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

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

Joker: Folie à Deux is a comic book musical and sequel to the stand-out hit Joker starring Joaquin Phoenix . I truly believe that Todd Phillips is trolling the comic book community with this film. It's weird, unwatchable at times, and nowhere near the first film. Even standing on its own without having the film be even considered a sequel it fails. It almost feels like WB was just paying him to make a sequel. Joaquin Phoneix doesn't phone it in. He just does what he's supposed to do and delivers a performance. He and Lady Gaga are really the only saving grace. While her rendition of Harly Quinn is nowhere near what was expected for a Joker film she still had a memorable but trying performance. Characters you forgot about come back and a few new ones that don't leave any impact other than to just be there and in the film. You see Harvey Dent but there's nothing to his character, partly at fault for hiring a no-name actor in Harry Lawtey who should stay on TV an

The Wild Robot (2024)

The Wild Robot is a DreamWorks science function adventure film based on the book series by the same name. Written and directed by Chris Sanders, the film feels like what Disney used to put out. The writing hits on similar beats like his other work Lilo & Stitch , The Croods, and How to Train Your Dragon. There is a definite switch from climax one to climax two and I felt more invested in the later third of the film but not so much at the beginning. There was a tad bit of FurnGully's environmental message in the film but the main message of how to be a mother was front and center. Lipita Nyong'o had to carry the film with help from Pedro Pascal and the best cameo of Bill Nighy . She voiced the robot while Pascal was the main supporting character of the fox Fink. I've grown tired of Pedro Pascal but his deliveries were enough for me to ignore my bias'. The worst voice actor was Brightbill's Kit Conner who must have some connection in Hollywood to land the

Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)

Avatar: The Way of Water is the followup to James Cameron's original box office winner Avatar. Continuing Jake Sully's story, now protecting his family from Colonel Miles Quaritch again. Written and directed by James Cameron . The worst parts of the writing probably came from the writers of Mulan, both Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. In terms of direction, there was the expectation that Cameron would recreate some sort of magic of Avatar, Terminator 2, or even Aliens. I think Cameron gave the skeleton of the story and Jaffa and Silver added their own dialogue and beats. Cameron doesn't really write boring movies and I was bored through parts of the film. 3 hours and 12 minutes is a long time to have amazing dialogue and writing. Sam Worthington is back but you don't recognize him since he was barely in the first film except in his avatar form. Most people don't know Worthington. Maybe if you played the Call of Duty Black Ops games as he played Alex Mason. I most

Movies, Film, and Chili

Search This Blog