With the Sonic movie pushing the modern day adaptations of video games onto the big screen, many other companies followed the trend.  With other video game franchises making their own adaptations to the streaming world such as The Last of Us and Arcane, it was only a matter of time before Nintendo was going to make a video game movie. Nintendo has made movies and TV series in the past such as Kirby Right Back at Ya (2001-2003) and the Donkey Kong Country TV show (1996-2000). However this time around, Nintendo would team up with the animation studio Illumination and many professional actors to bring Super Mario to the big screen.

When the first trailer dropped for the Super Mario movie, fans were split on their views of the voices chosen to portray their favorite characters. Many looked to Chris Pratt’s performance as Mario and Seth Rogans ‘take’ on Donkey Kong as being the weakest choices. While Chris Pratt’s Mario was alright in the actual movie, it was Seth Rogan’s voice that was most controversial, with fans pointing out that his voice didn’t change. While Donkey Kong has only had one other instance where the beloved character was voiced in 1996, it was at most a unique take. Fans pointed out that Seth Rogans didn’t do a ‘voice’, instead simply doing his normal voice. As for the other voice actors, most fans were surprised when they heard Jack Black’s take on the menacing king of the Koopas. Bowser within the Mario franchise has always been somewhat of a goofy villain, an example being his role in the game “Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story.” This game is primarily focused around Bowser while our Mario and Luigi serve as more. The game does a good job of showing a different side to the usually brutal Koopa king. This same demeanor would follow him into the Mario movie as Jack Black’s performance wowed audiences, bringing a new and unexpected side of the character to light. 

The movie was released on April 5th 2023 and was widely praised by fans for its attention to detail, and references to the Mario franchise. Over the course of the movie, fans will notice the endless amount of nostalgia crammed into it. From the different worlds in the map referencing Mario’s games, all the way down to the small character cameos and use of iconic Mario items like the super star. The movie also includes a lot of references to Nintendo’s other franchises such as Punch Out, Ice Climbers, Pikimin, Duck Hunt, and Star Fox. This is why the movie was held in such high regard, with some fans even calling it the best video game movie adaptation. The movie would score an incredibly high rating with fans, with a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. 

While the film was loved by franchise fans, it wasn’t the same for the movie critics. When looking at the Rotten Tomatoes page for the movie, it’s pretty easy to distinguish the differences in opinion based on familiarity with the franchise as a contrast to experienced movie critics. Most critics held strong opinions about the movie, with outlets like Polygon calling the movie “endless nostalgia bait with no hook” and others like The Verge calling it “the new golden standard for video game movies.” While Mario has gained respect as one of the most successful video game franchises, this was Nintedo’s first time making a movie adaptation with our beloved plumber since the 1990’s. Nintendo as a company has a reputation of producing some of the most beloved video games. Franchises like the aforementioned Mario and others like Legend of Zelda and Pokemon are some of the best game franchises on the market. When the Mario Movie trailer dropped, it makes sense that many had high expectations for this movie.  

At the end of the day, the Mario Movie was really a celebration of not only Mario, but Nintedo’s history. Through small references and easter eggs, the movie makes multiple hints of past and new Nintendo games and hardware. This evolution began from arcade games to consoles like the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) all the way to the latest console in the Nintendo series, the Nintendo Switch. Near the end of the Mario Movie, fans noticed hints of a sequel coming in the near future. While this main movie covered Nintendo and Mario’s development throughout its older games, this next movie might cover more recent adaptations of everyone’s favorite red plumber.