X-Entertainment | Super Mario Bros.

Super Mario Bros. — The Movie!

Here's my extremely scatterbrained review of Super Mario Bros., the 1993 film that took more than a few liberties with its video game subject matter. Here's a surprise: I absolutely did not hate this movie. It's ridiculous and stupid, but it's got a lot going on, and some of it really works. Maybe it's just that it's so unbelievably different from any other movie I've seen. Maybe it's just the Bob-ombs. The review is more an exercise in throwing a bunch of random shit at the html wall to try to convey the broad, silly themes of the film. In other words, it's all over the place. Still, if you've never seen the Bob Hoskins version of Mario, I'd recommend a viewing.

Posted by Matt on 06/23/2004. E-mail me!

Discussion Thread: 260 comments

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Looks like "Rawbar Gay" to me, too.

Chestnuts roasted by Rosella @ 06/24/2004 2:15 PM

I haven’t seen this movie in a while, but here is one fact from the movie that I remember that no one else posted:

The "pogo boots" were powered by Bullet Bills (albeit little ones)

also Matt, you should consider reviewing UHF, the movie that Weird Al Yankovic made. I think it was awesome, but to others…"ugh"

Its on DVD, and its really easy to find.

Chestnuts roasted by Invader Norbert @ 06/24/2004 2:31 PM

I’m pretty sure the Rawbar sign says eat and not gay.

Chestnuts roasted by lain @ 06/24/2004 3:07 PM

The Boots were called "Stompers" in the film. Might have been the Karubi Boot from SMB3. Who wouldn’t want to drive around town in a wind-up shoe?

Chestnuts roasted by kingklash @ 06/24/2004 3:08 PM

I still have mucho respect for Dennis Hopper, but if Bowser, King of the Koopas is portayed in a movie, he fucking better be spitting fire and throwing hammers.

Chestnuts roasted by IncogNegro @ 06/24/2004 3:28 PM

hollywood did a good job, but if the movie was produced in japan it would be wow, wow, it would have been wowzers

Chestnuts roasted by danny j @ 06/24/2004 4:14 PM

Now, can we get to the more important issue at hand. To be more specific, the chia plot.

Chestnuts roasted by Guy Incognito @ 06/24/2004 4:42 PM

I liked the movie. Even when I was little. What can I say? I was easily pleased. It wasn’t perfect, BUT IT WAS STILL MARIO IN THE FLESH! This was duting my mega mario phase so nearly anything Mario impressed me.
BTW, I want more of the Chia Plot too!
CHIA PLOT!

Chestnuts roasted by The Dragonrider @ 06/24/2004 4:59 PM

I like this movie as a guilty pleasure type of movie. I also like how wacky it is. It is like videogame acid trip. Things about the movie I like/noticed that the review may have not.

The big black sexy woman was Big Bertha the red phirana from the games.

Toad made a cameo as a prisoner who played music and had a weird yet cool haircut.

The shoes that Mario and Luigi use to escape were based on thwomps. Those brick like creatures that would drop from the cieling in the games.

The gun used was indeed a remodled super scope from the snes days.

The wall design in the Koopa tower was the only semi-game inspired design. The walls had a traingle patern found in super mario bros 3 and beyond.

Towards the end of the movie Koopa is in a ball thing suspended by wires, this is supose to represent the flying clown ball he used in the snes version of the game.

Those are only a few of the vg cameos in the movie I could think of right now, but damn’d if John L. and Bob H. didn’t try to mold that pos movie into a gem. I probably would not stand the movie at all if they did not seem like they could in fact be the mario bros.

P.s. Walking the dinosuar is not stuck in my head again.

Chestnuts roasted by Moobyghost @ 06/24/2004 5:14 PM

I saw this in the theatres, my dad took me, to tide me over until the next week, when Jurassic Park came out. I remember liking the film’s general weirdness, and the fact that it wasn’t played as a big comedy. Come on, guys. You can’t play both sides of the fence. You can’t "love" the Mario TV show because it was so ironically bad, and hate the movie because it has loopy logic. It’s BASED ON A VIDEO GAME ABOUT A LEAPING PLUMBER FOR GOD’S SAKE. There.

Chestnuts roasted by Zagnut @ 06/24/2004 5:16 PM

While we are all talking about Denis Hopper has anyone seen space truckers? that is a movie to be reviewed by this and only this site. I love that movie in a I love B movies type of way.

Chestnuts roasted by Moobyghost @ 06/24/2004 5:18 PM

Norbert-I loved UHF, and still do. Sure, it’s stupid, and it didn’t get much attention, but I thought it was hilarious.

Eric-So there WAS a Mario anime. Hmmm…I guess I should make an effort to find it somehow. I have a way finding obscure crap like this.

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 06/24/2004 5:30 PM

Almost as good a movie as the one that starred Fred Savage and the damned powerglove!

NO CHIA PLOT!
~Let down and hangin’ around.
Crushed like a bug in a rug.

Chestnuts roasted by Mugzy. . . @ 06/24/2004 6:08 PM

Damn the producers of this movie, damn their black hearts! I begged my parents to take me to this movie when it came out. After sitting through it and waiting for ,you know, something cool we left the theater with my parents vowing never to give in to my idiotic movie choices again.

Chestnuts roasted by Kasey @ 06/24/2004 6:16 PM

yea scatterbrained review for the scatterbrained movie nice touch

anywyas i think it was pretty decent for a bad movie it could have been worse though…

that being said imma go watch the super mario bros super show and the zelda cartoon on yahoo tv

Chestnuts roasted by Drphilisdadevil @ 06/24/2004 6:21 PM

The people who make these movies and TV shows are idiots. Look at the Megaman TV show…there is more than enough material in the 101 megaman games to have a show that is solely about a robot kid with a gun arm and his various hangers-on, sidekicks, competitors, and enemies. BUT NO! We get a stupid show about some kid nobody gives a rat’s ass about who fights stuff vicariously through a computer.

[I realize that only has a cursory relationship to the topic at hand, but I really needed to get that off my chest]

!!!!!MARK HAMILL #1 YANKEE COMMANDO FORCE DEPLOY!!!!!

Chestnuts roasted by Cannibalizer @ 06/24/2004 6:48 PM

There was a classic megaman cartoon hell megaman x even did a cameo in it the current cartoon is basedo n the series called megaman battle network up to the fourth game now for gameboy

Chestnuts roasted by Drphilisdadevil @ 06/24/2004 7:10 PM

The most vivid memory I have of this movie is Luigi constantly telling Mario to "Trust the fungus." I guess a drippy column of snot never steered them wrong before.

Shit, I may be the first person to ever type that sentence.

Now I think about it, how come there’s never been a Legend of Zelda full length film? Unlike most video game movies, THAT one could really work! Man, that would be tits.

But not nearly as tits as a review for "Flight of the Navigator". LOL SWERVE!!!

Chestnuts roasted by A-wel Cruiz @ 06/24/2004 7:15 PM

I used to watch this movie and…(sigh)…actually find Luigi attractive
I remember wishing that I was the princess so he would ask me :
"Don’t chu know I wanna be wit chu?".
Don’t cry for me…I’m already dead

Chestnuts roasted by Kristal @ 06/24/2004 7:19 PM

I hate to say it, but at one time I found Koopa a little, uh, sexy?
Sure, I was in middle school the last time I saw the movie. Those pre-teen years were akward for me. Yeah.

Chestnuts roasted by AngeFaitore @ 06/24/2004 7:26 PM

No matter how badly it turned out, it is a movie based on a classic video game, and so it is fantastic. And it is still better than Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat combined.

Chestnuts roasted by Khaos Destrukticon @ 06/24/2004 7:32 PM

Here’s one of the best sources of information on the Super Mario Brothers anime:

http://smbis.nescentral.com/commentary/marioanime.htm"> Marion Anime

Haven’t found a copy yet, but as an avid Nintendo collector, I will not rest until it is in my VCR.

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 06/24/2004 8:51 PM

ooops, what I mean to say was "Mario Anime" Here’s the link again:

http://smbis.nescentral.com/commentary/marioanime.htm">Mario Anime

Chestnuts roasted by Nate @ 06/24/2004 8:53 PM

has anyone else notice that certain boxes of cheerios cereal contains a dvd with an episode of the heathcliff cartoon and and a mario cartoon? i dont know if its from Super Mario Bros. Super Show or if its from the one based on smb3or something completely different. my store i work at didnt have any or i would have bought it. also i think the name of the episdoe is "Sneaky Lying Cheating Giant Ninja Koopas"

Chestnuts roasted by valon @ 06/24/2004 8:59 PM

Destro- where did you download the mr t video from?

i saw this movie too. i was a bit dissappointed that it didn’t have very much to do with the games… a good review, though )

Chestnuts roasted by Rachel Cakes @ 06/24/2004 9:08 PM

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2004 at 6:41 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.