UPDATE: Despite the critical panning, the movie is doing really well at the box office and is set for a big weekend!
ORIGINAL STORY:
Today will likely be a big day for the video game community as the Super Mario Bros Movie has finally been released in theaters. The movie has been in the works for years and has had a couple of delays due to the global pandemic and other factors. However, despite that and divisiveness online, thanks to the trailers, the movie is now out in theaters. But the question will now be not only what the movie gets profits-wise, but what will people think of the movie? To that end, the reviews for the movie dropped on Rotten Tomatoes, and it appears Bowser is the victor.
When this article was published, over 100 reviews for the Super Mario Bros Movie were put on the site, and the aggregate score for the movie stands at 55% for critics. That’s incredibly low and below the “Fresh” mark for the site. But given how low it is, what did reviewers say about it?
Let’s start with the obvious flaw many have pointed out, the voice cast. Jack Black is universally the star of the show thanks to his performance in their eyes, but the rest don’t feel the same regarding quality. Chris Pratt, at best, gets “serviceable” praise from critics, and other times he’s called out for being the same voice as some of his other characters. Some critics even noted that their performances sometimes felt like they “recorded over a weekend” and then were done with it. That is not what you want to hear from an animated movie.
The other big thing that the critics harped on was the plot. While the video games with Mario rarely have a “meaningful” plot, the movie took that path and went rather basic with its plot. Many reviewers noted that the directors focused more on the nostalgia, references, and Easter Eggs to Mario and his video games versus making a compelling world and story that people would want to go visit for reasons outside nostalgia.
Those reviews also said it was clear that the movie was visually stunning but one that was made more for kids to enjoy than adults who had been with these characters for decades.
As for audiences, they currently have the movie at 98%, but that’s only with 50+ reviews. So it’ll likely go down as time goes on.
But as with all movies, big and small, if you’re interested in seeing it, go see it! You might see something the critics don’t, and you may like it more than them.
