Movie Review: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) directed by Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic, and Pierre Leduc

Two plumbers, Mario (voice of Chris Pratt) and Luigi (voice of Charlie Day), start their own business in Brooklyn. After the usual antics on a job (the customer's pet gets out of control as the brothers fix a bathroom sink) and the usual anxiety with family (parents and uncles do not believe they will succeed as independent plumbers and are quite vocal about it), the two see a big opportunity on the news--a massive flood in Brooklyn. They wind up underground where they discover a large green pipe that sucks them into another dimension--a world of kingdoms. Koopa Kingdom is ruled over by Bowser (voice of Jack Black) who is planning to conquer the other kingdoms and marry Princess Peach (voice of Anya Taylor-Joy), the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario winds up in Mushroom Kingdom where he's told the princess can help him find his brother who wound up in a different kingdom. Peach is more interested in making an alliance with the Jungle Kingdom to fight Bowser. But she will let Mario tag along if he can prove himself.

The plot is a bit light but works well to fit in a lot of gags and references to the Mario video game franchise. Plenty of in-jokes fill the film, as do most of the characters from the games. Luigi gets a bit of short shrift--after he's separated from Mario, he is captured and left a prisoner in Bowser's dungeon until the final act of the movie. The actors do a good job being the characters rather than themselves. I didn't even realize Bowser was played by Jack Black until the credits. The animation is cute and consistent with the current Mario games.

Mildly recommended--if you are fan of the franchise, you will get a lot more out of it than an uninformed viewer.