Super Mario Bros. - Review

Starring Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as the title brothers, this live-action film is a disappointingly unfaithful, and off-beat adaptation of the classic Nintendo plat-former from where it gets it's namesake. That being said though, this film isn't all that bad. The late Dennis Hopper is featured as the primary villain, Koopa - a bipedal lizard resembling a human who has evolved from dinosaurs over the last 65-million-years. His existence, including the kingdom he rules over, is thanks to a parallel dimension where his species wasn't entirely wiped out by an asteroid collision. When our protagonists, Mario and Luigi - two bumbling plumbers from Brooklyn, New York, accidentally find discover a portal to this dimension while looking for Luigi's recently kidnapped girlfriend... that's when things really start to get interesting. Perhaps trying to milk the franchise they're already in the process of destroying, the film desperately attempts to work in as many references to the iconic game franchise, no matter how ridiculous, or pointless those references may be. Toad appears as a street-performer who is later de-evolved by the evil Koopa into a small-headed henchman the film refers to as "Goombas". Signs thorough the Koopa-city make references to Bullet Bills, and Thowp, and Mario even dispatches the help of a miniature Bomb-Ombs. Mostly though, these classic Mario names and baddies appear only in name, and never in any capacity that would feel familiar to fans of the game itself. In that respect, "Super Mario Bros." is almost disrespectful to it's source material, and really one of the worst "video game films" ever made. However... if one completely disregards this poor adaptation, and focuses merely on the film, as a stand-alone production... it is surprisingly creative, original, and literally with very impressive visuals. Although resembling nothing like the Mushroom Kingdom from the game series, the parallel dimension portrayed here is vividly detailed and explored... a truly unique world that blends 80's counter-culture with a Orwellian society of oppressive police, and limited free speech. Our plumber heroes are loveable, and well developed - making their bizarre exploits easier to root for. The action and special effects are all pretty well executed here, especially for a film nearly 20 years old. If you completely ignore the title, this movie isn't half-bad. Sadly though, it isn't half-good, either. "Super Mario Bros.", "Disappointingly unfaithful, but still enjoyable". Well that was my review - now let's read some of yours in the YouTube comments. Here's the rate-o-matic to show us how we rated, "Super Mario Bros." -- a FOUR and a THREE. As a Mario movie, this film is just patently terrible. As a sci-fi action adventure film though? It's pretty watchable, I thought it was "Meh". The majority of you were decidedly not impressed with this movie... but some of you did think it was alright, so your score averaged out to a "Bad".