Starring - Bob Hoskins (Tales from the Crypt, Who Framed Roger Rabbit), John Leguizamo (Spawn, Die Hard 2), and Dennis Hopper (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Mad Dog Morgan)
Release Date - 1993
Genre - Comedy/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Tagline - "This ain't no game"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection) (Screener)
Rating (out of 5):
I lived in the video store when I was growing up. For a short time we had Bucky's Video which was set up in a single wide trailer but my small town's staple video store was Dewey's Video. I rented so many movies from Dewey's during my youth. Years before I found horror I was often renting shit like Air Bud, Space Jam, and other assortments of new releases. I remember one time when I was staying with my cousin, coincidentally nick named Bucky, he told me had rented a couple Sega Genesis games along with a couple movies for us to watch. One of those tapes was for Super Mario Bros. I had never seen this one prior to him renting it but I fell in love with it. It seems like after that weekend I found it playing several times a day on HBO and Cinemax. I was watching it so much I found myself quoting it all the time. As I grew older I discovered that a lot of movie fans like myself hated the film. I can see why some would dislike it but I see more value in it than I do things I dislike. A few weeks ago my friends at Umbrella Entertainment announced that they would be releasing the film on blu. I reached out to them to use this release as an excuse to revisit it. They were kind enough to send over a copy and I couldn't wait to work it into my schedule.
New York plumbers Mario (Hoskins) and Luigi (Leguizamo) who meets an aspiring young archeologist that Luigi takes notice of. Daisy (Samantha Mathis) is working for a university where dinosaur bones have been uncovered at a construction site. Several women have gone missing around the city and Daisy soon finds herself being tailed by two strange men. The men work for King Koopa (Hopper) and he needs to find a young woman, Daisy, who has a stone that he needs to merge his world with our world. The worlds were separated millions of years ago when a meteor crashed separating this world, where monkeys evolved into humans, and the other world where dinosaurs evolved into people.
Die hard fans of Mario and Nintendo hate this film because it doesn't follow the source material at all. Aside from the names, the film has little resemblance to the game series. However, I find it a seriously fun film that if was titled anything other than Super Mario Bros. it would have a huge cult following. If movies like Cloak and Danger and Wizard can have the cult following they do then this film deserves so much more than the hate it gets. It's campy and cheesy fun. The acting in this one is extremely fun. The cast is not trying to win any awards. Instead, they are bringing fun and unforgettable characters to life which I believe they all do a fantastic job. Hopper, Hoskins, Leguizamo, and Mathis are all enjoyable and the characters the bring us are all fun. As I said, no one is attempting to deliver a heartwarming performance. They bring a lot of fun and humor to the film. The story for this one has nothing to do with the game series aside from the namesakes. With that being said, it's painfully early 90s sci-fi inspired. I love the idea of two different world coexisting simultaneously with one another and how drastically different they are. I like the subtle tie ins to the games yet the story has nothing to do with them. We have some funny moments with goombas, the bom-omb later on in the film, and even a little dinosaur pet named Yoshi. A few other instances I left out aside, that's the only real connections to the game series aside from character names. I did like having the people on one side evolve out of dinosaurs was really cool and it the film was titled something else movie goers would have ate it up. The little romantic angle between Daisy and Luigi feels forced at times but aside from that I find the film to be very charming and funny. Finally, it's not going to be a bloody film but fans of practical and make-up effects will enjoy it. I loved the look of the other world. The wardrobe, sets, vehicles, and look of the creatures and goombas was a lot of fun. Sure, it doesn't look like anything in the game but it's still a visually impressive film. Overall, Super Mario Bros. is an extremely fun and entertaining film that catches unnecessary hate. I know it doesn't fit in with the games that inspires it but if you just ignore the Mario part of the movie you will truly find something extremely cheesy and unadulterated fun. I highly recommend snagging this blu from Umbrella Entertainment especially if you have never seen the film before. Personally, I love if and if you are open to it I'm sure you will as well.
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