I know this is a little different from the topics I usually cover, but there was no way I could pass up an opportunity to talk about this. I remember months back when I first heard about this movie being in development. It was the first time I have ever laughed solely because of the cast line-up being announced. I know for a fact I wasn’t alone in this, especially considering the memes that took over the internet immediately after. However, we haven’t gotten much more information about the movie, until now. I f you haven’t seen the trailer yet, I would recommend watching it to know what I am talking about so I will leave a link down below for the English Trailer. Now, this is the second movie property that Nintendo has had released in recent memory, the first of course being the Detective Pikachu movie that was based off of the 3DS game of the same name. That movie was pretty good and showed that maybe there was potential for more movies like this in the future. However, instead of a mix of CGI and realism, they decided it would be best to completely animate it this time. Figures that they wouldn’t want a remake of the Super Mario Bros. movie. After all, it wasn’t that good. However, we are looking past that to a brighter tomorrow so with all that being said, here are my thoughts on the trailer for The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
First off the animation looks pretty good. It is a bit too early to tell much from this teaser but I can at least say I like the art direction. The models for the characters also seem pretty solid, although I guess this version of Mario hasn’t really packed on the Italian food. The storyline for this is looking to be pretty straightforward which is fine. Honestly a first movie shouldn’t be needlessly complicated especially if it is a kid’s movie. That’s why I am also not surprised with this being an origin story. Although I am curious what Mario’s background is going to be since it looks like they will not start Mario out in the Mushroom Kingdom. I am also curious as to how Luigi gets there, since it seems that Mario and Luigi are separated. I am also interested in how Bowser is collecting the power of the Stars so I am curious to see where this goes. It was nice to see the penguins make an appearance at the beginning. I am curious to see if other inhabitants are referenced as well during the movie. We’ll have to wait and see. One other thing worth noting is Toad’s appearance. We did see him in the poster looking like some sort of guide and the trailer seems to reinforce that notion. The thing is that this gives the idea that this Toad will possibly be a precursor to Captain Toad, but it might be to early to say anything.
Now, there is one big thing that we have to talk about here, and that is the voice acting. After all, the reason everyone reacted to these casting choices was because it just seemed liked the most insane casting bracket for a children’s movie ever. Fortunately, what I have heard in this trailer has somewhat alleviated my concerns. Frist off, Kamek’s voice is pretty solid. He only had one line, but it was pretty good for Kevin Michael Richardson’s first showing as Kamek. Well done. Also, the penguins sounding imposing despite having no way to defeat Bowser was pretty comical honestly. However, in the opening segment, Jack Black as Bowser had me sold. He did a very good job giving off a believable Bowser impression and that is all I was hoping for so that’s fantastic. Now in the second part of the trailer we had two other cast members speak. We had Mario being voiced by Chris Pratt and Toad voiced by Keegan-Michael Key. I’ll be honest, the Toad voice is not what I expected, but in a good way. Definitely a lot less grating on the ears which I am thankful for and sounds like it fits the character. Great. Now Mario, he is a different story. Look, I am not saying I wanted Mario to have a New York or Italian accent. I am not expecting things to be that deep in a kid’s movie. However, I was expecting a bit more of a change in Mario’s voice. Basically my problem is that he sounds too much like Chris Pratt. I’m not saying there is something wrong with his voice, but because I hear Chris Pratt every time he speaks, I find it harder to be sold on him as Mario. Now this only showed a couple of his lines and so maybe it will be easier to connect with later, but right now I have mixed feelings and I don’t think I’m alone in this. Other than that there isn’t much else to talk about other than Charlie Day’s Luigi yelp, but while that is in character, I am curious about how his performance will bein this movie. There are still a bunch of characters we haven’t heard from yet, but hopefully we will see them are more footage is released in the future. That is all for me today. I know this isn’t typical of me, but there was no way I could release covering this considering the impact Mario has had on my life. Anyway, see you next time.
That Casual Gamer Guy 