Since the 1993 live-action Super Mario Bros. failed to resonate with audiences, Nintendo has been apprehensive about adapting popular series like The Legend of Zelda and Metroid into other mediums. Three decades later, Nintendo partnered with Illumination to create The Super Mario Bros. Movie, an animated adventure featuring most of your favorite characters and locations from the Mushroom Kingdom.
Unlike the live-action alternative, The Super Mario Bros. Movie acknowledges the source material in meaningful ways and seamlessly implements elements from the video games throughout the entire journey. The Super Mario Bros. Movie is already one of the most successful video game adaptations ever made due to a handful of things it got right.
10 Runtime
Film adaptations of popular books and games often try to squeeze as much content from the source material as possible onto the big screen. This can sometimes become a detriment to the final product and cause the movie to lose focus as it attempts to turn a 30-hour video game into a two-hour film.
More isn't always better, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie proves that video game adaptations don't need to be that long to be enjoyable. With a runtime of just over 90 minutes, the movie doesn't waste a moment and consistently discovers creative ways to advance the story and character development while holding your attention with clever jokes and exciting action sequences.
9 Stunning Animation
Illumination is a relatively new studio compared to companies like Pixar, but since it first launched Despicable Me in 2010, it's become known for creating memorable characters that come to life thanks to spectacular aesthetics and animation. The Super Mario Bros. Movie might be Illumination's best-looking movie yet, and each character feels fully realized.
Everything from the denim on Mario's overalls to the texture of the grass in the Mushroom Kingdom looks incredibly polished, which makes it easier to immerse yourself in the adventure. The attention to detail is impressive, and you'll likely spot something new every time you re-watch The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
8 Sets Up Sequels & Spin-Offs
The vast Mushroom Kingdom is full of characters and locations you don't see in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, but the film does an excellent job of setting up the possibility that they could appear in a sequel. From Bowser Jr. to the planets from Super Mario Galaxy, the next Mario movie could explore even more of the video game's lore and history.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie is also overflowing with Easter eggs and references to other Nintendo titles that could lead to spin-offs starring characters like Little Mac or Star Fox. If done correctly, Nintendo could establish a new cinematic universe that culminates into a Super Smash Bros. tournament between Mario, Detective Pikachu, Princess Peach, and more.
7 Casting
When Shigeru Miyamoto revealed the voice cast for The Super Mario Bros. Movie during a Nintendo Direct in 2021, it was fair to be skeptical about choices like Chris Pratt as Mario. While some characters like Cranky Kong don't stand out nearly as much as others, the voice acting is well done throughout the film, especially from Jack Black's Bowser and Charlie Day's Luigi.
Chris Pratt may not use the same voice you've heard Mario use in games like Super Mario 64, but the actor puts a decent twist on the accent to help it sound less cartoonish and more realistic. It's believable without being too distracting, and other characters like Princess Peach and Toad have never felt more alive after hearing them speak throughout the movie.
6 Humor
The Super Mario Bros. Movie wouldn't be very fun if it were a gritty drama about an unlucky plumber in a fungus-fueled world. Fortunately, Illumination has a reputation for its joke-a-minute writing style that's immediately present in the opening sequence, which begins with an advertisement for the Super Mario Bros. plumbing service.
The rest of the movie contains a plethora of hilarious moments and jokes that will keep you laughing until the credits finish rolling. Everything from the nihilistic Luma that torments its fellow prisoners to Bowser's performance of the song "Peaches" is already iconic, and the jokes cleverly strike the delicate balance of entertaining both adults and children.
5 The Power-Ups
When you first meet Mario in the movie, he is just an ordinary plumber from Brooklyn attempting to make a name for himself. It's not until he stumbles his way into the Mushroom Kingdom that Mario discovers a variety of power-ups from the video games that provide anyone who uses them with new abilities like the Cat Suit.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie could have easily featured only a couple of power-ups like the Super Mushroom or Super Star, but instead, it contains a slew of abilities that have appeared in older and newer Mario titles. Items like the Tanuki Suit, Ice Flower, and Mini Mushroom are perfectly implemented throughout the film, and more abilities like the Double Cherry or Frog Suit could be explored in the inevitable sequel.
4 Easter Eggs
One of the best parts about The Super Mario Bros. Movie is how much it acknowledges Nintendo's history and finds as many ways to reference it as possible. There are so many Easter eggs scattered throughout the film that you'll likely miss more than a handful on your first viewing.
Aside from a slew of Easter eggs from the Super Mario Bros. universe, the movie also references other Nintendo series like Punch-Out, Duck Hunt, the Nintendo GameCube, and more. Even iconic lines of dialogue like "Our Princess is in another castle" are incorporated, so you'll need to pay extra attention to everything to discover each hidden Easter egg.
3 Mario Kart Sequence
When Mario isn't defeating Bowser and saving Princess Peach in video games, you can usually find him at a party or racing against his friends in Mario Kart. Aside from the mainline titles, Mario Kart is one of the most popular series in the Mario universe, so it wasn't that surprising when it was first revealed that there would be a racing sequence in The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The Mario Kart scene features countless references to the games and uses iconic items and the Rainbow Road map to create an action sequence that feels like an animated Mad Max: Fury Road outtake. Everything from drifting to the notorious blue shell appears in this white-knuckle battle between Mario's crew and Bowser's army of minions.
2 Music
The Super Mario Bros. series is known for its tight gameplay, creative level design, and timeless soundtracks stacked with catchy songs composed by the great Koji Kondo. The movie embraces the legendary catalog and weaves notes from memorable tracks like Gusty Garden Galaxy and the Underwater theme throughout the film's epic soundtrack.
While one of the weakest aspects of The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the way it uses licensed music, the original score composed by Brian Tyler makes up for it with playful rearrangements of familiar classics and excellent original music. The best part of the soundtrack is Jack Black's original song "Peaches," which will be stuck in your head for days after you hear it for the first time.
1 Princess Peach
Since her debut in 1985's Super Mario Bros. for the NES, Princess Peach has spent most of her time playing the role of a damsel in distress. There have been some exceptions like Super Mario Bros. 2, Super Mario 3D World, and both Mario + Rabbids titles, but she's proven to be just as formidable as anyone else in games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Super Princess Peach.
The easy route for The Super Mario Bros. Movie would have involved writing a story about Mario rescuing Princess Peach from Bowser, but instead, they made her the most confident and caring person in the film. It's ultimately Princess Peach that has to teach Mario how to use his abilities and survive in the Mushroom Kingdom, and her undying loyalty to her people — or Toads — provides emotional stakes in a fantastical world full of Goombas and talking penguins.