Loving the Loathed- Movie Edition! Super Mario Bros.

Last month, I decided to test the waters with a new article series. If you don’t recall, it’s all about games that most people hate but I genuinely love. Thanks to popular demands, I’ve decided to bring it back. This time, though, I felt the need to talk about a video game movie I love. One of our writers recently voiced his opinion on video game movies as a whole, and why their flaws make them unnecessary. I wholly respect his opinion, and I agree that this tends to be the case for most films (see: anything by Uwe Boll). But, there are some films based on video games that I believe are very enjoyable. One of these films is Super Mario Bros. Why do I love this so-called abomination?

Now, I will admit that I wasn’t old enough to understand the significance of the Super Mario Bros. movie when it came out. Many kids were highly anticipating their favorite plumbers warping to the big screen, and I wasn’t one of them. But I can understand why the film let down so many. At the time, it was pretty much a cultural milestone: The medium of video games was finally being brought to theaters. But what kind of movie approach would fit Mario?

If there’s one genre that’s almost universally loved, it’s the buddy action/comedy film. Two men with clashing personalities that learn to better understand each other through triumphing impossible situations is something that resonates with audiences. Rush Hour, Jesse James and the Sundance Kid, Lethal Weapon, Shanghai Noon, and Men in Black are some of the many examples of this theme. Enter Super Mario Bros.

One of the ways the film did both the genre and the series justice was through its characters. Mario and Luigi hadn’t necessarily developed personas in-game, so actors Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo didn’t have a ton to build off of. Despite this setback, they succeeded in making both characters endearing. Mario is portrayed as your typical New Yorker – frustrated with his job and the city he lives in, just trying to make ends meet. Luigi is an outgoing dreamer- looking for the best in every situation, believing in the impossible. While the two brothers care about each other from the start, they don’t trust one another when the chips are down.

The supporting cast is also a joy to watch. Dennis Hopper’s over the top rendition of Koopa is great. The moment that he shifts from being meek attorney Larry Lazard to the vile Mayor Koopa shows off the range of his character. Another example of how enjoyable Dennis Hopper’s portrayal is comes when he first interacts with one of the Goombas, shouting their mission statement “Walk tall! Be proud! Go Goomba!” And, of course, there’s always the famous “Bob-omb!”

While not necessarily Koopalings, the characters Iggy and Spike are also great, as their performances are pretty much an exaggerated take on the idiotic henchmen stereotype. Despite his limited time in the spotlight, Toad as a guitar-playing, protesting hippie is unexpectedly brilliant. (This could be a reference to a socially active band from the 90’s, The Toadies, which makes it even funnier).

Of course, this wouldn’t be a Loving the Loathed segment if it didn’t acknowledge the reasons why everyone hates the subject so much. As with all adaptations, changes from the source material are what tend to get fans riled up. Super Mario Bros. is no exception to this rule. The thing that sets the film the most apart from the video games it was inspired by is the setting. Rather than paint the Mushroom Kingdom as a vast fantasy land with fields, castles, sewers, and lava, the world that the Mario Brothers get transported to is instead a dark and twisted metropolis.

To compliment this aesthetic, some of the characters also had to be changed: Koopa is now a corrupt politician, Goombas are now burly and dimwitted grunts, and Yoshi is a small Velociraptor. Also, all of the residents of the kingdom are descended from dinosaurs. This may sound like heresy to the hardcore Mario fan, but I believe there is some sound reasoning behind it.

The writers and director of the film were well within their rights to take some liberties with their adaptation. Unlike a novel or a comic book, early video games were held back significantly by the limitations of their medium, and the Mario games were no exception. But as different as the movie may seem, the core plot is still there: the Mario Brothers must travel to a mysterious world to save a princess from a reptilian madman. The origins of elements of the Mario universe such as the Goomba and the Mushroom Kingdom itself are only hinted at in instruction manuals, so it makes sense that some gaps needed to be filled in. Also, they had to make the world that the brothers were in seem threatening. There wouldn’t be much at stake if two city slickers were thrust into a happy-go-lucky world. Not to mention that angry walking mushrooms and turtles with wings wouldn’t be a threat to anyone in the real world. In short, the Mushroom Kingdom as it appears in the games would not put anything at stake for the Mario brothers in a film format.

Some were also put off by the fact that the princess was named Daisy rather than “Peach” or “Toadstool.” Considering this version of the character was raised in the human world, it would make sense for her to have a more normal female name. And which princess in the games fits that description? Daisy. This is just one of the signs that the people behind the film cared more about the source material than most give them credit for. Plus, the relationship between Luigi and Daisy predates that found in the games by 15 years- it wasn’t until 2008’s Mario Kart Wii that we saw Luigi and Daisy’s romance on Daisy Circuit.

Admittedly, some of the setpieces-such as the mattress chase and the final battle-are especially campy, but if you can appreciate things that are more over-the-top, then you’ll definitely find enjoyment in them. In fact, Super Mario Bros. could have been a cult classic like Road House or the original Captain America, but the preconceived notions that come with it being a video game adaptation have kept it as a subject of ridicule. The main theme of the film is trust, and rather than just assume everything the filmmakers did with Mario was wrong, perhaps it’s worth trusting them by watching it and re-evaluating its quality. So, please give this fun film another chance. As the tagline says, “It’s a blast!”