Thoughts and Musings

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) Thoughts

Got a chance to watch the recent Mario movie with some friends recently.

It was ok. Wouldn't watch it again or really personally recommend it. But that's not me saying I would recommend against watching it. By all means, if the idea of watching Mario and friends kick Bowser's ass is appealing to you, go for it. But for me, as a person who enjoys unique stories and experiences, this falls a bit flat.

Video game movies and adaptations seem to be on a rise nowadays, but it was a bit of a surprise to me when Nintendo decided to step its foot into the door of making something for the big screen after a failed venture long ago. But this time they learned from their mistakes by going in even harder through designing a whole new Universal Theme Park experience, getting the movie studio who made hit movies such as The Minions, and... uhh... *checks list* getting famed actor Chris Pratt among other A-list celebs to voice characters. Umm, sure. I guess.

Thoughts about celeb voice actors and video game adaptations aside, let's talk about the movie.

It sure was a video game movie about Mario and the mushroom kingdom.

And that is the end of my thoughts about this movie.

Just kidding.

As much as I had fun watching the movie, at the end after the credits rolled my final thoughts were, "huh. cool" as I made my way out of the packed theater. No deep thoughts, no searching through memorable parts or story beats to think more about. It all felt like an almost 1 hour 30 minute long ride that I was ready to get off at the end and continue on with my day. I think my life would be the same if I didn't watch the movie at all.

Not to say that it's a bad thing. Not all movies can be captivating thought pieces that change the directory of your life for the better. It's a movie about two plumbers, a princess, and mushroom people for goodness sakes.

But lately I've just been enjoying stories and media that have a lot more going on. I find it fun to analyze those stories and pick them apart so I can learn from them. This movie barely does any of that. The only thing I absolutely love and adored is the storyboarding, particulary in this one scene right at the climax where Mario is having a character struggle in the same place where the movie started. Seeing that was super cool and smart - the framing was excellent all around and the color grading was super smart and effective.

But that's really about it. The pacing moved quickly and linearly with no real B-plot or anything else to bog it down. There was no time to really take in the scene or beauty, everything had to move. If you blink, you missed it. Especially all the references. They did a great job with all the references, a lot of real love was put into that while also not making it a center of attention to where if you didn't get it you would not be missing much. But with that, the whole movie becomes a bit of an "I Spy" book where you are not just watching the movie but hyper-focusing on everything in frame. Perhaps this too is a clever trick to market to all audiences as the more "gamer" audience familiar with the Mario franchise will get distracted by how simple this movie is.

Speaking of audiences, let's talk about my biggest peeve in this entire movie - the licensed music. The actual music and the orchestration of themes and big musical hits of the Mario franchise were done so excellently - a lot of love was put into that. Then comes the tunes straight out of a 90's kid's dad's cassette collection - A-ha, Beastie Boys, AC/DC to name a few. It begs the question - "who? why? for what purpose?". To that, there are many answers. The bottom line for me though is that it really does bog it down. Especially knowing about the track that they cut made specifically for the movie that was actually a really good reference and love letter in itself for "Take on Me". I guess when you have budget to blow on A-list celebs you have money to blow on licensing fees.

Hey, I've been harping on this movie a whole bunch now. So let's hear some good things! This isn't a bit, there are a lot of good things about this movie that I enjoyed. I loved seeing all the familiar Mario creatures animated, especially the Shy Guys, Dry Bones, and even seeing the king of Bob-oms himself. Jack Black and Charlie Day did an absolutely fantastic job in their roles as Bowser and Luigi. The whole animation and design was fantastic, I think studio Illumination's best work yet (but to be fair I do not seek out their films), really impressed with the lighting and effects.

And I think that's really all about it. Just those three things and a handful of tiny things.

The rest of the movie was just... ok. Fun! But just ok. The writing was ok, the themes were... ok at times. It's all just ok. Not bad. Not the best thing ever. Not even mediocre as some critics say since a lot of love was put into a lot of parts of this movie (you cannot say mediocre to Jack Black's song and singing as that's illegal).

I did have honest fun watching it. But at the end of it, I was just as quick to move on from it as when I walked into that hot packed theater with the sound just blaring at me (are movie theaters that loud nowadays?). I think I would be fine if I never watched it again though. It was a fine one day watch.

I know I watch a lot of things I would consider junk food where you know it has flaws and there are better things worth watching, but you form a kind of emotional connection to it in one way or another whether it be because of the media itself or things associated to it. The Mario movie is not one of those things for me. It is to me like a well-crafted potato chip with no salt. There are great things about it from texture to shape to that perfect crunch and natural flavor. But it lacks a certain something to take it over to the next level. Perfectly fine and fun experience. But after that bite, I'm ready to move on. TO SONIC 3 BAYBEE

Also we got KBBQ after. Love eating and drinking one or two glasses of beer with friends. But only one or two glasses. Beer tastes like ass. Also everytime I drink someone points out my asian glow.

korean bqq with some pals

Edit: I found this twitter thread about the licensed tracks being replaced with the orignal cut tracks. Look what they took from us.

ESPECIALLY THIS ONE

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