The Super Mario Bros. Movie is one of two films to cross the billion-dollar mark in 2023 and it’s easy to see why. It’s a bright and colourful animation film for kids rife with nostalgia that kids and adults should appreciate. Much like Barbie, the movie is based on a beloved brand, in this case, the iconic Nintendo characters. But does the movie have more to offer beyond nostalgia? Let’s find out.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie stars Chris Pratt as Mario, Charlie Day as Luigi, Anya Taylor-Joy as Peach and Jack Black as Bowser, just to name a few. The Mario Bros are plumbers in our reality’s version of Brooklyn looking to get their big break as independent contractors. After stumbling down a magical pipe, the duo are whisked away to a magical land. Mario ends up in the Mushroom Kingdom, while Luigi ends up in the spooky Dark Lands and ultimately ends up a prisoner of the fearsome Bowser. It’s up to Mario to save his brother and also the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser’s evil campaign. So yes, the story is very minimalistic, but it actually offers more than most Mario games to be fair.

Mario Bros is definitely a mixed bag of a movie. On one hand, the animation is great, bringing to life many iconic characters to the big screen in a loving and faithful manner. I found the brothers’ eyes in particular were a standout, with reflections and light bouncing off them, resulting in fully expressive features. Considering how big their eyes are, this was particularly noteworthy. The voice cast was also pretty great. I had my reservations about Pratt as Mario but it’s not that bad. Sure, he’s not doing a classic Mario voice, but once you get into it, it’s honestly fine. But Jack Black steals the show as Bowser and even Seth Rogen does a great job as D.K. Taylor-Joy gets the most to do next to Pratt as Peach and she transforms Peach from the kidnapped princess in a castle to a kind yet steadfast leader to the Mushroom Kingdom. But I honestly wanted more Charlie Day as Luigi. The chemistry the two brothers had was great and it’s a shame the movie sidelined Luigi, as is tradition for the character.

Illumation (Minions, Secret Life of Pets) handle this adapation in partnership with Nintendo and as someone who isn’t a fan of that studio, it felt like they reigned in their type of humour for this particular offering, at least a bit more than usual. There was tons of nostalgia hidden in the background and the musical score was super fun, bringing in a lot of themes known from the games. Likewise, the action was pretty fun as it pulled from the beloved imagery and movesets found in the games, so seeing it realized was certainly fun. From Karts to Donkey Kong throwing barrels down ladders, to powerups and sidescrolling, it had plenty of creative callbacks that fans of all ages will likely get a kick out of. You can tell those involved with the making of this movie really cared about the iconic Nintendo games, putting a lot of love into the world, character designs and feel of the movie.

One thing I noticed a few times in the movie was jarring transitions between scenes, as if a critical scene of character development was to happen but the studio opted to cut immediately to the next action scene. For example, when Mario challenges Donkey Kong to a duel, I can’t help but think there was supposed to be a scene between the one where Mario accepts the fight and the fight itself. Mario is still just human and is probably really scared of getting into a fight with a giant monkey, but the movie just ushers us into the fight, not allowing any downtime to happen. The movie is committing to something always happening, but at the same time, not much of anything really ends up happening, as the story is already so thin to begin with.

That’s the biggest issue I had with the movie, it was relentless in its pacing. It always felt like the movie was trying to keep your eyes busy, rarely allowing for the characters to slow down and have a quiet moment of growth or development. There already isn’t much story to be had here but the movie almost seemed to think that anything beyond nostalgia and action was a bad thing. I definitely feel like some moments of inner-relection, so we can dive into Mario’s hopes and fears more, would’ve elevated the movie. To cite another Chris Pratt animated film, The Lego Movie did a better job at developing character and plot while dishing out lots of action and nostaliga at the same time.

In the end, my reaction to The Super Mario Bros. Movie was along the lines of, nothing amazing but entertaining. It’s got some creative action sequences and lots of callbacks to the Mario and Donkey Kong video games from Nintendo. But the story is nothing really memorable and I can’t see myself watching it again. The movie feels like it was ultimately designed for those with short attention spans, with action dominating the brief ninety-minute runtime. I think kids would definitely have fun with it and so will adults who’ve grown up playing these games. It’s a fun, roller coaster type movie that’s certainly entertaining. But it doesn’t do much else beyond fun and nostaliga. Maybe that’s enough for some, but I think the movie could’ve benefitted by slowing down just a bit and diving into the hopes and dreams of Mario a bit more, as it’s very glossed over in this movie and it came across as if the studio was afraid of losing the attention of a low attention span audience. But for a trip down nostaliga lane, this is a great “turn off your brain and enjoy the ride” kind of movie.

Also, this movie definitely teases a Nintendo cinematic universe and I definitely want to put it on the record that I hope Illumination doesn’t have exlusive rights to the adaptations of Nintendo’s works, as I think an anime inspired movie would do wonders for the inevitable Legend of Zelda movie.