Super Mario Bros. (1993)

So much average

It is a performances centric movie

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

It is simply terrible and should not be watched, just don't.

Love this movie the cgi was really good,love these kind of movie,it my be cheesy but that's what I like about it,good entertainment , for the year of the movie I think the special effects were great

At some point, when making this film, some genius made the decision to replace the vibrant and colourful Mushroom Kingdom from the Mario games with a smog-filled industrial swamp coated in diarrhoea-coloured fungus. Everything in the games looks clean and nice. This world is so dirty that characters literally have to be washed several times. This seems to be the general approach to visuals in this film. Almost anything that was taken from the games has been modified to look as disgusting and gloomy as possible. Even though the CGI is about 25 years out of date, I suspect they would have made it look just as ugly with today's technology. If you can somehow ignore most of the visuals in a visual medium, it will not save you from the acting, or the slow, meandering plot. This film was made solely to cash in on the success of Ghostbusters and the Super Mario franchise. It could not exist in its own right as a studio production.

This tale of a parallel dimension inhabited by creatures evolved from dinosaurs and ruled by an evil lizard king stirs the imagination and returns viewers to the type of wide-eyed wonder they had as kids. As a child I instantly looked up to Luigi (John Leguizamo) as the most genuine and innocent character ever, someone who I wanted to be like, and laughing at the antics he experienced with the legendary Bob Hoskins as Mario. What a perfect fit these two were for their roles. "Three BUCKS?!? Everybody's got tap water...!" Spike & Iggy are a blast, as are my favourite villainous couple, King Koopa and Lena. There are so many great lines that it is difficult to choose just one, but even as an adult and watching SMB:TM for the first time again in literally 20 years, I still burst out laughing when Koopa grabs Luigi's neck with his hands and screams "You knowwww what I'm talking abouuuut!" after Luigi refers to the meteorite piece as "the what?". The look of pure lizard-based confusion on Hopper's face for those few moments after Leguizamo's vague reaction to the question is absolute gold.Not only is the casting great, the costumes are very intricate. Each viewing of the film reveals another detail not previously seen. One thing that particularly tends to date films is poor CGI, thankfully this film went for practical effects primarily along with the best visual effects available at the time. There is a disgusting, real and visceral quality to the goop and the slime and the fungus that is sadly lacking from today's overly modern and clean productions.The other thing that is rarely mentioned is LIGHTING! Are people aware of just how much work goes into the lighting of sets? The initial view of Dinohattan is simply incredible, and awe-inspiring. The same can be said for the scenes in Koopa's tower. I have never been transitioned into another world/dimension via film that seemed this real, and I think it is due to the meticulous attention to the smallest of details by Rocky and Annabel.From the actors reflections since, it sounds like this made the film difficult to work on from a production point of view. Even so, I wish I could sit down with Rocky and Annabel and tell them how much they inspired me with this technical marvel even though no one else appreciated it, and also ask them whether anything similar would be possible to create in today's industry. My guess is, probably not. It is also staggering to think about how it was filmed inside an abandoned concrete plant, with existing structures already in place, such as the space with the mud bath.Others have also mentioned the fantastic soundtrack. The score is absolutely marvellous, and seems to be composed of two main themes - one lighthearted/zany theme for the brothers' wacky adventures, and the other one more dark, ethereal, used for almost everything with Koopa or his associates.I am seriously surprised at just how well the film has held up, overall. The little quirky touches that indicate just how different their world is from ours is great, I love the forceful shove through the police station and the chicken coop jail cells, I love Toad's song and his anti-establishment nature which seems even more relevant now considering the USA's current political climate. I love the fungus, I love the stomper boots, the crazy old woman, the pumping Boom-Boom Bar where "Love Is A Drug" plays and comes complete with fire displays and psychedelic projections in the background. I love Big Bertha, I love the spiky edges on everything including the city's steampunk-like inhabitants, clothing, cushions, doors, walls and even on mundane items such as a box of tissue paper! I love the Goombas despite their awkwardness and the old Fungus King is amazingly slimy and grotesque. Can you imagine if he had been done with CGI? Yoshi goes without saying. He is such an efficient not only effect but CHARACTER, that I struggle with my "i wish to be a filmmaker and analyse everything when viewing" hat and instead put on my "wow what an incredible creature" hat, ie. I just become a normal audience member and forget it is essentially a mechanised puppet. Even knowing and seeing how it was done in the extras on the blu ray doesn't deplete my enjoyment of him. The gold filters or lighting used in this scene also add to the royal extravagance of the setting.The film is so rapid-fire in its setups that I can't even include everything I want to mention, but special mentions go to the Devo Chamber, the huge amount of pyrotechnics, stunts and explosions on display during their escape from the Police Station in the fantastic police cruiser, and the hurtling through the unfinished Koopa Desert Tunnel ("Let's DIE there!"). The escape scene in particular would surely be one of the most fun sequences ever committed to celluloid.I am so glad that now, so many years later, the film is finally getting the recognition it deserves. Sadly this recognition is too late for Mr Hoskins and Mr Hopper to witness, but I'm sure they still know...somewhere, somehow, from whichever dimension they are in now. RIP.This film is a treasure trove of nostalgia and fun, and should be in the collections, hearts and minds of anyone who ever wants to just feel like being a kid again.Thank you Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel for making this film, and for accruing such fine talents in both crew and cast to join you in this totally unique and off the wall project. I've lost track of how many times I have watched this film (as a kid) and now that I have rediscovered it as an adult, it will never again leave my side.This is how all fantasy/parallel dimension films SHOULD be made.Trust the Fungus.