Wah Wars: The Wah Awakens

Theatrical poster

Ian McDiarmid

Boris Karloff

Princess Peach

Bowser

Andy Serkis

**Wah Wars: The Wah Awakens** (also known as **Wah Wars: Episode VII – The Wah Awakens**) is a 2020 epic space opera film by visionary film-maker George Lukeson.

It is a continuation from the previous film the the series **Wah Wars: Return of the Wah** and picks up immediately where that film ended. The film was released worldwide on June 14 and received a generally positive reaction, with audiences being more favourable to the movie than critics.

## Plot

The movie continues on from the end of the previous film with Jedi Knight Waluigi *(played by Waluigi)* facing down the Sith Lord Darth Mario *(played by Mario)* outside Peach's castle. The two of them engage in lightsaber combat, with Mario taking the brunt of the damage. It's during this fight that Waluigi's anger issues begin to surface, with Waluigi using his anger and hatred to all but defeat Mario. However, Mario's skill as a swordsmen eventually outmatches his opponent, and Waluigi is knocked unconscious

When he wakes up, Mario is nowhere to be found. Waluigi asks some passersbys *(with one being played by Ian McDiarmid)* if they know where he went, which they do not. Frustrated, Waluigi turns to alcohol and despair, drinking a random bottle of wine he finds near a campfire.

Eventually, He decides to look for Mario and finds him lying in the woods. He is gravely injured, barely able to breathe. During this confrontation, Mario says that he couldn't bring himself to kill his former friend, revealing that he was never fully turned to the dark side. Stunned by this and feeling shame for the injuries he had cause, Waluigi apologises and promises to make amends for what he has done.

Mysterious noises begin ringing out in the distance. The newly formed allies investigate the sounds, before Bowser *(played by Bowser)* finally begins his ultimate plan with it's first step; blowing up the dam. Upon the destruction of the Mushroom Kingdom dam, Waluigi and Mario begin searching for Bowser. Their search takes them out of the forest and down a cliff where they come across a foul smelling smokey crater. By it's edge they encounter a tall, dark figure *(played by Andy Serkis)*. The two try to hide but are discovered. Mario is killed by the creature and Waluigi runs away in fear.

Waluigi confronts the creature, who would later be revealed as a clone, and attacks it. The creature is eventually killed Waluigi takes Mario's body and places it in his sacred back-mounted Jedi burial satchel. After burying his friends' body, Waluigi returns to his ship, The Millennium Pigeon, and tells his crew what happened. Eventually Waluigi is summoned back to Peach's castle under the guise that Peach *(played by Princess Peach)* had not been turned and required help fighting Bowser's forces.

However Peach had indeed been turned, in both mind and body as she was transformed into a hideous monster. She betrays Waluigi and he is ambushed by a legion of Bowser's troops as he attempts to escape the castle. Waluigi defeats the army by unleashing his secret weapon; a lightsaber Kamehameha.

After escaping the castle, the Jedi travels into the sewers to confront Lord Bowser. He finds him atop a large mechanical looking device, they argue before eventually fighting. Waluigi releases another lightsaber Kamehameha, before throwing Bowser to his fiery demise. Waluigi then uses his lightsaber to smash the Machine and the sun shines brightly again.

## Cast

* **Waluigi as Jedi Knight Waluigi:** a Jedi knight of the Jedi order who in charged with defeating the former Jedi turned Sith lord Darth Mario. He is a tall, lanky mischief maker who suffers from anger issues, poor self-esteem, and alcoholism.
* **Mario as Darth Mario/Mario:** A former Jedi who was corrupted by Bowser in the previous film and is now a dark lord of the Sith.
* **Princess Peach as Princess Peach/Dark Peach:** A princess who was wed to Mario before turning to the dark side due to Bowser's strange experiments.
* **Wario as Jedi Knight Wario:** A large, Garlic scented Jedi who works with Waluigi on his ship; The Millennium Pigeon. He is lazy, greedy, and doesn't often do much to help the heroes.
* **Bubsy as Bubsy:** an annoying little shit who lives on Waluigi's ship. They have tried multiple times to get rid of him but he keeps somehow finding his way back.
* **Hammerbro as Chief navigation officer H.Bro:** The navigation officer of the Millennium Pigeon.
* **Donkey Kong as Kongbacca:** An ape from the planet "Kongshyyyk", he is a loyal and strong friend, who want banana.
* **Bowser as Bowser:** The Supreme dark lord of the Sith empire and mastermind behind the demolition of the Mushroom Kingdom dam. A clever, evil Koopa who dwells in the sewers.
* **Boris Karloff as Gman:** ████ ██ █ ██████ █████ ████ ████ ███████ ███ ██████ █████ █████ ███████ █ ████ ███ ████ ██ ███ █ ████ █████ ████ █████████ ███ ████ ████ ██ ██████ ███████████ ███ █████ █ █████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ███
* **Toad as Toad:** *BUP*
* **Andy Serkis as The Dark figure/clone:** A mysterious 7 and a half foot tall clone whom the heroes encounter on their search for Bowser. It is unclear who he works for, but he is a dangerous creature with invisible claws, 3 red eyes, and a pretty cool gas mask.
* **Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine** *(cameo)*: an old man who get's asked by Waluigi where Mario is.

## Production

Filming began in early 2020 in the Mushroom Kingdom. A goomba village was demolished in order to make room for the castle set to be built. As a reward for allowing their village to be removed, many of the town's residents got to be in the film during the escape scene towards the end of the movie.

Principle photography wrapped up in May 2020, with the final scene shot on May 12th. The film was then edited in house by Industrial Light&Witchcraft in just under 2 weeks, ready for it's release date on June 14th.

Completion of the film was delayed a further week however, due to Andy Serkis *(who played the unnamed clone creature)* insisting that his character be motion captured and rendered in CGI rather than simply being a digitally scaled up an actor in a costume.

## Marketing and release

Wah Wars Episode VII: The Wah Awakens was released worldwide on June 14 2020, following a heavy marketing campaign which included billboards, posters, TV advertisements, forced tattoos, political rallies, dream broadcasting, and appearances by cast members on various television shows promoting the movie, and even those that weren't.

## Reception

### Audience and critic response

Audience reception of the movie was generally very positive with review scores ranging from 75-85%. Audiences praised the film for it's all star cast, lavish sets, spectacular special effects, and the thrilling action sequences.

Critics however generally agree that while the film is objectively well-made, the story felt a somewhat directionless; with one film critic, Robert Eagle stating:

> "*With characters coming in and out of the story sporadically and motivations changing and turning on a dime, the movie feels like it was written in parts by several people whom had no contact with one another. it reads like a robot or AI wrote it."*
>
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Another critic, Gene Fiscal had harsher criticism of the film, lambasting it for its confusing story, poor editing, and pointless cameos:

> *"So they brought back Palpatine and for what? Did it make any sense? He had nothing to do here! What a waste of Ian McDiarmid's talents as an actor."*
>
>

The reception of the film was far more positive in it's native Mushroom Kingdom, with the state sponsored media giving the movie an average review score of 100%.

### Goomba rights activist response

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***This section has been removed upon request from The Royal Government of the Mushroom Kingdom.***

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***Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.***

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### Awards and accolades

The film was nominated for and received several awards following it's release.

## Sequels

Following the success of the film and criticism from some that the story was never properly finished and that there were several loose ends to tie up, Director George Lukeson said that he intends to make new Wah Wars films *"when the time feels right."* and they he *"didn't want to keep making movies without a good story for the sake of making a quick buck"* he was then seen turning and snickering to his personal assistant.