I wasn’t looking forward to this movie. It looked like a long Nintendo ad (which at times it felt like). I knew there’d be lots of Easter eggs I wouldn’t get (there were). The first 15 minutes were so unfunny I was tempted to just walk out. I’m glad I stuck with it, because after the unfunny scenes of the Mario brothers trying to dodge a scary dog and fix a big leak, they go to an underground world that was rather dazzling. (If only the last Ant-Man could have been like this!)
Mario (Chris Pratt, who you’ll remember got backlash initially for the Italian accent) and Luigi (Charlie Day, who has a voice that always cracks me up), go from being plumbers in Brooklyn with a cheesy TV commercial, to the Mushroom Kingdom and the Dark Lands. I didn’t recognize the always hilarious Keegan-Michael Key as Toad. He helps Mario meet Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy, whose voice I also didn’t recognize). But the evil turtle Bowser is played by Jack Black, who you will recognize. He steals every scene he’s in, and even has some Tenacious D style songs (make sure you wait for the end credits to see his last ode to Peaches). As an old dude, I was just a bit distracted every time I heard the name Bowser, and thought of that dude from the group Sha Na Na. But I digress.
The Toads need a stronger army to defeat Bowser, so they visit the apes/Donkey Kong clan (Seth Rogen). Fred Armisen, who is a brilliant comedic talent, didn’t do much as Cranky Kong, Donkey Kong’s dad.
Since all movies these days feel the need to rely on needle drops, I’ve decided I’m going to knock them or praise them in my reviews. They get knocked here. The song choices were hardly original. As cool of a song as AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” is, we don’t need to hear that, or “I Need a Hero” again (just used in the last Shazam), or ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” (opens a Guardians of the Galaxy movie and closes this movie). And I was tired of “Take on Me” while the video was still being praised back in the M-TV days.
The score for the film was excellent, though. At times having those video game sounds, and other times combining that with lots of instrumentation.
I’ve been keeping track for years of how many movies have barfing scenes, because I just don’t understand why so many do. Before this movie started, we saw a Trolls trailer with rainbow barfing. Mario Bros had three throw-up scenes (a whale, a flower, and a Mario who had to try and keep down a mushroom, which was kind of funny, since I, as a mushroom hater, could feel his pain).
Watching Bowser with a heavy metal band play for his entertainment was cute, and reminded me of the brilliant Jim Henson 1977 piece Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas with the nasty “Riverbottom Nightmare Band” (find that and thank me later).
When Bowser follows that band, by sitting at the piano and playing a mellow ode to his future bride, you think of Nigel Tufnel in Spinal Tap sitting at the keys doing his delicate musical trilogy.
I loved hearing one of the best stand-up comedians working today, Sebastian Maniscalco, as a rival plumber with an attitude.
And while this had the vibe of Wreck-It Ralph (but not nearly as good), the animation was beautiful to look at, and it’s one of those rare movies the entire family can enjoy (there might be some scenes a bit scary for those under 7).
3 stars out of 5.