I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from the recently released teaser for the upcoming Super Mario Bros. Movie; I’d already heard plenty of thoughts – mostly negative – about Chris Pratt’s casting as the titular red-hatted plumber, but not a lot else. The fact that Twitter’s greatest concern following its release centred around the dude’s backside – or lack thereof – was certainly intriguing. IGN even posted a poll about viewer’s reactions, where possible answers including ‘I am upset’, ‘I am very upset’, ‘Representation is good’ and ‘I feel nothing’.
Thankfully, the 47.7% majority voted for the latter option. Although the fact that 25.7% voted for ‘I am very upset’ is nonetheless rather concerning. Of all the problems shaking the world right now, the absence of any sizeable derriere on Nintendo’s mascot is an interesting focus. I’ve been playing Mario games for most of my life, and I’m pretty sure Mario doesn’t have a prominent behind in any of the entries I’ve played. This is an animated character from PEGI 3+ games (occasionally a bit higher, but never 18+; an article from The Independent suggested that some of these games would be rated 18+ because of their encouragement of gambling, but that’s a bit extreme), remember, and this is a family film being advertised. If the filmmakers suddenly went out of their way to accentuate this particular bodily feature, that would be a more serious cause for concern.
Anyway, onto the trailer. The opening graphics as fireballs rain down aren’t too bad, and the subsequent image of Bowser’s vessel is pretty decent too. Kamek’s announcement of the arrival of the Mario series’ big bad is nice and ominous. Jack Black’s voice acting is solid, although maybe needs a bit of tweaking to sound a bit less like Jack Black at some points. Generally impressive work in this area though.
Good comedic work from the penguins, and some nice build-up of tension as Bowser appears to actually destroy a segment of the Mushroom Kingdom rather than following protocol by just kidnapping Peach straight away. We cut to Mario falling off a mushroom, but it would have been nice to hear a Mario-style ‘ow’ instead of a Chris Pratt grunt. We’re not getting Charles Martinet here though, so maybe we’ll let that slide for the moment. It’s also nice to have a younger Mario here (i.e. not Bob Hoskins, even if the original movie does have a lot of ‘so bad it’s kind of watchable’ charm). The annoying squeaky voice of Toad is pretty solid, so no complaints there.
Mario: ‘Mushroom kingdom, here we come’
Chris Pratt’s voice acting leaves something to be desired. Mostly because, at the moment, he just sounds too much like Chris Pratt. Also, ‘here we come’? Why not ‘here we go’? I’m not asking for a full-on Italian accent here (which could bring up some political issues), but at least you could’ve stuck true to some of the plumber’s iconic dialogue, no?
The iconic Super Mario font adorns the title; nice touch, I approve. Not enough Luigi in the last bit, and I can’t get a decent hold on Charlie Day’s voicework.
Overall, it’s got some potential. Even if it gets shoddy reviews when it comes out next April, I’ll go and see it anyway. For the memes, at least.