Super Mario Movie

pixelburp

"Super Mario" is a bonkers concept to base a movie around anyway; not without reason it has eluded any kind of narrative based adaptation for as long as it had. I'm not surprised this eventual film doesn't have much for it beyond jokes & easter eggs.

So I guess audiences are either going to go with that, or won't. And whether they do or don't probably comes down to the preexisting affection for the property & characters in the first place.

recyclops

Majority of reviews are poor, IGN give it an 8 out of 10.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120442739#Comment_120442739

So, dads (generally) and their kids?

pixelburp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120442924#Comment_120442924

Basically: this wouldn't be the first Kids Film whose critical reception amounted to a great big shoulder-shrug, but in being a relatively cheap child-minder does insane megabucks.

And like you said, there's a whole slew of adults now who grew up with Mario, and if they retain affection for all that, will lap it up. TBH some films are so fundamentally "critic proof", quoting RT scores et al feels twice as redundant as usual.

Yeah, my two are chomping to see it and I have no issue at all bringing them

Edit: Chomp, only copped that now. Chuckles

I tend to agree with Jahns so happy enough with this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0-DLIFhktg

BlitzKrieg

it's a very simple story for kids with a tonne of references for older mario fans. Your mileage with the film depends heavily on how many of the references you get, great visuals, the actors play it very straight with the characters, so very little christ pratt being chris pratt with an accent etc, but the film aims very young so while its refreshing to have the characters played straight, they do not actually have a lot of content for those characters. The film also goes very quickly, like it's faster then the sonic movies quick. Overall visually true to the source material and it's heart is in the right place just dont expect to have it leave an impact

Oh the editing suuuuuuuuuuuucks, that is my biggest criticism, the film is edited badly and there are quite a few of those 'this will look great in 3D' shots where a character is making a face right towards the audience or throwing something at the screen etc which makes me wonder if thats because the film is delibrately aimed young and kids are more likely to go see 3D films or something.

silverharp

get the impression its going to clean up at the box office , one reviewer went to a midnight showing in NY and the crowd were going nuts through it

pixelburp

I was curious what Kermode might make of it, given he's avowedly not a gamer - but also a fan of Illumination (albeit the Minions, specifically).

A fairly tepid response, all told. Not down on it, but understood much of the nods went over his head, and that kids are the most likely to be entertained by the short running time.

https://youtu.be/kNvZvrZvo-Y

kerplun k

Seen it today with my 5yo. First time going the cinema with him so I was delighted he stayed in his seat and watched the whole thing. For me it was run of the mill stuff, but I love Mario and Nintendo, so was happy with all the references. Main gripe I did have was the use of 3rd party music. It wasn’t needed. The Mario soundtrack is good enough, I would have been perfectly happy if the whole score was taken from the games rich history of sound.

hynesie08

I don't see how you grew up with the games and don't love this, it wasn't aimed at me but it didn't insult me. Wonderful.

siblers

My 2 boys enjoyed it. The story is fairly bland but I was impressed that they shoehorned in as many nods and references as they did. Felt like they actually made an effort to cater for people who grew up playing the games. I've seen far worse animated kids films in recent years

sligeach

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120442744#Comment_120442744

Not a 7.9, no? 😉

sligeach

I seen the movie last night. It was good, not amazing, definitely not bad, but good. I liked all the references, but the movie flew by. It could have done with being half an hour longer, but I understand why it's not. You can probably sum up the plot in a few lines and some of it is predictable. There's so much missing, and like in the trailers you see some creatures for like maybe 2-3 seconds, and that was it in the movie as well. It's to do with the post credits.

The voice acting was very good. I didn't mind Pratt by the end. They all play their parts well. Rogen is the weakest. Played himself, that must have been very challenging for him.

silverharp

on track for biggest debut for an animation movie globally ever, second in the US behind Incredibles 2.

Manic Moran

I never played Mario as a kid. Actually, my 5-year-old hasn't played it either, but is aware of the character and game.

Watched it two nights ago, I can't complain. Kids liked it. I thought it was reasonable. I've wasted more time watching worse. It was a fun family outing. What more do you want from a family movie?

Midnight_EG

I grew up with Mario, it's an early memory and he (and Yoshi) are tattooed on me. I took my 5 year old (who's Mario mad) to see this today and we both enjoyed it as much as we should when you take into context how it's aimed at both kids and parents. Turning on my 'movie brain' which is generally just 'enjoy it for what it is without critical analysis' it did a great job. 90 minutes of fun, with great visuals and plenty of laughs with the prospect that there might be another one in the works.

Sidenote, my child dug his head deep into my ear and said 'Dad, I didn't like when Shyguy took Luigi' 😂

pixelburp

$200 million domestic opening weekend; $377 million worldwide so far. Not especially surprising mind you, but wow that's some cheddar. Guess we already know one Top Ten grosser for the end of year statistics.

Rawr

Felt they did a pretty decent job with this. It’s top-loaded with a load of references to previous Mario stuff, so fun for anyone into Mario, but I think they also did a good job laying out the rules of the world so that anyone who hasn’t played the games will understand what is happening.

The story itself is pretty thin, so not the best movie at all, but more fun than anything else I’ve brought Rawr Jr. to lately. My only nit-pick is that Peach accepts Mario a little too automatically. Would have made sense to give it a couple more minutes of setup before she agrees to train him.

I suspect they’ll do a sequel to this, and I guess there’s plenty of scope left in the Mario / Nintendo games for one.

silverharp

Disney & Pixar might need to reflect on their direction now that there is a new kid on the block. One thing you have to give Nintendo credit for, they are very protective of their IP

Rawr

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120461217#Comment_120461217

Well, it is their bread and butter. Mess with the Mario IP and it could impact games & merch sales.

Apparently there is a rumor that someone at Illumination was going to pivot the whole film to focus on Peach as the hero who would save Mario but Nintendo allegedly rapped their knuckles and reminded them of what the title of the project was. Not sure how much credence I’d give that rumor, but I was somewhat concerned that Peach would be shown as an overpowered girl-boss type character. Thankfully however, she comes more across as a fellow teammate to Mario and an experienced guide to him since he was new to the mushroom world. I felt that complimented the spirit of the games where Mario, Luigi, Peach & Toad would often be co-operative playable characters.

Although I’m often on the fence about Illumination’s stuff, I do feel that this film does compare a lot better than to the Disney/Pixar stuff that came out recently. If they can keep working with Nintendo in the same way as this film, there could be some more good stuff down the road.

silverharp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120461453#Comment_120461453

it sounds plausible, I doubt the movie would have been as popular/good if Disney had made it and had full creative control for example. Nintendo have just given a lesson in stick to the IP, forget re-imaginings or updating for a modern audience, how is that working out?

SuperBowserWorld

Saw the movie. I think they captured the characters and world well. Some good jokes and sequences for fans. They could have fleshed things out a lot more and used more of the brilliant music from the games. But they've lots of sequels for that. It does not detract from the games, and because it's been so successful, Nintendo are big winners here.

17larsson

I'm not an action fan so I was bored during a lot of it but the start was decent and the kids loved it so I won't complain

Iguarantee

I went to see this yesterday and I really thought it was awful. The visual style was OK but otherwise it was one of the worst animated movies I’ve seen in recent memory.

yourdeadwright

Went yesterday both kids have never played Mario but loved it,

I though it was a good myself ,

feelings

Took the kids, very meh movie. Kids weren't too impressed. Both preferred DC League of Super-Pets last year, still one of their favourites!

silverharp

it made $20m in the US on a Monday, the other thing is, its not released in Japan and South Korea yet and they are expected to go nuts for this

Patser

Just back from it myself, along with a 10 year old Nintendo (but rarely Mario) fan.

And we both loved it- I mean it's a v good 8/10, don't go expecting LA Confidential.

It absolutely does not take itself serious, it's pure kids stuff with lot's of Mario Easter eggs but also some laugh out loud moments too. I loved Lumalee (the child voiced blue star in the cage, perpetually dwelling on existential crisis). Also Jack Black's Bowser was great, and Peach was good too.

Seth Rogen being just Seth Rogen again, as another tired Seth Rogen character dragged Donkey Kong down but everyone else seemed to be happy to be their characters and have fun.

TheValeyard

Kid myself thought it was grand. Nothing to take too serious and some of the jokes did fall very flat. But for what it was, it was grand. Nowhere near as good As Puss in Boots last year, but still one the kids would enjoy.