The Super Mario Bros. Movie

In cinemas now

The build-up to this latest adaptation of the Super Mario Bros. franchise was certainly interesting, with the casting of Chris Pratt initially causing consternation among the fanbase, before almost all (myself included) were won over by the trailers.

And, while the critical reaction to The Super Mario Bros. Movie has mostly been negative, I personally had a lot of fun with it. As well as serving as a fateful interpretation of the much-loved games, it is a well-crafted animation that looks great. It was pleasing to see Illumination adopt an almost completely different aesthetic to their norm, and plenty of care clearly went into the design of the characters and their environments.

The voice cast is also a joy, with the standout clearly being Jack Black in the villainous role of Bowser. That man always puts in 110% and I’m all here for it. Possibly my favourite thing about this movie though was its score, with Brian Tyler doing a fantastic job of adapting various pieces from Mario’s extensive history.  

None of this is to say that The Super Mario Bros. Movie is flawless. It’s pacing is particularly distracting, with the film moving far too fast at times and its overall character development and themes often being overlooked in favour of nostalgic references. Consequently, and in comparison to other similar animated fare (such as The Lego Movie), this means that proceedings do feel slightly hollow at times. 

But, for me at least, this wasn’t problematic because I wasn’t expecting a masterpiece. This is, by and large, a childish adaptation of a brilliant video game franchise and is subsequently a lot of fun, which is about all I hoped to get out of it.