I am fully aware that I am not part of the primary target audience for Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic's The Super Mario Bros. Movie. While I am a casual fan of the video game on which the new animated feature is based, this is a film that is directly targeted at pre-teens and children, and that's an age range that isn't going to be watching it for story development and its arcs; they're going to see it for all of the pretty colors and familiar characters. Kids aren't going to care that it's an exercise to fit as many franchise references as possible into a 92-minute runtime, and they aren't going to mind the fact that its soundtrack is mind-bogglingly generic because they haven't seen the thousands of other Hollywood productions that have used the same songs.
Release Date: April 5, 2023
Directed By: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic
Written By: Matthew Fogel
Starring: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen and Fred Armisen
Rating: PG for action and mild violence
Runtime: 92 minutes
