Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Directors:

Annabel Jankel
Rocky Morton

Writers (WGA):

Parker Bennett (written by) &
Terry Runte (written by) ...

Release Date:

28 May 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

This Ain't No Game, It's a Live-Action Thrill Ride!

Plot:

The Marios rush to save a princess from Koopa.

Plot Keywords:

Mario | Dinosaur | King | Plumber | Princess

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Bob Hoskins	...	Mario Mario
John Leguizamo	...	Luigi Mario
Dennis Hopper	...	King Koopa
Samantha Mathis	...	Princess Daisy
Fisher Stevens	...	Iggy
Richard Edson	...	Spike
Fiona Shaw	...	Lena
Dana Kaminski	...	Daniella
Mojo Nixon	...	Toad
Gianni Russo	...	Scapelli
Francesca P. Roberts	...	Bertha
Lance Henriksen	...	The King
Sylvia Harman	...	Old Lady
Desiree Marie Velez	...	Angelica
Andrea Powell	...	Brooklyn Girl

Also Known As:

Super Mario Brothers (USA) (alternative spelling)
Super Mario Brothers: The Movie (USA) (original script title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for sci-fi action, mild language and sensuality.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 (video rating) | Iceland:L (original rating) | Netherlands:12 | South Korea:All | Philippines:G | Finland:K-12 | Finland:K-3 (DVD rating) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Canada:G (Nova Scotia/Québec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba/Ontario) | Germany:12 | Mexico:A | Norway:10 | Peru:PT | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | UK:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Screen Gems Studios - 1223 North 23rd Street, Wilmington, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Allied Filmmakers

Trivia:

Princess Daisy was the damsel in distress from Super Mario Land, Mario's first game for GameBoy.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Koopa is talking to the cop about the Goomba's training with the hand-held Devo Guns, the Devo Gun in his hand vanishes between shots.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: A long long time ago, the Earth was ruled by dinosaurs. They were big, so not a lot of people went around hassing 'em. Actually, no people went around hassling 'em cuz there weren't any people yet. Just the first tiny mammals. Basically, life was good...

Movie Connections:

References Doctor Zhivago (1965)

Soundtrack:

BREAKPOINT

Certainly better than its current reputation.

This movie is much hated practically everywhere and of course I can understand why. Basically everyone from the '70's , 80's and 90's generation grew up with playing Nintendo games and the Super Mario games in particular. However when one sees this movie, it becomes pretty obvious early on that this movie has almost nothing to do with the Super Mario video games. The atmosphere, settings and characters are totally different, which is probably the main and also only reason why this movie was and still is hated among so many all over the world.

However, when one has to look at this movie with a fair and unbiased view, one has to come to the conclusion that this movie is good decent entertainment. No, it's not a GREAT movie but it does serve its purpose and that is to provide the viewer with 104 minutes of mindless, simple entertainment.

Kids will most likely like this movie best. The story is wonderfully adventurous and it all is very childishly simple constructed. I mean, the story and setting all basically have very little to do with the games but when you just have to judge the story, it's a pretty good and well thought out story. If the main characters were, let's say, some average Manhattan plumbers named the William's brothers and the entire movie wasn't based on a series of video games, than perhaps the movie would had received a far better reception and would had entertained and reached a wider audience.

All of the characters are pretty entertaining and work out well in the movie. This is probably mainly due to the well known cast. Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo are the Mario brothers and they form a pretty good main duo. Dennis Hopper also is in his element as the ruthless, over-the-top, stereotyped villain King Koopa. He gives the movie a certain extra fun and flair. Other well known actors in the movie are Fiona Shaw, Gianni Russo (Carlo Rizzi from the first two The Godfather movies) and Lance Henriksen in a very small cameo role.

Unlike the games, the movie is a dark one. All of the sets are dark which was perhaps not the greatest atmospheric mood for the story and the entire movie in general. All of the sets are disappointing, small and unimaginative looking. Same goes for the costumes and most of the make-up effects. The movie however has some good and convincing looking early special effects. Remember folks, that it was 1993 when this movie was released.

The movie however is most of the time a bit too childishly told and the dialogs are below par and too simple.

The pace and editing is good but the movie severely lacks some action and real interesting moments. At moments it takes too long before something good or interesting happens again, which makes this movie perhaps a bit boring and uninteresting to watch at certain points.

All in all it's a not very successful- but still yet entertaining first attempt at making a movie based on a video game. Certainly better than some of those movie based on video games, released this present day!

6/10