media website Newgrounds.

In addition to music from actual *Mario* games, *Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom* also uses music from the 1997 film *Titanic*. This movie uses sprites from the 16-bit *Mario*titles, as well as *Kirby Super Star* and the Sega Genesis version of *Ghouls'n Ghosts*.

The movie won various awards , including Best Picture , Best Male Character and Best Director , in the 2003 Random Awards.

## Plot

It's a time of peace in the Mushroom Kingdom. Bowser and his Koopa Army, having not been seen or heard from in some time, appear to have ended their troublesome ways, or so it seems...

### Part 1

Mario is shown walking out of his house and doing various exercises, such as jumping rope and doing push-ups. While he is simply taking a walk, a Toad Kid waves hello to him and then, happy to see his kingdom's hero, he falls down from a beanstalk by a tree to the ground and injures his head. Fortunately, a Yoshi arrives at the scene and is sent to carry the injured Toad Kid to be nursed to health. However, just as Mario follows suit, a Bullet Bill blasts Mario in the back, knocking him off his feet and onto the ground near the bridge. Then three more Bullet Bills hit him, covering him in soot, and finally a Banzai Bill fires at the famous hero, causing a huge explosion, killing him. His hat then floats lazily to the ground in the aftermath.

Later, as the leaves fall from the trees, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, and a multitude of Toads - both male and female - are all gathering at a graveyard to honor Mario's death. But, although it is a funeral, none of them are dressed in black; instead they all are wearing their normal clothing. Everyone here, especially Luigi, is devastated, with him crying; at this funeral, the Toad Kid Mario helped earlier places a Tanooki suit on Mario's coffin, and cries as his father takes him away. Yoshi starts crying, along with Luigi when he tilts his head down, and finally, Peach, who also has tears in her eyes, places a Fire Flower onto Mario's coffin as it is lowered into the ground. Luigi falls to his knees and sobs in anguish. He suddenly stops, and pure rage etches itself on his face when he, believing that his brother has actually been murdered, decides to avenge his death and punish the responsible party, which he assumes to be the Koopa Troop.

The Mushroom Kingdom then begins raiding Bowser's Castle after assuming that his troops were the ones responsible for murdering its hero. Luigi and an army of Toads and Yoshis are seen doing some work in this scene; for example, a Toad soldier places a spring by one end of a broken bridge, two more Toads jump across, with a second soldier filling the gap. Two more Toad soldiers mounted on Yoshis jump over a wall and hide behind a bundle of ferns, which a pair of Lakitus fly toward to investigate. The first Yoshi growls, leaps from behind the ferns and mauls the first Lakitu before devouering it, leaving a bed of blood on a patch of grass. Terrified, the second Lakitu tries to report the killing to his superior, only for the second Yoshi to lasso it with his tongue, pull it behind the ferns, and tear it apart, leaving a huge stain of blood on the wall. The Toad soldiers then sabotage the clouds and fly off to look for an open spot, while the Yoshis make their way back to the invasion force. However one of the mystery turtles is defacated by a Yoshi who grins sheepishly at the viewers before running back to the front lines. A Toad soldier places a vine on the palace for Luigi to enter so he can get his forces inside.

### Part 2

At Bowser's Castle, Ludwig von Koopa appears into Bowser's throne room using an elevator lift and informs him about the arrival of Luigi and his Toad and Yoshi entourage. Bowser, frustrated and confused at this news, calls for a team of Koopa Paratroopas, five red and one green, to come in, and then they are ordered by the Koopa King to kill the trespassing Mushroomers.

The Yoshis and Toads enter into a hallway of Bowser's Castle, barging into a door that Larry Koopa is guarding and leaving him badly injured when the door is reduced to ash. Here, one of the Toad soldiers rushes forward and tosses an egg, which rolls a bit after landing and hatches into an infant Yoshi, who is jumping about in front of a patrolling Goomba. The Goomba is confused; the Yoshi then begins eat it alive, and grow into a normal Yoshi as the brigade marches onward.

Luigi, meanwhile, decides to sneak into "Klub Koopa," while staying out of the sights of any Koopas who dare to cross paths with him, all the while slaying a Boom Boom by twisting his head 180 degrees, breaking his neck as if it were a twig. He heads into a room labeled "Employees Only," and opens a Treasure Chest that contains a Frog Suit. After leaving the room in the Frog Suit, Luigi realizes that it would not work well for him, so he re-enters the room, turns the light on, runs toward and opens a second Treasure Chest, which contains a Tanooki suit. With the Tanooki suit on, Luigi flies above Klub Koopa, and even turns into stone to allow a dancing Koopa to pass him by, before he leaves the room.

The movie cuts to the outside of Bowser's Castle, where two Toad soldiers bomb one of the doors, allowing for the Toad and Yoshi troop to march its way out of the castle. There they encounter a troop of Koopas, Goombas, Bob-ombs, Goombas, and Boomerang Brothers, and a Yoshi strikes first, using seeds from a Watermelon he has swallowed to decapitate various Koopa Paratroopas, the same squad from before. One of the Boomerang Bros. retaliates by throwing his boomerang sixty meters away, missing the Toad and knocking the Yoshi off the bridge; the Yoshi is burned alive by lava. Then the armies clash: one of the Toad soldiers is slain by a stray Bob-omb and a Boomerang Bro is thrashing in pain while bleeding, while a green Koopa Troopa is ripped in half by two Yoshis. Another Toad soldier is badly injured when he is sent flying into the tower. Two Goomba lackeys arrive with a large pot, which contains an abnormaly large Venus Fire Trap, which accidentally misfires six fireballs on two green Koopa Troopas, knocking their shells into the lava. Two more Toad soldiers are confused at first, then slay the beach koopas - the first Toad soldier throws a mushroom block which crushes the beach Koopa's body and organs flat, while the second beach Koopa is beaten and thrown into the lava by a second Toad soldier. Seeing this, the Goombas panic and flee, while the Venus Fire Trap retreats into his pot. A green paratroopa is knocked out of the sky, de-winged, and split in half upon falling onto the ramparts after getting a vegetable tossed onto his bill by a Toad soldier. Fistfights between Koopas and Toads erupt, Yoshis are groundpounding Boomerang Bros. and devouring Goombas, two pairs of Yoshis tug on green Koopa Troopas, and Toad soldiers throw vegetables and Mushroom blocks at the Goombas, while a Toad soldier tries to outrace a Lakitu and a red Paratroopa. Several Toad soldiers flee the scene carrying their badly injured warriors to their tents so their wounds can be treated.

We next see Luigi in a "Koopa Cemetery," where he powers down and is greeted upon his arrival by various Boo Buddies. At the end of the cemetery Luigi sees a locked door that he cannot open; he tries everything but *still* cannot get it open. But then a Thwomp crash-lands onto the scene, its impact destroying a couple of stone pillars, which Luigi uses to get across. As he proceeds, he notices a wall, but goes right across it (as a tribute to the famous "Minus World" glitch in the original *Super Mario Bros.*), and he is transported away, via a pipe labeled "-1," which is what the Minus World is numbered.

Now Luigi finally gets to avenge his brother's death in a one-on-one battle against Bowser. Rain starts to fall. The twosome fight atop the rooftops; First Bowser makes a charging attack, to which Luigi dodges and jumps his head. Bowser tries to incinerate Luigi, but his fire breath misses three times, and is sent flying across the rampart in one kick. As Luigi charges, Kamek appears from above and, in one fell swoop of arcane magic, transforms Bowser into a giant, then the Koopa King sends Luigi flying with a shockwave after jumping and breathes his fire at him, turning him into Small Luigi. Luigi, however, retaliates by becoming invincible after a Toad Soldier arrives and gives Luigi a Super Star, and he uses this power to his advantage; Bowser's fire breath is uselss now thanks to the invulnerability, and when Luigi charges, the rain subsides, and both combatants leap forward - Luigi strikes first, knocking Bowser in the air twice with a powerful kick. After Bowser lands carapace first on the concrete, the gigantism spell wears off, and so does the invulnerability. Luigi then grabs Bowser by the tail, spins around like a fan, and tosses the koopa king out of the palace, knocking Bowser out of the bout and ending his reign of terror once and for all. Luigi then leaps onto a statue in the center of the tower and poses triumphantly as a shooting star flies onward, with his forces rejoicing.

Bowser then lands on Yoshi's Island, where numerous Baby Yoshis hatch out of eggs on a large nest. Fear takes hold of Bowser when the infants bare their teeth, making him wet himself in terror. The Koopa King is then brutally murdered and eaten alive by the Baby Yoshis as they surround him. All that remains are his right arm and his head, which were severed off.

It is Christmas time in the Mushroom Kingdom. While numerous Toads are enjoying the snow and fun, Luigi is spending his time at Mario's grave and starts crying, before laying a "photograph" of the two brothers at Mario's tombstone. Shortly afterward, we then realize that the Koopas were innocent, and Wart was Mario's true killer.

### Part 3

The first half of this video series is revealed to be nothing more than a horrible nightmare that Luigi was having of what was to come as he is sleeping on a bench. Luigi awakens from the nightmare after hearing a squad of Bullet Bills and a Banzai Bill fly by and over his house. Terrified, Luigi realizes the dreams are coming full circle and acts quickly to stop the killing, first by aquiring a Stop Watch from the sewers, and then freezing the Bullet Bill Squadron in place whilst Mario is making his way to Peach's palace. Luigi tosses Mario out of the way, but since the effect ends in this moment, he takes the brunt of the attack himself, which snaps his body in two, much to Mario's shock and horror. In tears, Mario holds his little brother as he dies in his arms, and is warned by him of Wart's assassination attempt before he died, as a Toad child and Yoshi appear, horrified at what happened. Enraged, Mario aquires a Cape Feather from near a tree and flies off to Subcon to extract vengeance on Wart. During the flight, Mario opens the doors to Subcon, makes his way to Wart's palace, and powers down upon landing. Mouser is then seen eyeing Mario from atop the palace, bomb in hand, ready for a fight.

The Toad child and Yoshi rush into the princess' castle, where the Toad child informs Peach of what happened, while Yoshi reports that it is Wart who is the murderer. With no time to waste, Peach takes a recorder from her sash and blows into it six notes to call upon her mount, a blue Yoshi with large wings. She hops atop her steed and makes her way to an ancient graveyard, first flying out of the palace as three Toad guards carry halves of Luigi's corpse inside for an upcoming resurrection, then through the forest, and finally past the Koopa Empire.

Meanwhile, in Subcon, Mario is making his way to Wart's palace with every jumping trick, then stops to briefly gawk at the size of the building. Before Mario can go any further, Mouser leaps from the tower to defend the palace entrance, though his bomb throws miss three times. Mario then begins an odd dance which leaves Mouser confused. All of a sudden, fifteen seconds later, the bomb detonates on the rodent, covering him in soot. With Mouser's defenses down, Mario beats the rodent senseless before sending him out of the palace and down hundreds of meters into a wide vase, knocking off a key. Mouser's injuries prevent him from noticing the Phantos, which ambush the rodent from above and eat him alive as splurts of blood gush from the vase, from which emerges the rodent's severed head, briefly shocking the young plumber. With the door breached at last, Mario moonwalks to the entry, tips his hat triumphantly and walks inside.

### Part 4

Having just breached Wart's palace, Mario walljumps up toward the ladder and lands, then he stops and sadly reminishes some of the good times he spent with Luigi: the first memory showing the brothers as babies playing with a teddy bear, the second memory showing them fully grown and repairing sewage pipes, and the third and final memory showing them posing together on a grassy highland, similarly to the photograph that Luigi had with him at the end of part 2. Mario still hasn't gotten over the pain of losing his beloved younger brother, and he cries for a few seconds, but he snaps out of it, as he must be strong for Luigi. And when he climbs up the ladder, Mario is knocked off his feet and loses his cap when Clawgrip lands hard on the ground, clicks his pincers, grabs Mario's hat from the floor, and climbs back onto his platform, sending boulders rolling away after Mario rises to his feet and tilts his head upward. Fuming with rage and remembering his confrontation with DK, Mario uses these memories to leap across the boulders, and uses a hammer to send a third boulder flying into the giant crab after letting out a loud shout. Clawgrip is knocked off the platform and slain when he lands into a vat of boiling hot water. Mario discards the hammer, reaquires his hat, and poses triumphantly before climbing up a ladder.

The camera cuts to an ancient graveyard, guarded by the dead. One of the double gates is opening and closing due to the wind currents hence the creaking sound, as fallen leaves fly by. An owl can be heard calling out. A Dry Bones remains unhindered in his duties to guard the gates. Lanterns and candles inside pumpkins are alight. As a magikoopa and some boos fly about, inside the core of the graveyard is a small bell tower, the bell which can be heard tolling; and directly underneath it, on an altar, is a glowing 1UP Mushroom which the dead guard jealously. This must be the artifact Peach is looking for.

Back at the palace in Subcon, Mario jumps across a bed of spikes using a chain, and slams face first into a wall to avoid a patrolling Spark, who ignores the plumber completely. Mario the does a super jump to bypass the wall's height, and rides on a red shell to a prison chamber where Wart waits, all the while slaying four Shy Guys who were on guard duty. Mario then confronts Wart in the prison chamber. Wart notices the intruder and turns to face him: "I am the great Wart! HAHAHA!" With that, the duel begins, with Wart throwing the first move. His bubbles miss, but Mario's melee skills do not. He even uses his cap like a boomerang. Then Mario groundpounds on Wart fists first, unexpectedly making the giant amphibious croc flatulate. This flatulence is because Wart loathes vegetables. A carrot hops out of a Dream Machine. Before Wart can say another word, Mario grabs the carrot and tosses it into Wart's mouth, causing him to tear up and flatulate again. This forces Wart to retreat from the prison chamber to his throne room, stealing a carpet from a Pidgit who falls several meters to his death. When Mario emerges from the prison chamber, he realizes that jumping from this height to the throne room would be suicide, so he decides to use a magic elixir to enter subspace and find a Cape Feather, which he uses to become Cape Mario. He then flies off to the throne room of the palace.

Back at the graveyard, Peach and her steed arive at the same location. Peach's goal is to collect the sacred 1UP Mushroom and use it to resuscitate Luigi. She dismounts her Winged Yoshi and walks toward the altar where the 1UP Mushroom rests. Suddenly, five seconds after she grabs the mushroom, she is ambushed from her left by a Big Boo, who has been guarding the altar. The Winged Yoshi throws an egg at the ghost to defend its master. The Big Boo is stunned, and Peach places the artifact in her sash, and hops atop her Winged Yoshi to flee the graveyard, with the enraged ghost chasing behind. Fortunately, Peach and the winged Yoshi escape the spectre offscreen.

Back in Subon, in the courtyard, Mario is flying toward an entrance on the other side of Wart's palace, using the cape's powers to maintain his altitude, and bypassing a Beezo that is on guard duty. Then he flies upward, and drops onto the ground, hard, with no injuries inflicted from the impact, slaying an unfortunate Cobrat on patrol. Mario soon realizes he is being followed, and looks inside the sewer pipe, then back, then inside, and then jumps in, with the Beezo following suit. He slows the speed of his fall, then jumps down from the sewer pipe. The grinding of stone against flesh disturbs a second Cobrat from its sleep, but the serpent is left confused and unharmed. Mario then hides out of sight from the Beezo, who looks around, completely confused, and is ambushed by Mario, who grabs him by the torso and tosses him into an unfortunate Tweeter, who is impaled in the face by the Beezo's trident, leaving a pool of blood on the floor. Mario leaps forward, punches both the Beezo and the now dead Tweeter, and then sends them into the water before moving on to the next room. The Beezo drowns three seconds later. Mario then enters the room, and upon leaping onto a bannister, he is caught off guard by the sound of stone grinding against steel as the room's stone doors are closed shut. Soon enough, three Ninjis appear from a door, and try to hold Mario off, only for them to be slain: the first Ninji leaps forward, but Mario blocks his attack and sends him into the wall. He then grabs the second Ninji, slams him onto the floor, and tosses him into the final Ninji, who tries to escape, but is sent flying into the wall. The second Ninji is tossed into the corpse of the first Ninji, and Mario then flings him into the cieling, splitting him in half. Half of the corpse falls onto the bannister, and Mario moves out of the way onto the floor; two of the tiles are too unstable, but open up a secret passage way to the throne room. Mario crashes onto the floor, his hat falling off in the process. He puts it back on and goes to confront Wart once more. A Ninji arrives in defense of his master by knocking Mario off the platform and into the cieling and on the floor. Two more Ninjis arrive. A blue Snifit appears and tries to open fire on Mario, but he moves out of the way, causing the Snifit to misfire on the first Ninji. Mario then grabs the Snifit and treats him as if he were an machine gun, opening fire on the other two Ninjis, and then two more Ninjis, one of which is split in half, before tossing the Snifit toward the wall and groundpounding it in half, and sending the top of the lifeless corpse onto Wart, who realizes he is in serious trouble, and tries to escape to the top of the tower of the palace. Mario hops atop the platform, which rises up the tower with tremendous speed.

As Wart is flying around the tower, he is met at the top by Mario, who lands on the ramparts, charges forward, leaps up in the air and sabotages the carpet by kicking Wart in the face, sending him into the wall. Mario tries to charge forward on the carpet, only to be dismounted when Wart encases him in a bubble slightly larger than an average man. An Albatoss moves in to peck at the bubble, sending it adrift across the tower. A second Albatoss appears with a Snifit which opens fire on the bubble, causing Mario to fall toward a bed of spikes. Just as Mario is about to meet his end, a newly resuscitated and fully healed Luigi flies in from below with a cape and catches Mario in the nick of time, which fills Mario with relief when he learns Peach had gone out of her way to retrieve the 1UP Mushroom from the graveyard atop her winged Yoshi and perform the miracle. Luigi does an impressive loop-de-loop before dropping Mario off onto the ramparts. Desperate to put an end to Mario, Wart attempts to devour him, but Mario grabs his tongue, spins around like a rotor, and tosses him in the air. Luigi punches Wart at least four times in the air before sending him flying toward the tallest tower of the palace with a powerful kick. The speed in which Wart was sent flying causes him to crash through a window. By the time Wart lands inside the widest tube of a second Dream Machine, it malfunctions, causing an overflow of vegetables as plumes of steam billow from the smaller tubes. Luigi and Mario follow suit, with Mario landing on one platform, and Luigi landing on a platform opposite of the Dream Machine. Wart's flatulence worsens, and Luigi takes a Fire Flower from his pocket and tosses it to Mario, who turns into Fire Mario upon contact. Mario then tries to incinerate Wart with a fireball, but lights his flatulence instead. Unfortunately, this provides disastrous results for the Dream Machine. Luigi realizes the Dream Machine is malfunctioning, so he and Mario duck to avoid any possible injury. One last puff from Wart's flatulence, and the Dream Machine selfdestructs, blowing the giant croc to pieces and reducing the tower to ash, as Mario and Luigi fly out. Later, a large wing of Toad soldiers atop Lakitu clouds flies in through the door to Subcon. Two Yoshis appear from another door. The first Yoshi devours a Tweeter, while the second Yoshi leaps onto a Shy Guy and tears him apart. The Toad soldiers then fly in toward the palace and reduce it to ash with bombs and POW blocks, ensuring that the 8-Bit Club will no longer threaten the Mario bros.

In the Mushroom Kingdom, a victory celebration is underway in Toad Town, as one of the citizens makes her way to Peach's palace to attend the party. Inside the palace, Mario and Luigi are posing triumphantly on a podium, with Peach looking on with pride. A fireworks display is seen outside the palace. The camera cuts inside the palace one last time, with the two brothers fist pounding in triumph.

## Trivia

* The film was released two times : In 2003 , the original one , and in 2011 , with the difference of including the short Meet the Medic.

### Accolades

 Random Awards
 Best Director
 Best Male Characters (three nominated)