Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Worst adaptation of a game and such an iconic game at that. No respect given!

Yes, the movie maybe super-silly but it's so silly that it's actually really enjoyable. It's also pretty funny and one of my guilty pleasures. As the name clearly indicates it's loosely based on the Super Mario Brothers video game franchise. But don't expect the protagonists to just jump around like in the video games. When I said that the movie is "loosely" based on the franchise I was actually slightly over-exaggerating. The only commonality is the fact that both protagonists wear similar outfits and happen to be plumbers just like the original characters. Everything else was added to make the movie more interesting and I think it was done rather well. The whole concept of an alternate universe named Koopa-Manhattan is so ridiculous that it ends up making sense in the movie. The first thing that kind of jumps at you as soon as the movie begins is the typical Brooklyn accent of Mario. It was hilarious and totally added to the overall flair of the movie (which was also set in Brooklyn). I really liked that. The Brooklyn accent is one of the most recognizable accents and unlike the Queens accent, which is slowly fading away, it remains strong to this very day.The movie seems a little bit dated by today's standards but that can mostly be attributed to the fashion that is donned by the inhabitants of Koopa-Manhattan. It was very reminiscent of the 80's.Furthermore the movie has a lot of memorable scenes and dialogues. Most notably the scene where Luigi asks Daisy out on a date. That one is hilarious and has actually become a pop-culture reference that is still used today. So it does have a lot of pop cultural importance. A minor critique of mine is the absence of Luigi's mustache. I mean, c'mon... Luigi has a mustache just like Mario but hey... I guess you can't have it all.The movie definitely has a lot of weird elements; from police officers in studded leather uniforms to animatronic rats, it's a whole lot crazier than you'd expect if you just read the synopsis. I also found it quite hilarious that the ultimate penalty in Koopa-Manhattan was "devolution". And yes, it's exactly what you think it is / what it sounds like. On a ridiculousness-scale this movie is a straight 10. So if you like bizarre movies this one is a no-brainer. It is very reminiscent of the original Total Recall movie in both the presentation and the setting. So that should kind of give you an idea of the flair that it exudes.As I mentioned earlier the movie has a lot of memorable scenes and dialogues. Some of my favorite lines from the movie include: "If I make you idiots smarter you won't mess up this time" (Koopa) And the pipe-dialogue between Mario and Luigi: Both walk into a room... "Look at this. It's a plumber's nightmare." "These pipes haven't been serviced for years." "Must've been a nonunion job." LOLAll in one it's actually a really good movie, just for all the "wrong" reasons. It's not trying to be philosophical or profound. It's just a fun to watch movie. I mean, if you take a movie like this seriously the problem doesn't lie with the movie but well... you get the idea. I don't understand why some people hate this movie this much. It seems rather bizarre to me. It's a family-friendly and goofy movie that also ends up paying homage to the 80's aesthetic. What's there not to love?Final verdict: recommended if you have a good sense of humor (and don't take the movie too seriously)

I like the fungus, it's almost unreal. Lekker drassig ook.

"Super Mario Bros." is an American 100-minute movie from 1993, so this one will have its 25th anniversary next year. For Jankel and Morton, the two English Emmy-winning directors, this is certainly still their most known work today, but that really has to do with the epicness of the characters, not because it was a good movie by any means, but because absolutely everybody knows Super Mario and Luigi from the video games. And that includes me as well as I grew up with this series too. That's why it makes me even sadder that despite the inclusion of some quality actors, the outcome here was this underwhelming. Honestly, I did not get the Mario vibe at all and to me it did not feel like a Super Mario movie. The red and green costumes as well as the protagonists being plumbers is just not enough, just like the use of the names of the characters like Mario, Luigi, King Koopa and Daisy with the latter two apparently still being more known names back then than Bowser and Peach. Anyway, that of course is not the problem here I think. The real problem is that the attention to detail that really could have been key here was so minimal. The smaller references about the video game (bombs, mushrooms...) were not on a level where they could satisfy video game fans sadly. And the negatively deal-breaking consequence is that it just never felt like Mario ever. It was a fantasy film, but not a particularly good one as it also did not succeed in its own right. It also felt really generic in my opinion, for example with the relationship between Luigi and Daisy. That felt really forced to give the film some dramatic and romantic relevance that it certainly did not need. This should have been a pointless fun movie to be honest. Of course, this project as a whole was a huge challenge given the base material here, but it is kinda shocking to see that there were no less than 3 writers working on the adaptation and it became such a mess. At least it is not a complete failure really as here and there there was an okay moment. But these were clearly in the minority. What stays far more memorable here is the weak unfortunately. For example regardless of what you think about Dennis Hopper as an actor, he never felt like Bowser one bit. Not at all. I personally also did not like Yoshi's looks, but unlike with Hopper, who was never on a level to feel like a top-notch antagonist, I'd say this is more of a subjective perception. The bar was definitely too high here and I am not too surprised no other filmmakers showed any ambition to take on the story of Mario and the gang. These days a film like that may be career-ending Razzie material. Okay what else is there to say. I guess the filmmakers did not think this would bomb that hard and get such a high percentage of negative reviews as the ending looked like they certainly had plans to make a sequel, but of course it never happened. Finally, about this one here again: It is not Mario to me and it could have been way better. It is a forgettable fantasy film instead and I give it a thumbs-down. Don't watch.