The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is an origin story for Nintendo's most iconic mascot.

There are four directors, from Illumination there's Pierre Leduc and Fabien Polack, from Teen Titans Go! there's Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic. That's a lot of cooks in the kitchen which could have led to a horrible movie. I think everyone that has seen the movie is thankful that wasn't the case. The problem though that I do have with the direction is how tight the movie feels. There's little room to breathe and something is always going on that demands your attention. It's hard to find time to look at the world that Illumination has animated.

Jack Black plays a cartoonish characterization of Bowser who up until now in the Mario games was just a villain with basic motivations. Now Matthew Fogel has given him a more relatable motivation that some might consider a spoiler so I won't discuss that here.

Chris Pratt and Charlie Day play Mario and Luigi so well that I forgot very quickly that they're voiced by them. Charlie Day was the perfect casting for Luigi for his hesitant and sometimes scared voice. I enjoy Anya Taylor-Joy's filmography and never really thought of her as a strong voice actor. I imagine she will take this experience along with The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and improve her emotes. Keegan-Michael Key plays the Toad that stands out. He's hilarious in most things and wasn't too bad here either.

I was on the fence about how to rate this movie. I let it gestate and waited until I could definitely place it somewhere. I couldn't see it being placed with other movies at an A- and so I bumped it up to a low A. I highly recommend this movie, Mario fan or not.

Comments

Colony (2026)

Colony is written and directed by Yeon Sang-ho , the director behind the cult classic Train to Busan . While Train to Busan has become the more celebrated film, Colony shows how much Yeon has improved as both a writer and a director. The story is stronger, the filmmaking feels more confident, and the way he builds the world gives the movie more substance than I expected going in. Jun Ji-hyun is the clear standout of the cast. She does a fantastic job conveying emotion through subtle movements and expressions rather than relying on exaggerated acting. That is not surprising considering she is one of South Korea's best actresses, but she still manages to make the character feel grounded and believable. She carries much of the emotional weight of the film. I did not recognize many of the other actors, and unfortunately, none of them really stood out enough to make much of an impression. That is not necessarily a knock against the cast as much as it is a testament to how much Jun ...

Verity (2026)

Verity was a surprise for me. Normally, the authors who turn their books into movies that I actually enjoy are Stephen King or Michael Crichton , but Colleen Hoover has been doing surprisingly well with the last four movies adaptations from her work. One thing I appreciate about her writing is that she knows how to write male characters who aren't weak or simply there to be punching bags for feminist talking points. That alone makes the characters feel more believable and gives the story a better balance. Dakota Johnson plays an up and coming writer who is brought in to ghostwrite for Anne Hathaway's character. This is easily Johnson's best performance yet. She does a good job carrying the movie and making the character's uncertainty and curiosity believable as the mystery around the house starts to unfold. Anne Hathaway does not have a huge amount to do because of her character's condition, but whenever she is actually on screen, she brings the energy you wo...

Digger (2026)

Digger is directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell. Much like his name, there is a lot of symbolism and meaning packed into the film, along with plenty of references that brought a smile to my face. I went into this expecting it to be pretentious or outright bad because that was the prevailing opinion online before general audiences had even had a chance to see it. Anyone calling this movie pretentious clearly has not seen The Death of Robin Hood or Die My Love . Die My Love was so pretentious that my wife actually begged me to leave the theater, and I had to finish it another day. Digger , on the other hand, actually understands the difference between being ambitious and simply being self-important. Tom Cruise is great as Digger Rockwell, giving the character exactly the kind of larger-than-life personality the movie needs. There is so much going on beneath the surface that I found myself constantly looking for the symbolism and references hidden...

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog