The Mario Movie

Theatrical release poster.

***The Mario Movie*** is a 2000 computer-animated action family film produced by Studio 4 Films with Nintendo and Village Roadshow Pictures, as well being distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.

## Plot

Mario rescues Toadstool, then Bowser pleads for mercy as he can’t control his habit, Mario accepts his apology and Bowser is then elected mayor, then things go normal in the kingdom, but a fierce King Koopa plots revenge on the kingdom, Mario and Luigi finished their plumbing work, then they heard the news, they spread it to Toadstool, Yoshi and Toad, they hop in Yoshi's hybrid of a car and airplane, called the Caroplane.

King Koopa sends missles to the plane, leaving Yoshi to fall into the ocean, the four launch a firework that sent them to the island, Yoshi swims to land and finds Toad, but they were pursued by the Hammer Bros. which the Mario brothers and Toadstool stop, then they are confronted by more minions until they defeated them, they notice Toads disappearance, they search for the sewers until they found him, King Koopa plummets to rage after Toad pinched him in the nose, until being stopped by Mario delivering his punch, which got him eaten by a maw ray.

The Shy Guys pilot a helicopter which the quintuple return home, Toadstool congratulates the rest, then a giant lion appears, Mario wishes luck on The Shy Guys.

## Voice cast

* Lou Albano as Mario.
* Tony Rosato as Luigi.
* John Stocker as Toad.
* Tracey Moore as Princess Toadstool.
* Zachary Throne as Yoshi.
* Harvey Atkin as King Koopa.
* Frank Welker, Fred Tatasciore and Steve Buscemi as The Goombas, Koopa Troopas and Hammer Bros.
* Mel Brooks as Bowser.

### Live-Action Cast

* Jeffrey Tambor as Elephant.

The rest of the crowd appear silent, except when they grunt at the end.

## Production

Despite the critical and commercial failure of the 1993 film *Super Mario Bros.*, Nintendo was reluctant to adapt their intellectual property into films, until Michael Brannon formed his new studio and in August 1997, they announced a deal to make a film non-canon to the actual franchise.

The character designs were changed to the likes of Hotel Mario and the DiC Mario shows as Brannon thought it would be more crunchy and interesting, during the summer of 1998, Brannon offered Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow Pictures to release, finance and market the film with their consent, which then was chosen.

Their own animation software, *Hotplate* had to be remastered with smoother shadow casts, subdivision, lighting, animation, particles, smoke and explosion effects and shaders, the software made smooth progress thanks to artist Clyde Groomer, who was one of Brannons old friends,

### Music

The original motion picture score was released on February 22, 2000, scored by Michael Giacchino and David Newman, the album was released by Warner Sunset Records.

## Release

### Theatrical

*The Mario Movie* was released theatrically on March 1, 2000, May 11, 2000 in Australia and Japan on May 13, 2000.

### Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on August 15, 2000, consisting of widescreen and pan-and-scan versions, 8.12 million copies were sold worldwide and rereleased by Warner Home Video on Blu-ray in November 4, 2008.

## Reception

### Box office

*The Mario Movie* earned $24.2 million domestically and $39.5 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $63.7 million.

*The Mario Movie* debuted for it's first week with $7 million, then it's second coupled with another $7 million and dropped with $3 million in its third, and earned $7 million during its run, *The Mario Movie* ran it's theatrical duration course on June 15, 2000.

### Critical response

*The Mario Movie* received a mixed reception from critics and audiences, the film received a Rotten Tomatoes score of 33%, with 118 reviews, on a scale of 3.7/10. The website's critical consensus reads "Though better than the infamous 1993 film adaption, it still manages to have its moments, especially the jarring animation." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 21 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavourable reviews" Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "D" on an A+ to F scale.