You could take Mega Man, Master Chief, Kratos, and half a dozen other popular video game characters and they would all still pale in comparison to the cultural presence of Mario, the Italian plumber whose bright red jumpsuit and “M” emblazoned cap have become some of the most recognizable images in all of gaming. Since jumping onto the scene with 1981’s original Donkey Kong, Mario (and inevitably his brother Luigi) have become flagship characters at Nintendo, appearing in over 200 games (only 24 of them being mainline Super Mario Bros. releases), as well as countless supplemental media including a handful of TV shows, comics, and of course, movies.
The 90s Super Mario Bros. movie is one of the most notorious failures of all time, and specifically from the standpoint of an adaptation, it’s easy to see why. There’s nothing wrong with tasteful deviations from the source material, but there was no engagement whatsoever with the colorful, surreal unreality of the Mushroom Kingdom or the iconic locales from the games; it was an adaptation that felt embarrassed to be based on a video game. Three decades later, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros Movie and its sequel, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (both directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic) seem to have almost the exact opposite problem — they’re immensely entertaining if you want to be reminded of the existence of the games, but incredibly frustrating if you’re looking for anything resembling depth or the kind of substance kids movies should strive for.
