So, I have finally seen the movie. I went with a couple of friends over the weekend so that we could experience it together. First, let’s get general thoughts out of the way. Is it good? Yes. Is it fun? Yes. Is it safe? Absolutely. Will it win any awards? Probably not. How was the voice acting? Fine. Okay, that is all the general stuff out of the way, but now I will go into more detail. I won’t really spoil anything if you are interested in seeing the movie for yourself so don’t worry about that. Now let me start with the first question again. Is it good? I believe the answer is yes, but I am biased. I have been a fan of the Super Mario Bros. series for over half of my life. So as long as the movie reminds me of the series, then I am going to have a good time. And boy does this movie have some good nostalgia bait. Every time I would hear a little bit of music from the games I’d secretly squeal to myself. Or maybe it was out loud. I’m not sure. The memories are a little fuzzy. Also, I really like the character’s designs and the animation in this movie. It isn’t anything crazy, but the characters feel pretty expressive, which is impressive when one of the characters is a talking mushroom. The movie is also very colorful and vibrant, but that should be expected for a kid’s movie. Especially this movie. It does what it needs to do to look and sound good. And trust me, the music sounds good.
Alright, moving on to the next question. Is it fun? Well, yeah. It is a fast-paced, high-energy kid’s movie with lots of fun scenes referencing the videogame series. So, as long as you just go along for the ride and don’t stop to think about anything, then you should have a good time. Also, certain characters get to have some great moments to themselves which can also be entertaining. One of them in particular looked to be having a lot of fun in the role, but I will leave you to guess who you think it is. That being said, as much fun as this movie has with Nintendo properties, the actual storyline is about as safe as the storyline in a mainline Mario game. In other words, pretty safe. It is their first movie, so I expected this. No one was expecting a movie scrutinized this heavily to be doing anything groundbreaking. It does what it came to do and that’s fine. It is not going to necessarily impress anyone because of that, but it isn’t really trying to either. I realize I have kind of already answered the fourth question, but let’s state it again anyway. Is it going to win any awards? Again, as fun as this movie is, it will have to compete with the depth and animation of the new Spiderverse movie. Things weren’t looking great on that front from the get-go. It does have its own charms though.
Alright, down to the last question. How was the voice acting? Again, it is fine. No one is particularly distracting or anything and some people actually really got into their roles. I know there was some contention, but honestly, no one in this movie phoned it in and you can be at least relieved knowing that. Personally, I went in with the mindset that as long as I didn’t find them distracting, I would be satisfied, but everyone did a decent job. Although one of them definitely stole the show in my opinion. Anyway, that’s all I want to say about it. I know it isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if you are a fan of the Super Mario Bros. series or even just videogames in general, it is worth checking out. That will probably be the last time I talk about this movie unless some crazy news comes out, but that’s all for now. No, wait, there’s one last thing. If you do go see it, there is a mid-credits scene as well as an end-credits scene in case you are the type to stick around to the end of movies. Just thought I would let you know. See you next time!
That Casual Gamer Guy 