IN DEPTH SUMMARY
The Super Mario Brothers create their own plumbing company in Queens, New York after quitting their old job. They create a very detailed and light-hearted commercial to boost their call-ins so that they may finally be something bigger than themselves.
Born to an emotional and stern Italian-American family, the Mario bros consistently feel as if they can never amount to anything of value in their family with their family members. Mario’s dad being one of the most powerful and influential critics of his life decision.
However, Mario and Luigi finally do get a call following the creation of their commercial to a very rich residence downtown. They follow up and attempt to fix the sink but the owners’ dog maliciously comes for their lives. (Luigi had carelessly stepped on and broken the dog’s bone previously). As a result, the dog rushes in to try and inflict justice on the two boys and in turn destroys the entire bathroom in a comedic tussling. The destruction stains the ideas of failure and insurmountability in Mario’s head, already a short man, and inevitably leads him to feel like he can never become greater than his size, emotionally and physically. However, he turns on the news to find that the city is in grave danger as the pipes underground had burst so he and Luigi feel this is their calling, to save the city from imminent disaster and redeem their futile attempts at being great. However, they fail once more and stumble upon a green warp pipe that has never been discovered before, and Luigi, careless Luigi, falls into it. Mario, being the caring and loving brother he is, follows him in, unbeknownst to the danger inside…Â
Mario and Luigi each then fall into this purgatorial realm full of rainbows as they fall and are pushed in different directions, Luigi into a dark and desolate realm ruled by the antagonist, Bowser, and Mario into a bright, colorful world filled with mushrooms, known as the Mushroom Kingdom. Mario quickly wakes up from his dramatic world transfer and meets a little mushroom man known as Toad. He happens to be red and white and very courageous. Toad gives Mario the rundown about the land, and Mario insists he must meet with the Princess of the land, Peach, so that he may have the opportunity to save his brother, whom he just lost. Toad magnanimously agrees to show him and they begin their journey through the red and blue and pink and yellow mushroom, which Mario admittedly cannot stand, all the way to the castle Peach resides in. The two glide through smaller warp wipes, meet toads of all different shapes and colors and play with different flowers of red and orange and blue and green. Mario then reaches the castle with Toad and are confronted by the two guards. Toad then manages to distract them with the production of dinner and Mario waltzes in right behind them, on his way to see Peach. However, because he was not supposed to be there, he encounters other guards that begin chasing him with metal spikes and poles.
Eventually, he runs straight into Peach and recognizes her astonishing beauty, falling immediately in love, demonstrated through a slow motion close-up of Mario’s frown from being chased quickly shifting into a gleaming smile. Peach, however, fails to see the same beauty in Mario, being a foot taller than the overall-wearing plumber. The two exchange dialogue and Peach agrees to help Mario find his brother in the land of Bowser and take him out once and for all, so they begin to practice getting Mario into shape and developing each others’ characters for the audience. They each traverse a typical Mario level seen in the video game attempting to reach a flag pole and Mario fails over and over again while Peach succeeds in one go, furthering Mario’s incompetent feelings about himself until eventually he completes it and the two begin their journey.
Meanwhile, Luigi is confronted by dry bones and is corned into a dark, desolate mansion where shy guys abduct him and bring him to Bowser. Bowser tortures him by pulling his mustache until he confesses to the whereabouts of his brother and then Bowser begins to plan for Mario and Peach’s attack, while Luigi is thrown into a cage over a pit of lava. We cut back to Mario and Peach and Toad and find they have reached the Kong Kingdom where Mario is forced to fight Donkey Kong and beat him so that Peach may have the Kong army to attack Bowser with.
At first, in the Super Smash Bros-esce fight, Donkey Kong mops the floor with Mario, however, as the fight continues, Mario starts to gain confidence and in the climax of the fight, reaches and grabs a cat power up which turns him into just that, a cat. He ends up beating DK and wins the army and Peach’s newfound appreciation of the brave man Mario is turning into. After the army is obtained, they begin the preparation of the fight which revolves completely around karts, clearly alluding to the Mario Kart series that has become so popular.
After a super colorful frenzy on rainbow road, Mario and friends fail to succeed and everyone is captured except for Peach, Toad, Mario, and DK, who fall into the ocean and get swallowed by an eel. The two eventually escape after alleviating their trivial feud and escape to meet up with Peach and Toad who are warning the mushroom kingdom about Bowser’s incoming presence, hell-bent on destroying the kingdom unless Peach marries him.
Once Bowser arrives, Peach is captured and forced to marry him, but Peach refuses and freezes Bowser in a frozen statue after touching an ice flower and proceeds to take his entire Koopa/dry-boned army. Mario and DK help save all the prisoners that had been slowly getting lowered into lava, and the whole gang stands in front of the frozen Bowser statue to celebrate a seeming victory. However, Bowser’s rage at Mario and Peach’s flirting enables him to melt the ice and send out a massive banzai bill that seeks out Mario to kill him. Mario flies off the building and into the same pipe that brought him into this world using his new tanooki suit item he had picked up and ends up bringing the entire mushroom kingdom into Queens. A superstar follows, which has the ability to create invincibility for whoever touches it, and Bowser attempts to grab it to rid the world of Mario and friends, but Mario and Luigi work together, in a final stand to demonstrate the power of brotherhood and hold Bowser off to the point that they grab the star.
They become invincible and destroy Bowser and his army and keep Bowser in a cage as the credits roll and Peach gives Mario a sloppy kiss. Mario’s family congratulates him and gives him the praise and love he had always been searching for and everyone lives happily ever after.Â
REVIEW
This movie was spectacular. Jack Black as Bowser was perfect, he was scary, funny, corny, and everything you would want in a Jack Black villain. Mario and Peach were fun to watch too, with their sixth-grade emotional dynamic. Chris Pratt’s Italian impression was not the best, but it worked in this film, and I really appreciated the many, many, allusions to the old Mario games that were so dear to my heart.
The references to previous games were everywhere throughout the entire movie, through the music, the lighting, the objects, everything. It was really reminiscent of the video games that had become so popular over the years. Old fans and new fans will love this movie from start to finish. The colors were incredibly bright, the animation was fun and very pristine, and visually appealing. The dialogue was not corny like you would most likely expect. It was just a good time.
Overall rating: 7.6/10
