Written by Matthew Fogel, directed by Aaron Horvath and Micheal Jelenic is this latest attempt to bring the world’s best selling video game series to the big screen. This time it is an animated adventure, Chris Pratt is Mario with Charlie Day as Luigi, who we find in Brooklyn just about to launch their new plumbing business. But when their first job does not go to plan Mario sees a chance to redeem them when there is a major leak in the middle of Brooklyn. However rather then fixing the leak they find themselves jettisoned into a strange world, but separated, Luigi in the Dark Lands. Mario in the Mushroom Kingdom where he meets Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy) who has her own problems with the inevitable invasion of Bowser (Jack Black) and his forces. The Princess teams up with Mario to tackle
Bowser and rescue Luigi all before Bowser takes over all of the lands.
This film has had some mixed reviews but personally, I had plenty of fun with this. It’s a bright, fun, non-stop animated action. There’s plenty of humour and while I’m no great player of Mario games, there are plenty of nods to the Mario universe that even I recognised. All squeezed into a 91 minute run-time.
The voice cast is entertaining with leads finding lots of good support with Seth Rogan (Donkey Kong), Keegan-Michael Key(Toad) and Frank Armisen(Cranky Long) amongst them.
The animation captures the feel of many of the games from the earliest to the latest. There is also a fun play on previous Mario “suspect” Italian accents when Mario and Luigi make an ad for their plumbing business.
There’s also a great soundtrack that helps keep the action bombing along at a fair pace.
Mario Bros. Is unlikely to go down as an animation classic. But it is an entertaining 91 minute bundle of fun and energy. It’s lively and colourful, catching the essence of the games. The voice cast are fun and deliver an enjoyable romp through the world of Super Mario.
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