Current Events > So the Mario movie was really fun

(+) Yeah! (+)

As someone who went into this with a lot of trepidation, it was about as a good as could be expected

HOWEVER that post-credit really got me hyped for the sequel "Yoshi!" I was kind of annoyed that the Yoshis didn't play a bigger role than one brief background appearance, looks like the next movie will rectify that.

Nobody? Okay then.

Kinda wish Luigi played more of a role, but I also knew going in that he'd be captured for most of the film. Still, the scenes with him were pretty funny, although that damn Lumalee totally stole the show.

....bump

HylianFox posted...

Kinda wish Luigi played more of a role

that was my only notable complaint with the movie. at least they let him be in the final battle.

Phantom_Nook posted...

at least they let him be in the final battle.

Yeah, that was actually a pleasant surprise

Yeah, more Luigi would've been nice.

Although I ended up liking DK more than I expected.

I Looooved the movie. Had a lot of fun.

If you have a kid/related to a kid, and they ever played Mario, they will have a blast. I haven't seen kids love a movie more than what I just saw in a good few years. Mario evokes really strong emotions that people take for granted.

AND MY GOD, Mario and Luigi have parents!!!!

Maybe I should invite my nephew Cornelius to see this Morio Movie the youth are discussing.

My biggest worry was that I was going to come out of it thinking, "Yep, that was an Illumination movie", but it was decent. Could have been way worse and I'm glad it wasn't.

GATTJT posted...

My biggest worry was that I was going to come out of it thinking, "Yep, that was an Illumination movie", but it was decent. Could have been way worse and I'm glad it wasn't.

Yeah, same. It was a little heavy on slow-mo at times, but that's about my only real complaint. Thought it did everything a Mario movie should do.

... but just you wait until Illumination gets their filthy hands on Wario, oh boy, haha.

It was pretty good. The Lumalee definitely stole the show. I was kind of impressed with the amount of love that was put in. So many references even people whove played Mario might not recognize.

My favorite might be when Mario sees a glass pipe and the music changes to a 3DW/3DL version of the track that was already playing.

And Charles Martinet at the beginning, of course.

GATTJT posted...

My biggest worry was that I was going to come out of it thinking, "Yep, that was an Illumination movie", but it was decent. Could have been way worse and I'm glad it wasn't.

Tbh I kinda think the 'mid level' movies from studios like Illumination or whoever were always over hated on the internet to begin with.

They're not as good as the big Disney, Pixar or your Paddingtons or whatever but they're overall still safe popcorn stuff that are amusing enough to watch with the odd laugh. Actual terrible CGI kids movies from the big studios are pretty rare. At worse they're just safe and same old.

Letsago posted...

Although I ended up liking DK more than I expected.

Ditto. When Seth Rogen said "It's just gonna be my real voice. Sorry" I feared the worst, but he was actually rather fitting in the role.

And Jack Black fuckin' nailed it as Bowser.
I forget who voiced Kamek but I liked him a lot too.

HylianFox posted...

I forget who voiced Kamek but I liked him a lot too.

Kevin Micheal Richardson.
The voices that come to mind with him are deep like Gantu from Lilo & Stitch, so I never would have figured it out without looking it up.

do luigi and bowser fuck

TeaMilk posted...

do luigi and bowser fuck

Bowser is simping real hard in this movie, but alas, it's not for a Mario Brother, but just Princess Peach. I have no idea why I'm putting a well-known Bowser fact in spoilers. It's practically the premise of half the games.

HylianFox posted...

Ditto. When Seth Rogen said "It's just gonna be my real voice. Sorry" I feared the worst, but he was actually rather fitting in the role.

"...I hate you."

lol, I don't get why "Bowser is a simp" is a complaint I've seen in some reviews

Like, you *have* played most of the recent Mario games yes?

I don't think the smile left my face the entire movie. It was so fun. I think my only real complaint is that it could have been a little longer, it felt like they just moved from scene to scene super fast. I LOVED that Luigi got to join in with the Star Power-Up at the end. I always liked Luigi more than Mario, so that made me happy.

HylianFox posted...

lol, I don't get why "Bowser is a simp" is a complaint I've seen in some reviews

Like, you *have* played most of the recent Mario games yes?

Not a complaint on my end. I love that aspect of the games.

I just wish they had credited Kirkhope for the DK Rap.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

There was actually a 1986 anime film, released only in Japan, that actually has Bowser trying to marry Peach, and it was pretty obvious he had feelings for her, and it wasn't just some power-grab. The idea of Bowser loving Peach is almost as old as Bowser himself.

Was the Chris Pratt mario voice a bit cringe, or was it okay?

Saw it today and it was great. I thought the part with the blue shell destroying the rainbow road was gonna have the army of Yoshis saving the crew.

Funcoot posted...

I think my only real complaint is that it could have been a little longer, it felt like they just moved from scene to scene super fast.

Yes! I really wished the movie had been longer.
They crammed a lot into those 90 minutes, could have benefited from being a solid 2 hours.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


You take that back. I love the classic Mario tunes as much as anyone but I will *not* have anyone speak ill of 'Holding Out For A Hero'

next movie better have Wario. maybe Danny DeVito could voice him...

ZevLoveDOOM posted...

next movie better have Wario. maybe Danny DeVito could voice him...

Seconded.

Just watched it! As a Mario fanatic since I can literally remember growing up with games, 90s movie, cartoons, spin-offs, etc... I will say the movie made me smile entire time and several times made my eyes water.

It truly is everything I could have wanted in a Mario movie. Only bad thing is it was too short, but I have a feeling we'll be seeing many sequels.

I just got back from seeing it and it only confirms that critics are pretentious assholes. I had SO much fun watching this! The smile never left my face, it was just a palpable feeling of good vibes there!

I thought the movie was great, I'll definitely watch it again when it comes to streaming.

My only complaints about the movie are Cranky Kong's voice, and seeing Mario and Luigi's actual in real life human hands. That was messed up

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]


I honestly don't remember any other pop songs in the movie aside from 'Hero', they just didn't stand out to me.

SSJKirby posted...

My only complaints about the movie are Cranky Kong's voice

Yeah, Cranky wasn't nearly cranky enough. He didn't even sound old.

I liked the movie but c'mon. I liked it because I already liked Mario and Nintendo.

If you don't care about that I think it's totally fair to dislike the movie. Like objectively I can step back and notice the complete and utter lack of development or effort in any of the characterizations and relationships. The movie just doesn't have enough room to give any room to breathe when it comes to Mario's relationships with Peach, Luigi, Toad and Donkey Kong. It's obvious what they're going for but they all get like 5-10 minutes of screen time that even comes close to actually developing any of it on the screen. The movie doesn't even give any time for Mario to actually get to know the Mushroom Kingdom which makes the ending of the movie where Mario and Luigi decide to live there fall a bit flat honestly. Luigi hasn't even been there before that scene!

But yeah treat it like a theme park ride instead of a movie and it's so fun. Video game movies have never really captured the spirit of a game as well as this. Hopefully the sequels and spin-offs can allow more time for that to be there along with getting to know these characters a bit better.

Punished_Blinx posted...

I liked the movie but c'mon. I liked it because I already liked Mario and Nintendo.

If you don't care about that I think it's totally fair to dislike the movie. Like objectively I can step back and notice the complete and utter lack of development or effort in any of the characterizations and relationships. The movie just doesn't have enough room to give any room to breathe when it comes to Mario's relationships with Peach, Luigi, Toad and Donkey Kong. It's obvious what they're going for but they all get like 5-10 minutes of screen time that even comes close to actually developing any of it on the screen. The movie doesn't even give any time for Mario to actually get to know the Mushroom Kingdom which makes the ending of the movie where Mario and Luigi decide to live there fall a bit flat honestly. Luigi hasn't even been there before that scene!

But yeah treat it like a theme park ride instead of a movie and it's so fun. Video game movies have never really captured the spirit of a game as well as this. Hopefully the sequels and spin-offs can allow more time for that to be there along with getting to know these characters a bit better.

The movie definitely could have been longer and given the characters some room to breathe.
I'm hoping the next movie will address that, and it probably will.

HylianFox posted...

The movie definitely could have been longer and given the characters some room to breathe.
I'm hoping the next movie will address that, and it probably will.

this'll probably be like the first Sonic movie, where they're just doing the basics to get the world set up and gauge public interest. then the next movie will be more exciting.

How much someone likes the movie is going to based heavily on whether or not you find references entertaining. I'm a big fan of the games, but just having references wasn't enough for me to enjoy the movie.

Yeah sequels and spin-offs should have an easier time. Even this movie probably would have reviewed better if they just stuck with the Mushroom Kingdom and the Dark Lands instead of cramming in the Donkey Kong stuff. That really is where all of the character development gets lost in the shuffle as it suddenly shifts to Mario and DK.

Spin-offs being focused on DK, Luigi and Captain Toad or whatever should be a lot more focused.

To me, it made perfect sense. I think it's obvious they wanted to push for Donkey Kong stuff in order to set-up for a DK movie.

Plus, it was showing great respect for Mario's first true rivalry. They wanted to, both, include DK's rivalry with Mario, yet not take him from his DK Country setting that has been built and established long since the original arcade days. Good ol' classic Mario vs DK.

I think this movie did a great job of planting a bunch of seeds for future projects. I expect the next movie to be more focused on the Mushroom kingdom side of things (or they might jump to Galaxy since they were referencing it quite a few times).

It makes sense but usually in a movie like this the rivalry between Mario and DK would be the central relationship of the movie. Overall the movie tries to juggle like three relationships that would usually be the central one and as a consequence none of them manage to really be. Mario probably only has 2-3 proper conversations with each character at most.

Overall Mario and Luigi is overall considered the emotional core of the movie but they spend most of the movie apart and Luigi isn't given much to do. Their entire arc together takes place over like four short scenes one of which is a flashback.

It's like you know what the emotional plots of these characters relationships would be but it just skips over the entire middle bit.

It's why even though I thought the Sonic movie wasn't as good I can understand why it reviewed better. Overall Sonic has a complete arc of wanting to find a home and the movie is centralised around that. Even people who don't care about Sonic can relate to that.

Mario in comparison is basically just following everyone around to find his brother. What he wants in the long run is barely even really talked about. Like he doesn't even show concern about returning home to Brooklyn and there's nothing about why he decides to move to the Mushroom Kingdom at the end. We just go along for the ride and accept it.

If I could sum up the overall issue with the movie in a single pair of scenes it would be the Toads cheering that they don't know who Mario is when they leave the Mushroom Kingdom who also gasp in horror when Peach gives the news that they've lost Mario when she returns. Sure you can say it's just a continuation of the joke but it's overall an example of how emotional arcs are overall pretty hollow and lack substance.

PiOverlord posted...

I think it's obvious they wanted to push for Donkey Kong stuff in order to set-up for a DK movie.

With DK and also Pauline's cameo as mayor of NYC, I'm hoping for a setup of them interacting and the introduction of New Donk City

HylianFox posted...

With DK and also Pauline's cameo as mayor of NYC, I'm hoping for a setup of them interacting and the introduction of New Donk City

They could do like a minis based story

Jump Up, Superstar!

I wasn't planning on seeing it but my sister suggested taking my nephew and niece to see it when plans got rained out - I'm not the biggest Mario fan but knew enough to catch references but I watching it with a 6 year that's never played was probably the best part.