Mario At The Movies: How Illumination’s New Flick One-Ups Its Live-Action Predecessor

Since their controversial (to say the least) silver screen debut back in 1993, the Mario Bros. have remained behind coded doors, shying away from trying again as countless movie-makers have tried, and failed, to replicate the magic of video games. But with the recent success of iconic video game names like Sonic The Hedgehog and Detective Pikachu on the big screen, Mario and Luigi have resurfaced to try again with Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Animated this time around, the film has a completely different take on the source material. It aims to reference the games that preceded it at every turn, as well as to dazzle with expensive visuals and action sequences that the games could only dream of. The movie opened to a whopping $377 million worldwide over its extended opening weekend, a new record for animated films. This means the film has also nearly quadrupled its already staggering $100 million dollar budget already. Mamma mia. But what is the secret to the new film’s success compared to the old (which grossed $39 million, under budget by $10 million)? Well, the power-up is in the details.

Careful Callbacks

Illumination’s Mario Bros. movie is remarkably unashamed of what it is, with the entire film often playing like a journey through clever references and fun callbacks to as many games in the series as it can manage. A few of the best bits were Bowser playing his own classic theme on a piano in his lair, a Blue Shelled Koopa leaving his crashed kart, going airborne, and taking the form of the ever-feared Blue Shell power-up from the Mario Kart series, and, of course, the beloved Donkey Kong Rap blasting throughout a jungle coliseum as Donkey Kong is introduced for the first time. When people hear Mario, they think of the games. When they think of the games, they think of details like these. The film is full of love for every corner of the Mushroom Kingdom.

Now compare that to the ’93 film, in which there was no Mushroom Kingdom at all. Not to mention that Bowser spends the majority of the film as a human (referred to as “President Koopa”), and actual Koopas were tall, bulky figures with tiny, scaly heads. If Mario’s name wasn’t in the title, you couldn’t guess that the movie was based on his beloved games. The sooner the minds behind video game movies stop trying to modernize the classic formulas that have immortalized the games that they’re adapting, the sooner they start seeing success like The Super Mario Bros. Movie is achieving. But before even getting the details right comes something much simpler, yet arguably more important: the visuals.

Familiar Faces

Simply put, the Mario games are animated adventures. Every time we’ve ever seen the Mario Bros. in a mainline title, they’ve looked like a cartoon. Round faces, lively colors, and exaggerated movements. That is how the majority of people know these characters. Can you imagine the shock of all the kids that heard there was a Super Mario movie coming out in the 90’s when they were met with two middle-aged, blue-collar plumbers fighting against a multimillionaire monopolizer with human-turtle henchmen?

It’s the biggest reason why that original film failed at the height of Mario’s popularity, and why the new one is already doing so well. Illumination’s Mario looks like Mario, Bowser looks like Bowser, Peach like Peach, Koopas like Koopas, and so on. The recognizable environments are bursting with color and personality. The film takes you right back to the first time you visited these places with a controller in hand. From the first trailer last year it was clear that this movie was a direct adaptation of the games. From the characters to the visuals, even down to the music, the movie is faithful. No hidden blocks or funny business.

For the Fans

Video game movies have so often flopped because they lost what made them popular in the process of adaptation. It’s as if the companies behind these movies think that they must change the game to serve the movie-going audience. But what they don’t understand is that the majority of people going to see that movie are people who’ve played the games. Illumination’s adaptation plays like a tour through all the best places, sounds, and features of his beloved history, and that’s why everyone loves it so much. Critics may be split, but the Rotten Tomatoes audience score hasn’t dipped below 96%; that is a soaring feat.

Both new and old fans have been given a movie that exists solely to serve and spotlight the Mario games. Based on the way it’s trending, The Super Mario Bros. Movie will almost certainly go on to be the most successful movie based on a video game, and perhaps even the most successful animated movie ever made, period. That’s the difference, and Illumination’s Mario is the new standard.