The Super Mario Bros. Movie came out on April 5th, 2023. There are many opinions about the movie online, ranging from the connection to the games, the voice actors, the character designs, and the storyline.

Mario first appeared in the Donkey Kong arcade game in 1981. He didn’t get his own game until 1985, though. The main objective of the game is to save Princess Peach from Bowser. There are some side games featuring his brother, Luigi. Those games include Luigi’s Mansion, Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, and New Super Luigi U. There had been a lot of references to all of the Mario games, such as the Rainbow Road from Mario Kart, the fight with Donkey Kong from Smash Bros, the jar Bowser gets put into at the end from Mario 3D World, and maybe even a little hint of Luigi’s mansion when Luigi had first arrived in Bowser’s land and got captured by the Shy Guys. There were even some songs from the 80s, in reference to the time that the games were first released.

The voice actors selected for the movie were perfect. I was a little worried about Chris Pratt voicing Mario, but he did really well. Anya Taylor-Joy sounded really close to Princess Peach, and Keegen-Michael Key replicated the perfect Toad voice. One very obviously popular voice actor is Jack Black. He did a phenomenal job voicing Bowser. It didn’t sound like he was straining his voice at all so Bowser’s voice lines were smooth and flawless. 

I am absolutely in love with all the character designs. The personalities of each character match amazingly with the gameplay. Mario being able to do parkour even before meeting Peach and getting trained was a creative little touch. I loved how Toad was so dedicated to helping Peach and Mario. Bowser’s character is probably the most interesting, though. His complete infatuation with marrying Peach and ruling the world, and how far he’ll go to achieve the two is probably my favorite thing about him. It adds so much to the story. I didn’t like how the Magikoopa was a huge wimp when it came to Bowser. Yes, Bowser is utterly terrifying, but the Magikoopa has literal magic, he can learn how to stand his ground every once in a while.

As many good things there are for everything, the storyline did confuse me a bit. One of the first things is how close Mario and Luigi’s relationship is. In the games, they are only really seen a couple of times together outside of a character selection. Another thing is how Luigi was the one captured and not Peach. In pretty much every game Bowser had taken Peach, so Mario had to save her. And because Peach was captured, either the Toads or Yoshi took Mario in and trained him. Something I did like is how they included Donkey Kong’s dad, despite rarely ever being included in a game. The way that Mario and Luigi were the ones that defeated Bowser was a lot better than it being just Mario or Mario and Peach. This movie is very pro-sibling. The entire thing shows Mario and Luigi’s strong brother bond and it is honestly the cutest thing I’ve ever watched. 

I would give this movie the highest rating possible. It is such a good movie, the animation and voice-acting are unbelievable and, while a little questionable, the storyline makes for a very interesting movie. When this finally comes out on streaming services, I will definitely be watching it over and over again.