Super Mario Bros film

[P]

Anyone watched the new Mario film yet? I haven't, no spoilers please!

But I'm a little disappointed that it got so mixed reviews now when Mario finally gets an animated film internationally after all these years. That at least suggests that it wasn't a brilliant dead on target creation that just seems to please everyone like the games always did.

Many people seems not to be happy with Mario's English voice and that the Japanese one seems much better (which isn't very strange considering that the Japanese seiyuu are professional full-time voice actors, normally with a voice acting education at a special voice acting school).
I heard the Swedish voices in a trailer, and they were easily worse than the English ones (which wasn't a big surprise either though).


Regardless, it seems to be going very well so that is a relief. I was kinda worried that Mario would make a fool of himself when he finally gets up on the white screen, and especially as this is a Mario film that Miyamoto actually has been involved in.

I kinda liked the 1993 live-action SMB film, but probably mostly because I had really low expectations and it turned out to be a pretty fun steampunk-like film.

[Jedi Master Baiter]

The 1993 film deserves its own thread.

[UglyJoe]

I set my expectations pretty low before I saw it.  It wasn't bad, but wasn't great, either.  Actually, prior to getting to Mushroom Kingdom, I thought it was pretty bad.  Much better once the movie gets out of Brooklyn.  (Although, all of the Easter Eggs in all of the signage in Brooklyn was amusing).

I like most of the movies that Illumination puts out.  I'd put any of the Despicable Me, Secret Life of Pets, and Sing movies over this one.  (Okay, Despicable Me 3 wasn't *great*, so maybe that's a tie).

[Magicantian]

Watched it, it's geared to kids but it has some loose spots for adults to reminisce. I wouldn't say its much but an elude to the Orlando and Japan theme parks. Best just go visit the spots when its finished.

I liked the Tetris movie more.

They got these stars in the movie though that act very depressing and say mad stupid shit, its kinda different from the Nintendo brand.

[adori_12]

I watched it when it premiered, it's exactly what I wanted to be honest. Excellent animation and loads of references. Sure it has a paper thin story but Mario games never had deep lore so they're being faithful to the source material, they're definitely having a deeper lore in the sequel. I think people aren't mentioning enough the fact that we could finally get to know Mario's family! There's probably some reference to Mario's parents somewhere in the vast history of the franchise but nothing like the movie.

Perhaps my biggest complain is the shoehorned pop songs which are definitely there for all the middle-aged men who grew up listening that music, but Jesus did we really need Take on me in the film?  It's worse considering they replaced arrangements of classic Mario music that were made for those scenes, and apparently it was a last-minute decision to not use them (it could have been a lot worse though, "Superstar" almost didn't make it because the producers wanted Jump by Van Halen instead! Super glad the composer didn't agree and they kept it in).

Overall I loved it, this was just the beginning of a whole bunch of Nintendo films, who knows what they are preparing next!

[P]

I have still yet to see it.

Yeah Mario media should have simple story. Basically Mario has to save the princess from the bad guy, what more do you need, Mario is based on Popeye cartoons which also didn't focus on telling a complex story. Though I read that Illumination was mostly responsible for the story while Nintendo was there to dictate the Mario bible and make sure the animators and sound technicians didn't take too many liberties that wasn't true to the games.

One interesting thing is that they seems to have revived the old Italian plumber from Brooklyn kind of thing that NOA and American media pushed a lot during Mario's earlier days, but that never really showed up in any game (except those odd ones Nintendo licensed to foreign makers), save for Mario's and Luigi's Italian names, the fact that Donkey Kong took place in New York (which became New Donk City in Odyssey) and of course the fact that Mario and Luigi work as plumbers in some games like Mario Bros.
I always had mixed feelings about this whole Brooklyn thing (and as a Swedish kid I didn't really understand this stereotype for many years), but I also feel kinda nostalgic since the old Valiant comics always went all out with it, being American and all.

That's too bad about the music, it sounds like they used many popular songs rather than appropriate songs. I wonder if the Japanese version changed the music.

[adori_12]

I hope you can watch it soon, it's no longer in theaters but I think you can rent it on Amazon Prime (at least where I live), there's probably a streaming service in Japan that offers the movie.

Illumination writing the story makes sense, some people think it's similar to the latest Minions movie, I haven't watched it so I can't really say. I do think Nintendo definitely approved every piece of the script as I'm sure Illumination would have made Mario a lot dumber than he was in the final product, they love stupid slapstick humor  that being said I think they were the right choice, Sony Pictures would have been a chaos to work with and Disney would have changed every aspect of the movie they didn't like.

I thought reviving the whole Mario plumber thing was cool, and it's funny because for some reason Nintendo said Mario wasn't a plumber anymore a few years ago, this confirms they retracted from that. We also got a nice homage to the Super Mario Bros. Super Show which had never happened in official Japanese canon, pretty adorable if you ask me
I wonder if Mario is definitely American now or Japanese Nintendo will keep on saying he's from the Mushroom Kingdom or whatever.

AFAIK they kept the same songs in Japanese, and overall that release is nearly identical to the American original. There was a rumor that Lumalee's lines were changed for the Japanese dub, but that was proven fake. I did read testimonies about Japanese audiences not laughing at her lines so there's that. I'd love to discuss more things about the movie but I don't to spoil more things to you 

[P]

It will probably be shown in theaters for a long time, so there is no risk in missing it anytime soon, I'm surprised that's not the case were you live (if you have some big city theater near you). I'm not really using streaming services but I might buy it on bluray, though this is a movie I'd want to see on the big screen first.


I think that article misunderstood Nintendo or it was at least written in a misleading way. I forgot what Mario's profile originally said but now it says he is a plumber though his doesn't limit his activity to just plumbing. I think one of the Smash Bros games had a profile for him that said he was once a plumber a long time ago. This was nothing more than a simple reference to Mario Bros which was an early game, thus "a long time ago", it doesn't mean that Miyamoto declared that Mario has quit his job as a plumber (which the article headline may make you believe). Some games in the Mario RPG series actually have Mario and Luigi bring up their plumbing skills (and plumbing apparently means killing turtles and crabs in the sewers).

Mario has always been doing a lot of different things. He started out as a carpenter in Donkey Kong and had a new job in almost every game (especially in Game & Watch titles): wrecking crew member, doctor, bottle plant worker (Mario Bros G&W), cement factory worker, military (Mario's Bombs away), boxing and tennis referee, rally racer, gokart racer, golf player, artist, toy factory owner and in the Super Mario Land series he is a landowner and even owns a castle and the surrounding land called Mario Land. He is also a circus animal trainer (he has a whole zoo of crocodiles and birds in DKJr, and he trains Donkey in Donkey Kong Circus) and is the mean owner of Donkey Kong who he keeps locked up in a cage. According to Miyamoto, Donkey Kong escaped and kidnapped Mario's girlfriend in Donkey Kong to get back on Mario a bit, but only to return her later as he isn't really a bad gorilla.

I think Mario has always been considered Italian (since he got his name some time between DK and DKJr) and a plumber (since Mario Bros). I'm actually mostly thinking of the Brooklyn stereotype and that he is from another world. I think the Brooklyn stereotype more or less went over Miyamoto/Nintendo's heads (as it did with mine in my childhood) and no game portrayed this depiction in any way (the sole exception might be Charles Martinet's acting, but he actually toned down the harsh Brooklyn stereotype and made a more high-pitched happy Mario that was better with children). Yet this idea was living its own life, separate from the games, among the American media and many western fans for a long time.
It was often said that Mario came from Brooklyn and was summoned to the Mushroom Kingdom in SMB, yet no game ever mentioned this detail. Then Yoshi Island came and made Mario and Luigi native Mushroom Kingdom inhabitants (Brooklyn-Mario-advocates really hates the Yoshi Island story for this reason), effectively severing the ties with the Donkey Kong series.

But there are actually even some Japanese sources that says Mario is from Italy (he has never been considered Japanese) and Lady (AKA Pauline) is from New York (Brooklyn is a part of New York BTW), and Super Mario Odyssey reconnected the Super Mario series with the Donkey Kong series by the inclusion of New Donk City which is a reference to both New York and the Donkey Kong series, without having to solve Mario's contradictional origin mystery.

One interesting Japanese source that uses the idea that Mario and Luigi are from the real world is the very first Super Mario movie ever made, being released the same year as SMB it was based on, "Super Mario Bros: Peach-hime Kyuushutsu Daisakusen". But this movie is of course not canon and Nintendo wasn't really involved in the making of it.


Though I think the idea to revive the Italian-plumber-from-Brooklyn thing was Illumination's idea as they are Americans and probably well aware of NOA's and American media's old depiction of Mario, so I doubt it would be considered canon. But it's still interesting that Miyamoto/Nintendo (who was actually involved this time) went along with it, and I can imagine people referring to it in future Mario discussions regarding Mario's origins.

[adori_12]

I do have lots of big theaters nearby, the thing is the movie premiered here the same day as the US, which was a lot earlier than most other markets, so it naturally stopped being shown here before.

That makes sense, I can't really understand Nintendo's Japanese website so I trusted the article. Even though he has had several different jobs I think everyone has always associated him with being a plumber.

From what I understand Brooklyn has been a refuge for poor Eastern European immigrants for centuries, all coming for the American dream. As all immigrants in foreign countries do, compatriots gathered around and developed their own subcultures, Italian Americans are still by far most common in the state of New York. My guess is that someone said "Mario is an Italian name, he looks Italian, and if he was American, he would be from Brooklyn" and the rest is history.

As for me, I don't really prefer one version or another, as for videogames it would make more sense to say Mario's from the Mushroom Kingdom as the whole Brooklyn thing is weirdly specific and dependent of knowing American culture (which is exactly why we don't really get it), but if you were making a movie about Mario why not make his background a bit more interesting with that origin story? We will probably never get an official answer though.