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The Super Mario Bros. Movie: Great, Good, Decent

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Introduction

I wrote in my previous article, a review of the Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves move, that young me crelebrated the release of the movie and current me enjoyed the viewing immensely. It bears repeating. We grew up in a time when nerd culture got no respect from television and movie producers. They thought, just as with cartoons, that stuff is for kids and we should gear it towards kids. Granted, the animated entertainment provided us with something at least. Nothing at the time, though, came close to the production value of Honor Among Thieves or The Super Mario Bros Movie (click the “?” box).

It’s a me, a sexy smolder.

I know that other web sites surely have gone into the how and why this happened now. I’m not all that interested in any of that. I just enjoy the fact that they gave us good, quality entertainment that we can share with our kids. Ah, there it is. That just triggered something cynical in me. But, you know what? I’m going to ignore it and bring the usual (possibly toxic) positivity that we’re know for here at 2 Generations Gaming.

Decent

Training Montage: When Mario agrees to embark on the journey with Peach, she trains him in the ways of the Mushroom Kingdom. I appreciated the nod to other action movies and the tongue in cheek treatment. Even though it made little sense in the context of lore, I hope I proved in the D&D movie article that matters little to me.

Peaches, Peaches: All most people talked about (at least according to the article that stated, “After the Mario movie, this is all anyone is talking about!”) after the movie is the Jack Black song peaches. I heard about it before the movie because of just such an article. However, I saved the song until I actually saw the movie. It didn’t disappoint. After the movie, I made my family laugh by mentioning that it hit the top 100 and, therefore, qualified for Grammy status.

Good

Lumalee: This movie introduced us to nihilist Lumalee, the star companion from the Super Mario Galaxy series. I laughed and laughed with every line that came out of the adorable Nietzsche wannabe. Granted, I have a dark sense of humor as a optimistic pessimist. But, I think everyone can find something lovable in the darkness that is Lumalee’s attitude towards it all.

I know that! I also wrote about this phenomenon in the Honor Among Thieves article. However, being able to catch even a fraction of the easter eggs in the movie made me very happy. What brought me more joy was that my kids were all there to point them out either during the movie or after we left the theater.

Great

Donkey Kong: All of the characters lived up to expectations. I know some (probably literally nobody other than douche bags trying to make money with “content”) derided the movie as “woke” because they portrayed peach as a “strong independent woman who don’t need no man”. Other than that, every time a character appeared on screen, it put a smile on my face. In my opinion, one voice actor went above and beyond to bring his character to life. And, he basically just played himself like he does in nearly every movie. Like Robert Downey Jr. before as Iron Man before him, Seth Rogan was born to play DK.

Kids/Nostalgia: More and more I admit to being bit by the nostalgia bug. More and more I realize that it bites me because of my kids. We went to see this one while on vacation in the Berkshires for Quinn’s birthday. Unlike many family outings lately, every single one of our boys chose to join us without a fight. During the movie, Liam wore a smile on his face that indicated that some of his greatest memories came to life on that screen. I think I wrote in an earlier article that sometimes brings me pause that fictional characters mean so much to us. But, then I shut up that part of my brain and enjoy what I enjoy. Helping to bring that same joy to our kids makes everything else feel small by comparison.

The Verdict

Great super hero movies? For the most part, check. I give DC a pass and often turn off my brain enough to enjoy them even if I know they’re not very good. Plus, James Gunn? We’ll see. Live action (and CGI, of course) Dungeons and Dragons that delivers? Check. Amazing video game movies? Well, it remains to be seen if Nintendo can do it with other franchises, but they delivered with The Super Mario Bros movie.

Digital Playground

Super Mario’s Humble Beginnings

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Introduction

If you told me almost thirty years ago that an Italian plumber who guest starred in another game that I never played would become one of the greatest influences on me as a video game player, I would have never believed you. Mario made little of an impact on my until much later (relatively speaking) in my “career”. As I will show you here (and on the YouTube video I have planned for the end of the week), I played Mario since more or less the beginning. So, at least when it comes to me and my history with video games, I know a bit about Super Mario’s Humble Beginnings.

Atari 2600

Yes, I owned an Atari 2600. After that, my father bought an Atari 7800 because of the better graphics. And, so, started a race to get the latest and greatest video game system that lasted well into my twenties. Then, as life often does, it took me on a nostalgic journey back in time. A few years ago, I purchased a Hyperkin Retron 77 emulator machine for the Atari 2600.

During my time with the machine, I never loaded up Mario Bros or even Donkey Kong. If I’m being totally honest, the main reason I bought it was because Audacity Games released a new cartridge for the system. Two things about that. They never released the second planned game. Also, I found out the Retron wouldn’t play the cart, so I needed to download the ROM to play the game. I also recently remembered my high score that I posted here a few years go for Frostbite.

Yes, I used that as a not so subtle flex.

But, I played Mario Bros on the Atari 2600. I remember vividly our cat at the time (Snowy, ask me more about the name) sitting on the edge of the TV stand and watching as the turtles fell to their demise and wondering why our floor wasn’t littered with 8-bit turtles.

Arcade

I grew into a teenager at a time when arcades represented a gathering place for other teenagers. At our mall, they put the arcade right across the hall from a McDonald’s and the theater. Eventually, as we got more daring, we found a Waldenbooks to buy our Dungeons and Dragons source books and novels. But, we always returned to the arcade. I’m talking about quarters waiting on the Mortal Kombat (II is still the best and you can’t change my mind) or Street Fighter machine. Later, I experimented with Tekken, Virtual Fighter, and even Primal Rage. While those quarters waited or, sometimes to unwind after a particularly heart breaking loss, I went over to the sit down Vs. Super Mario Bros machine to lick my wounds. Then, quarter after quarter, I died to that first goomba on the first run every single time.

Yep, that’s the one.

Nintendo Entertainment System

At some point, my parents relented and bought us a Nintendo Entertainment System for Christmas. Most of the games came second hand from the rental service at my mother’s job. I also got exposed to some other hits like Legend of Zelda during a visit to my grandmother’s house where my cousins played the game.

So, it still took some time for the Mario love to take root. I finally saw the potential of the series with the release of Super Mario Brothers 3 on the NES. It both blew me away with the design and graphics and it allowed me to share my love of video games with my younger brothers.

Younger brothers forced to play Luigi, this is your safe space. Tell us about that.

The Verdict

As I mentioned in the beginning of this article, it took several years and iterations before Mario (and then Luigi and the others) to cement themselves as influential characters in my life. I hope I gave you some indication of Super Mario’s humble beginnings for me as a gamer and I hope you check out the companion video later this week.