When the Super Mario movie was first announced, I was pretty 'meh' on the whole thing. The combination of video game movie adaptations still feeling risky and the lack of narrative punch to Mario made me lose interest fairly quickly. That Anya Taylor-Joy was in the cast was a start, but it still didn't grab me. As we've seen more footage though, I have become more convinced. I'm a Chris Pratt accent defender, and while the humour is pretty 'kiddie' in parts, the movie seems to have captured the warmth of Mario himself while keeping the open charm of Super Mario being narratively light and character dense. That means I'm invested, and have set myself up for disappointment. Nowhere was this more obvious than when the latest trailer revealed the Sand Kingdom, and with it dashed my dreams.
Princess Daisy is my favourite Mario character and it baffles me that this opinion is not only that of the minority, but so obscure as to be mocked. Daisy has always brought significantly more personality to proceedings, and that she seems to have been shut out of The Super Mario Bros. Movie entirely is disappointing when we have celebrity casting for Toad and the presence of lesser characters like Kamek. However, I briefly thought yesterday's trailer hinted at Daisy's inclusion, but alas, it does not.
The Sand Kingdom from Super Mario Odyssey was only shown briefly, and while I have played the game, the exact geography of it had slipped my mind. With the sand and the pyramids, I immediately thought of Sarasaland, the kingdom that Princess Daisy rules over. We don't often see it in the games, nor is it usually mentioned, since Daisy is often absent, has her role greatly reduced, or acts as an optional extra female character aside from Peach. She's not even guaranteed that now, with Rosalina taking this role in Strikers: Battle League as Daisy was instead added later as DLC.
Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the sandy kingdom was in fact the creatively named Sand Kingdom, with the upside down pyramids a rather obvious clue to that. With just a month left until the movie drops and no more trailers to come, that looks to be it for Princess Daisy. She's not a big enough deal to keep her back for a surprise appearance in the movie, even if she should be. I'd wager Rosalina and Pauline have more chance of taking that role, with Nintendo repeatedly struggling to understand what to do with Daisy. She feels doomed to Party and sports titles from now on, but having missed the most recent sports title, even that isn't guaranteed. What did she do to deserve this?
My hope now is that she's a Shadow the Hedgehog-style surprise, being saved up for the end credits, with The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 built up around her. Do that and all will be forgiven. Cast someone like Florence Pugh and I'll buy two tickets, maybe even three. Princess Daisy has always been a core part of the Mario universe, and while some things from the past 40 years needed to be cut for a 90 minute movie, it feels harsh that the line stops at Daisy. It feels worse still that Sarasaland was dangled in front of us, then ripped away for a middling level from Super Mario Odyssey. She's part of the fabric of Mario as far as I'm concerned, and she's been disrespected for too long. Set the sequel in Sarasaland or we riot.