Super Mario Bros. (1993)

Two Brooklyn plumbers, Mario and Luigi, must travel to another dimension to rescue a princess from the evil dictator King Koopa and stop him from taking over the world.

Directors:

Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton

Writers:

Parker Bennett, Terry Runte

Stars:

Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Bob Hoskins	...	Mario Mario
John Leguizamo	...	Luigi Mario
Dennis Hopper	...	King Koopa
Samantha Mathis	...	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

Storyline

Can you make a movie out of a video game? That's the question that is answered by this film. Mario Mario and Luigi Mario, two hard working plumbers find themselves in an alternate universe where evolved dinosaurs live in medium hi-tech squalor. They find themselves the only hope to save the Earth from invasion.

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Plot Keywords:

based on video game | plumber | dinosaur | parallel dimension | orphan | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

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

Details

Country:

UK USA Japan

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 May 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Super Mario Brothers

Filming Locations:

North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$48,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$8,532,623, 31 May 1993

Gross USA:

$20,915,465

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$20,915,465

Company Credits

Production Co:

Allied Filmmakers, Cinergi Pictures Entertainment, Hollywood Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min 90 min (Japan) 87 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The scene where Mario saves the Brooklyn Babes (the other women who were captured by Spike and Iggy) and they escape via ice tunnel on a bed mattress with the goombas chasing after them was very hectic to shoot. The heads that the actors playing the goombas wore were so heavy that they kept falling off. While on the mattress with Mario and the Brooklyn Babes, someone thought they were going too slow, so the loosened one of the wires that was pulling them. The crew stopped for lunch and when they came back, nobody checked the rig. They shot the scene where they flew out of the tunnel only they were going way too fast and out of control. With the exception of Bob Hoskins' stunt double, the rest of them were the actresses. One of the girls nearly fell off the mattress and it would have been a 25 ft drop to solid concrete. They all stayed on the mattress, but it flipped over once they landed on the ground and they all smashed their heads. Aside from some bruises, they all turned out okay.

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Goofs

One of the henchmen says that the square root of 26,481 is 191. It is not. It is 162.73.

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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 hassling 'em. Actually, no people went around hassling 'em cuz there weren't any people yet. Just the first tiny mammals. Basically, life was good. Then something happened: a giant meteorite struck the Earth. Goodbye dinosaurs! But what if the dinosaurs weren't all destroyed? What if the impact of that meteor created a parallel dimension where the dinosaurs continued to thrive ...

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Crazy Credits

During the first portion of the opening credits, the theme music from the "Super Mario Bros." video game can be heard.

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Alternate Versions

In the Italian release, the ending is cut so Mario and Luigi don't go back to Brooklyn.

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Connections

Featured in Tamara's Never Seen: Super Mario Bros (2017)

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Soundtracks

WALK THE DINOSAUR
Performed by The Goombas
Featuring George Clinton
Written by Randy Jacobs, David Was, and Don Was
Courtesy of Paisley Park Records

User Reviews

Absolutely disgraceful.

Not many critics are fans of feature films based on video games, and this movie is a great example of why.

Everything that made the video game so much fun was completely thrown out the window. The Super Mario Bros. games were so much fun because of the original thought that went into the story and characters. Players are immersed in a colorful, strange, and silly world where they are in control of a pair of plumber brothers from Brooklyn that find themselves in a place called the Mushroom Kingdom where they must save the the Mushroom Kingdom princess from a giant turtle-like creature named Bowser and his minions.

The movie (very) vaguely sticks to the storyline, but replaces all the interesting creatures in the video game with human representations (Dennis Hopper's Bowser is a particular stretch) and replaces the whimsical Mushroom Kingdom we're used to with a dull, uninteresting, dismal world that doesn't even remotely resemble anything in any Mario Bros. video game.

Anyway, besides my problem with the movie's inability to stick to the plot of the video game, the movie as a whole is an incredible waste of time that fails to satisfy. I'm not quite sure what the target audience was for the movie, but it doesn't seem to appeal to any one age group, while the video games are timeless classics that all can enjoy. Whether you are a fantasy movie lover, a video game lover, or both, avoid this movie at all costs.