Rated PG. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theaters.
Not to be confused with the 1993 live-action flop “Super Mario Brothers” starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo, the new computer-animated extravaganza “The Super Mario Brothers Movie” features Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as Mario and Luigi, respectively, and Anya-Taylor Joy as the pink-garbed “Barbie”-ready Princess Peach. Both films are based on the wildly successful 1985 Nintendo computer game. The 1993 effort is high on “Worst Movies Ever Made” lists,
In this new iteration, Mario and Luigi are once again Brooklyn plumbers of Italian-American descent, who like to use the expression “Mamma Mia,” share big pasta dinners with their family and get sucked into a different dimension, where they meet Princess Peach, the Queen of the Mushroom Kingdom, which is under siege by the demonic, humanoid, fire-breathing reptile King Bowser (Jack Black), who likes to take breaks to play his piano and sing a love song about the Princess.
Since the game was originally designed by Japanese Nintendo tech legends, I suppose we aren’t meant to be offended by the flagrant Italian-American stereotypes. But what are we to make of a Mushroom Man named Toad? “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” may soon be playing on a loop at your local weed dispensary.
The film lacks drama and character. But it has giant mushrooms and more trippy visuals than a Lady Gaga video. Essentially, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which was written by Matthew Fogel (“Minions: The Rise of Gru”), directed by Aaron Horvath (“Teen Titans GO! To the Movies”) and first-timer Michael Jelenic, takes its cue from “The Wizard of Oz” with Mario and Luigi as versions of Dorothy Gale, transported to a strange and magical world and Bowser and his staff-waving wizard Kamek (Kevin Michael Richardson) as the Wicked Witch.
Produced by Chris Meledandri’s Illumination (“Despicable Me”), Universal Pictures and Nintendo, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is a polished piece of work. But like the game, it lacks character, something you might not notice when you’re playing the game. But WATCHING the game on a movie screen amplifies the thinness of the narrative. Flying bricks, glowing cubes, anyone?
Mario learns that if he eats a mushroom, he grows like Alice in “Alice in Wonderland.” Cue “I Need a Hero.” The film is full of 1980s-era hits such as a-ha’s “Take On Me” and AC/DC’s overused “Thunderstruck.” The most distinctive voice-acting is by Seth Rogen as the barrel-hurling ape Donkey Kong. The actor’s connection to the character is really remarkable. Pratt’s Mario, Day’s Luigi and Taylor-Joy’s Princess in contrast do not leave much of an impression. Arguably, the most memorable character in the film is a four-sided glowing creature whose every statement is a (funny?) doom-laden bummer (“fresh meat for the grinder”). The film is full of game-related chases and action scenes, one down a rainbow road with go-carts and motorcycles. Invoking “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,” Bowser declares that Princess Peach “makes a guy want to come out of his shell,” twice.
The sub-woofers pounded at the IMAX screening I attended. The Princess has some “Frozen” tricks up her Victorian sleeves. After a lot of senseless chases and numerous “Mamma Mia’s,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” comes to an ELO-accompanied end. While it’s better than “Warcraft” and “Assassin’s Creed,” “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is, Mamma Mia, nowhere near as much fun as last week’s “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.”
(“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” contains loud action and cartoon violence)