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The Movie of Mario

FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Finally saw it.

I liked it. Didn't love it, but it simply came through that it is a movie for kids, which is fine. I did love my time in the Mushroom Kingdom, and all the other places, I loved how it looked, I enjoyed all the references, the characters were great - I guess the story was lacking? Which is silly, because kids movie.

There is no question that I would have loved it wholeheartedly, as a child. As it is, it's fine, with a lot of additional "awesome". Someone mentioned the obstacle course that Mario has to go through. It was a lot of fun. I love how they interpreted, well, all the power-ups. Cat Mario was great, Tanuki Mario too, and Flower/Ice Peach was a joy.

Oh, right, I loved the commercial from the beginning.

The only thing that didn't work for me was the Luma. These weird bleakness just felt too much for me. And I think the story went a bit too grim for me, at times?

Ok, I'm babbling. Had fun, enjoyed my time, glad that this movie exists, all the platforming and references was great.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
This was a fun movie. Before I saw it I wasn't quite sure what made it deserve a PG rather than a G, but yeah there's a lot of hitting and burning up and conflict in general that needs the kids to be slightly older so they don't start mimicking the hitting or being too scared of it. The PG movie offerings are often pretty bad so I'm very happy this exists.

I have a feeling that a lot of the goofier/funnier Bowser scenes and lines were Jack Black improvising and weren't in the script, and that's pretty great.

The No Sleep Til Brooklyn scene was indeed great, as was the perspective when Mario and Donkey Kong are going through the sidescrolling area.

I think all of you talking about the Luma made me think about it more than I would have, but yeah, definitely weird. Eeyore was definitely depressed in Winnie the Pooh back in the day, but this was just very odd and so much more specific, then hey, saxophone solo?! I wonder if scenes were cut that would have made the Luma make more sense?

The sound design, usage of the major musical theme and the sound effect callbacks in this movie are phenomenal. None of it was jarring, it made the world work in a great way and it just always made me happy to note things like the haunted house motif in the piano music.

Anyway, it was fun, I'm glad I saw it and definitely going to recommend it to friends whose kids are the right ages and aren't having hitting issues.
 
John

John

(he/him)
Luma felt like they were written to appeal to the cynical non-gaming parents stuck watching a kids movie they have no interest in. They get Jack Black riffing, Seth Rogen’s huh-huh’s, and a happy chaotic neutral star wishing for the movie to be over in a sweet release of death.
 
LBD_Nytetrayn

LBD_Nytetrayn

..and his little cat, too
(He/him)
Maybe Luma was how they got the coveted PG rating without resorting to cursing or more extreme violence?
 
MetManMas

MetManMas

Me and My Bestie
(He, him)
PG has basically been the new G for the past decade or two. As in, the MPAA rating sweet spot the producers pay off people to get their kids movie into to ensure the biggest potential audience.

I remember the 80s and 90s Disney movies. So much stuff that absolutely should not have been suitable for general audiences that the House of Mouse got that coveted G for.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
LBD_Nytetrayn said:
Maybe Luma was how they got the coveted PG rating without resorting to cursing or more extreme violence?
Click to expand...
Other things I can think of that likely pushed it to PG: Several minions die onscreen, yes it's cartoony, but that's usually enough. The Dry Bones scene would be extremely frightening to many young kids. The very upfront stuff about sacrificing people for Peach is a lot for a G rating. And there's a lot of hitting or bullying in general.
 
Daikaiju

Daikaiju

Rated Ages 6+
(He, Him)
It's kinda like how if you had to play Darkest Dungeon and things were more animated more realistically and IN YOUR FACE.
 
Sprite

Sprite

(He/Him/His)
Daikaiju said:
It's kinda like how if you had to play Darkest Dungeon and things were more animated more realistically and IN YOUR FACE.
Click to expand...
I haven’t seen the movie yet and this is definitely not a comparison I was expecting 😆

Makes me pine even more for the Luigi’s Mansion spin-off I desperately hope is in the queue.
 
Johnny Unusual

Johnny Unusual

(He/Him)
Sprite said:
Makes me pine even more for the Luigi’s Mansion spin-off I desperately hope is in the queue.
Click to expand...
I feel like with the success there will be Mario spin-offs, so that seems likely (assuming sustained franchise success), but also much further down the line.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Was wondering when this might hit streaming and it looks like it’s coming next month to... Peacock. 😑

(Though you can already buy/rent it on Prime and other places, but for the cost of multiple movie tickets.)
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Kirin said:
Was wondering when this might hit streaming and it looks like it’s coming next month to... Peacock. 😑

(Though you can already buy/rent it on Prime and other places, but for the cost of multiple movie tickets.)
Click to expand...
It's $25 to stream right now which is one movie ticket here. Maybe less.
 
Kirin

Kirin

Summon for hire
(he/him)
Movie ticket prices in happening cities always blow my mind. Even the fancy shmancy new theaters with lounge seating and food service here are like half that.
 
FelixSH

FelixSH

(He/Him)
Seriously, that's insane. I'm not sure how the exchange rate between Euro and Dollar is, but I paid for the Super Mario movie ticket 11 bucks.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
Kirin said:
happening cities
Click to expand...
It's weird, Bend is a small town isn't happening in any way, it's just incredibly weirdly priced for many things. There's one movie theater in town and they somehow got a noncompete so no other theaters can be built in city limits. There's a couple small arthouse ones in addition to the one big one but that's it unless you drive to the next town over. Those small ones will play movies months after they're out of the chain theaters but looks like that's about $11 a ticket and not a fancy projector or sound system or anything.

I did double check and looks like I was exaggerating a bit, one ticket for a 2D showing comes out to about $19. But still, was far cheaper for both of us to watch it together at home and make some Costco popcorn I shamelessly stole from work.
 
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SpoonyBard

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Finally saw this! Lots of thoughts but ultimately enjoyed it, even though it was mostly 90 straight minutes of "Hey I recognize that thing!" but I gotta be honest with myself sometimes that's all I want.

I do find it weird that the opening scene of the movie is so much weaker than the very first preview we got. Even considering the Koopa vs Penguin army scene was unfinished in that preview from last September it just flowed so much better there, and didn't have any friggin Kill Bill music. Even Bowser's last line (Now who's gonna stop me?!) flowed into the next scene much better than the one we ultimately got. I could give my thoughts on other stuff in the movie but that opening scene feeling lesser than the preview really stuck with me, admittedly that is probably partially due to watching that preview more than once in the following months it was stuck in my head enough that all the differences in the final movie really stuck out. But I stand by my thoughts that the cut we first saw was stronger than the one we ultimately got.

Also, missed opportunity not to have a scene in Brooklyn where DK catches a glimpse of Mayor Pauline. Illumination even could have done a thing where it went all slo-mo around her and something like 'Dream Weaver' started playing, they love doing that shit. But I guess one giant non-human in love with a normal human was enough for one movie.
 
RT-55J

RT-55J

space hero for hire
(He/Him + RT/artee)
Welp, I finally got around to watching this movie (despite being the person to make this thread lol).

It sure is a collection of great, fun scenes, some smart creative decisions, and an infinite number of silly references, held together with, like, the shoddiest glue of all time. This is so astoundingly worse than the sum of its parts, it's hard to know where to begin --- it's like all the air got sucked out of the thing, so there's barely any breathing room for the characters or the plot to develop any pathos on their own merits. It's a thematic nothingburger.

Mario's voice worked surprisingly fine, at least.

Also, stealing the bit from Avengers 1 with the nuke for the climax is a baffling/hilarious creative decision.

I'm not familiar with Illumination's oeuvre, but the kids deserve better than this.
 
Issun

Issun

(He/Him)
Finally saw this. It was a serviceable Mario film that I enjoyed. Definitely an Illumination flick, though, with all that entails.
 
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