Super Money Brothers

The minute an Illumination Super Mario movie was announced you knew what was on the cards and this is is exactly that, a mostly by the numbers crowd pleaser with a focus on easy laughs and merchandising opportunities. The good news is it's about as good a version of that as we were ever going to get.

The story begins with Mario and Luigi (Mario Mario and Luigi Mario to give them there full names) trying to boost their fledgling plumbing business by helping out with a massive flood in downtown Brooklyn. This leads to them being sucked into the Mushroom Kingdom, via a green pipe naturally. The film is full of trappings from the game, with power ups, karts and a Princess obsessed Bowser as the antagonist. It does flip things round with Luigi being the damsel (da man sel?) in distress while Peach is fearless leader, probably a necessary change for 2023. Other Mario staples like Toad and Shy Guys make an appearance and there is a trip to visit "The King of the Kongs" (Nintendo really flexing that they won that 1983 lawsuit), although dinosaur sidekick Yoshi is saved for the inevitable sequel.

The animation style isn't anything to write home about but the quality is high, the water in the subway scene looks so real its a wonder the screen didn't get water damage. The voice acting is all adequate with the "its a meee" Mario voice being relegated to an early commercial while for the rest of the film Chris Pratt uses a tone thats just about different enough from his regular voice that it isn't distracting. Not so Seth Rogan as Donkey Kong who just jumps in there full tilt, determined to leave no doubt who is the sound booth. He manages to avoid trampling the movie as he's only a side character. The standout voice belongs, unsurprisingly, to Jack Black's Bowser. He's having a blast playing the big reptile as a lovelorn idiot and it makes you wish he had been given a bit more time and freedom to cut loose.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie is really more money printing exercise than creative endeavour but it is kind of fun and certainly not offensive. If it does rub you up the wrong way you better take cover as I sense there's alot more coming down the green pipeline.

6 power ups out of 10 potentially deadly funi.

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