#and chris pratt actually didn't suck

[fancy--that]

Just saw the Super Mario Bros movie.

Don’t watch it, i give it a 0/10, Bowser and Luigi didn’t kiss even once

[wp100]

ok the mario movie looks REALLY good. I just watched the official trailer

it just SUCKS that Charles Martinet doesn;t voice Mario. No, I did not just find this out. I'm just saying it sucks. because I feel like it'd be PERFECT if he was the one who voiced him instead...

[speedofsoundsketches]

I noticed that you have made it clear that you are not one for the first Sonic the Hedgehog film. And I must make it clear that I respect your opinion on it; it is not for everyone, even all Sonic fans.

However, I get a feeling that you are antipathetic to the future installment(s)- you mentioned some time ago you have not seen the second film. But even if you were underwhelmed by the first film, do you believe that they cannot improve?

in the wake of the trailers of the Super Mario Bros movie, I have seen things like "I used to like the Sonic movies, but since the *trailers!* of the Mario movie came out, the Sonic movies suck now!". Do you believe that is really a "correct" way of thinking? Like, regardless of what one thinks of the movies, should people just dismiss all the hard work that people like Fowler and Tyson Hesse put into the films just because they aren't animated like the Mario movie? Or that they don't use much of the game music, like the Mario movie? is this truly shaping up to be a "1:1 or nothing" thing, leaving no room for deviation?

I ask this because I feel that rational StH fans are as rare as hens teeth, especially these days; consider yourself a hens tooth

The biggest issue I have with these movies is the foundation it laid for itself.

Cue TL;DR rant mode

Let's be absolutely frank and honest with ourselves. The first movie was only saved purely because the controversy of Sonic's design led to him being revamped entirely and Eggman's portrayal was solid. That's really it. I'm not against human characters showing up at all, on the contrary. But this set up is "Take the most superficially basic concept of Sonic then make a bunch of convoluted revisions to the lore of the original series to justify isekai-ing him into San Francisco so we can save money on animated scenes". Like, it's the same problem most children's media being adapted into "live action" suffers from. It's a cheap, lazy adaptation that broke absolutely zero ground and I've held this opinion of it literally since the day it was first revealed and announced with those leaked posters of Chris Pratt and Sonic's initial design.

And just because it didn't end up being as "bad" as it first looked and they brought on actual, talented fans of the series onto the creative team, doesn't suddenly detract from this most basic, fundamental problem. Sonic's movies suffer from what happens when you let Hollywood just go to town on your IP and barely give it proper boundaries to stay in.

Even if they manage to get SOME things right like, Knuckles actually being cool again and the Giant Robot fight at the end of the second film, the reality is they'll still be tied down by the flimsy foundation they started on, like dragging on a wedding scene or putting waaaay more focus and attention on the human characters than the.....main characters we came to watch???

Now compare that with the Mario movie. From the start, Nintendo I understand had a MUCH bigger involvement on the production. It's not like the lame adaptation I mentioned above. They went full on "Angry Birds" level of staying on brand. The entire world feels like the natural, fleshed out idea of "How do we make this feel as warm, inviting, and fantastical as the games but still make it work as a movie?" It's actually BRILLIANT just from first impressions.

I'm sure it's going to suffer from other typical kids movie problems like "Peach's a STRONG WOMAN NOW because she wears PANTS and DON'T NEED NO RESCUER", dumb movie writing or Mario, Luigi and Peach's flat voice acting. But you cannot look at that movie, how it just unabashedly looks, feels and is completely imprinted in Mario and say that Sonic had anywhere NEAR the same level of enthusiastic production on it. I mean, even the cute commercial of their plumbing business in New York is entirely animated and ALSO feels like it fits. They went to the absolute nines with making this feel like a WAY better adaptation in spirit, story and visuals.

Of course I appreciate the hard work the team put into saving the Sonic films from becoming absolute jokes but WHY did it even have to be so compromised in the first place when Mario shows up looking EXACTLY like how I've dreamed Sonic's movies would've been treated?

I'm not wooed over by the small glimpses of Sonic's world or the tiny references they managed to squeeze in there. I'd appreciate those way more if it were ACTUALLY set in it. And I cannot stand this prevailing narrative that "Sonic's world is separate from Earth" in most of these adaptations because it's not! It IS Earth! He's always lived in the same planet as humans, their animal kind is just reclusive and live on islands. That's the actual lore of the games!

This movie made the mistake of doing what Sonic X did. They think it'd be "too weird" for someone like Sonic to have been from Earth as if the intense popularity of it in the first place isn't enough to show how wrong that is? No kid questioned Sonic showing up in City Escape around humans any more than dinosaurs or other crazy entities existing in Dragonball's version of Earth. It's still Earth, just fantastical.

Mario works with that because him iseaki-ing into Mushroom Kingdom is that original lore of the games too I believe. But in Sonic's case it's not and it's so JARRING because they think Sonic himself can't carry a story as the main character. No, kids need a human or avatar to help them navigate the weird, unexplained parts of the series. I'd rather they'd just do that with Sonic himself without needing to be forcibly tied to a regular human. (I'm so annoyed that he couldn't have just run to San Francisco if he wanted because he "needed directions". What a pitiful excuse. And these movies are FULL of them like that.)

Hollywood is a joke and they cannot for the life of them, understand how to effectively adapt most Japanese properties by themselves. Especially anything even remotely inspired by anime like Sonic.

I know this might make me look like "the most offended Sonic fan in the world" right now but in all honesty, I don't really think about those movies much. They function as effective promotional materials for the games and kids like them so whatever. Like, it's just one big Shrug really.

*sigh*

[whatyourusherthinks]

The Garfield Movie Review

Ah Garfield. The dead-beat dad of the Sunday morning paper. He was popular once, but years of resting on their laurels has made him nothing but a some-what sad joke. Anyway this movie looked bad. Real cookie cutter, bland, kids fare honestly. It did look better than the Bill Murray ones, but almost anything is better that the Bill Murray Garfield movies. I shudder thinking about those horrible eyes.

What's The Movie About?

Garfield and Odie involved in a heist of a dairy farm because of Garfield's dad and an insane Persian. Persian cat, not a person from Persia.

What I Like.

Dudes, what the fuck. This movie is actually really good. For starters, this movie is hilarious. Not every joke lands (and all the worst jokes are either awful cat puns or jokes where the punchline is "Modern gadgets sure exist, huh.") but there's a good 4/5 of comedy that is quick and hilarious. The only pauses in the comedy are for just for visual gags that look like they could've been pulled straight from the comic strip. There is a lot of background gags, admittedly some those awful puns, and the physical comedy is no slouch either. I was guffawing a whole lot more than I ever thought I would. And the movie has some really good emotional moment too. I really like Vic, Garfield's dad and his story was great. All the voice acting (with one notable exception) was great too. Animation is a bit simple, but it is perfect for a Garfield movie since it looks like the simple comic strips, just with more backgrounds and slight texture detail on character. The movie isn't afraid to make fun of itself as well, which I always appreciate, and it is perfect to establish not taking the world too seriously. Funnily enough though, the worldbuilding is much more consistent at following its rules that IF, the kids movie that came out the week before.

What I Didn't Like.

Act surprised when I say that my only issue with this movie is Chris Pratt. He's not horrendous in the movie, there are a couple line deliveries where I thought to myself, "That line kinda sounds close to what Garfield should sound like." But he does not blend with the character, unlike every other actor in the movie. I wasn't as initially dismissive of Chris Pratt as most others. I think he's a good voice actor actually, but here's the actual problem. Chris can only play 3 kinds of characters: the Goofball, the Everyman, and the Generic Action Hero. And Garfield is a Boor stereotype. He's supposed to be dry and sarcastic, uncaring because of either laziness or pride. They do give Garfield more goofy lines presumably in an attempt to make it work better. Didn't work. Funnily enough, the movie makes a bunch of jokes about Mission Impossible (I mean, Ving Rhames plays a mastermind) so I wonder if the film makers wanted Tom Cruise to be the lead. I could actually see that working pretty good.

Final Summation.

I feel undercut here. The Garfield Movie is good, but it's not so good that I'm super excited to tell you all about it. There's not really a lesson to learn in relation to this movie either. I guess I can end with this joke: I came out of the Garfield Movie higher than Furiosa. Not because it's a better movie, good lord no. But I had expectations about the quality of Furiosa that it met, while I had no expectations for Garfield and it vastly succeeded them.

So which is better, IF or this movie. Eh.... The problem here is that the Garfield Movie and IF are good for different reasons. IF was more imaginative (of course it was) and has a better message for kids, while Garfield is more structurally competent and would definitely be more entertaining for the parents. Honestly... If you can double feature them, go ahead. They are both less than 2 hours. Otherwise I'm leaning towards IF.

Anyway, chalk another notch up for a movie I thought was gonna suck actually being kinda awesome. This has lowkey been one of the best parts of this whole 'watch everything that comes out' experience. There's not going to be any reviews for a bit, since no new movies come out next week and I'm probably gonna be too busy to start watching Columbo again. Ciao!

[otogariado]

not to run this discussion to the ground but re: hollywood casting famous on camera actors to VA in big projects

the worst part of this is what everyone's been saying: chris pratt sounds like he's just voicing himself. which, no offense but just as an observation, is pretty normal and standard practice for celebrities to do whenever they get invited (i doubt they even needed to audition outside of it being a formality lol let's be real here...) to VA. which SUCKS, because they don't even put in the effort to make a character voice, and i think it's simply because they forget to. i'm not saying they're dumb but i AM saying that most celebrity VAs probably don't have an actual background in voice acting and they usually come from on-camera live action acting and as such they forget about one of the core essentials of VAing... you know... putting on a character voice... using your voice to make a character sound distinct that directly ties in with their personality/role/design... yeah

i think it's pretty telling that whenever celebrity VAs do VA they just. Voice Themselves. because again, they don't have any actual background on VAing and what probably sounds like basic baby stuff for VAs who are actually professionally VAs fly over their heads. they probably just think VA is just about talking into the mic and that's it, which no, it really isn't.

AGAIN this isn't me gatekeeping VAing (for animation) or whatever. a lot of VAs who flourish started out acting in different fields -- heck, a lot of VAs who got their career start with on-cam or on-stage acting are REALLY GOOD VAs. but that's because they actually care about the craft of being a VA and know that VAing is different from other fields of acting. there's never a single VA who came from a different field who didn't mention doing hours and hours of research in one of their interviews. they still had to adjust and shift their perspective. meanwhile celebrity VAs get cast because they're famous and they bring in big money and it's all just a PR/marketing stunt so they aren't really compelled to care about and research as much as they possibly can. it's just one paycheck for them at the end of the day, so like, why bother, right?

the biggest disappointment of this is that jack black IS technically a celebrity VA. but he's the shining example that even if you come from on-cam acting (or other types of acting) you can still give a shit about your work as a VA and do a fantastic job at it. (plus this isn't his first major VA role in an animated movie, he already did it for po in the kfp franchise and anyone who's ever seen the movies can tell you the heart he's put into the role.) it's frustrating because it's possible to not suck and just "talk into the mic as yourself" for a role, but some celebrity VAs just don't give a shit about that because let's face it, they don't take the role of VAing seriously and might even feel condescending about it. not to generalize because again not all celebrities have their heads up their asses. but most hollywood celebrities take themselves wayyy too seriously, and i don't think that's even a debatable take, that's just true lol.

and it sucks because hollywood in general thinks of VA as such a lesser craft, judging by how they think VAs are dispensable and replaceable, and it's all bullshit. just look at something like moana -- they went through such great lengths to find auliʻi cravalho and cast the perfect VA for moana. BUT they still had to attach the rock to the project... what was stopping them from doing the same thing and scouring for an underappreciated, undiscovered VA for maui? it's unfortunately inevitable, because if you don't attach some big name then they'd be worried it won't even sell. it speaks to how little hollywood values both animation and VA for animation.

[bahamutgames]

The AFTERTHOUGHTS Movie

Movie: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 5th, 2023)

Console: Fuckin' uuuuuuuh.... DVD player....

I wanted to do this when the movie launched but thought to myself "oh I could write my thoughts up in a twitter thread who cares what I think about mario bleh bleh bleh" so I didn't bother. But like 5 months have passed since I first saw the movie. I've watched it about 4-5 times now and I STILL haven't written up my thoughts. So no, clearly I CANNOT write my feelings up in a twitter thread. And YEAH, no one cares what I think about Mario I'm very aware of that. But FUCK YOU I'm gonna tell you why I think this movie is actually amazing!

I've been seeing some people talk about it lately but most comments I see about it nowadays are a little negative. And a lot of the sentiment around this movie before launch was negative. I was in this boat too prior to the first trailer coming out. But I gotta be honest, no, like. I really really REALLY like this movie. And I just gotta gush about it a little bit.

EVEN FOR A MOVIE (which I'll probably never do this again until maybe Sonic 3 comes out lol) THIS IS NOT A REVIEW! This is just me throwing up my thoughts on the movie now that I've watched it like 200000 times.

MARIO MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD!! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET WATCH IT I SWEAR TO GOD WATCH IT IT'S GOOD!!!

Opening

So, some of you may know, some of you may not. I used to be a big Mario fan. I've mentioned it in the past on twitter and such but this series used to be my LIFE. I'm not kidding. I was obsessed with it for YEARS, since I was child. I loved studying it and brainstorming headcannon and thinking about it and learning about it and just talking about lore stuff with people from the series. And I'll be honest, while lately I'm kinda still into it here and there, I haven't been super into it that intensely in a long while. For a lot of reasons. So I was very hesitant on the Mario movie. I wasn't sure if I was gonna like it. But I went in DAY 1 to see this movie. I had faith, I had to see how it would go.

And when I left that theater I was BLOWN AWAY. I LOVED IT!! I went and I saw it again about a week later. And I STILL LOVED IT! I bought it on DVD and rewatched it 2-3 more times with the rest of my family and I STILL LOVED IT EVERY TIME! It's not perfect by any means but in this chaotic write up I hope I can explain why it hit me so hard as a returning Mario fan. To get it out of the way, I'm gonna open up with my problems with it and then go into the praise.

Stuff I didn't like

So again, I do have some complaints so I'd like to start there just to get them out of the way. First up, I still have a problem with some voice actors. For the most part, they're all pretty good. I think Chris Pratt is better than the trailers would have you believe (which I fucking called I knew they were picking his worst lines for the trailer) and I was pleasantly surprised with how good Seth Rogan was for DK. Bowser, Toad, Luigi, they were all great! But dude Cranky's voice SUCKS so bad. I hate it. And I liked Peach but I wasn't in love with the voice? But not as bad as Cranky lmao.

And the pacing IS weird. This is a big issue I've seen a lot of people complain about and it's totally fair. It's not well paced. I think it's better on rewatches, but it's not perfect by any means. Like they jump back and forth between Mushroom Kingdom and Dark Land so much but at the same time Luigi just kind of isn't in it enough? It's very weird. And I feel like it progresses a little oddly between the different areas. But ultimately again, it's fine it's not as bad as people say even though it is weird.

And of course, the issue of removed music. I think that pretty much all the copywritten songs used in the movie were the wrong choice when the remixes that were absolutely superior were available. 'I Need A Hero' works for sure, I didn't mind that. But 'Take On Me' is SO out of place especially when they had a fantastic DKC remix to use for that! THANK GOD they actually used the Starman theme cause it would've ruined what was otherwise one of my favorite Mario scenes ever (we'll get to it).

Also, like, Toad is just toadally dropped by the end of the movie. He barely speaks towards the end and it's a shame cause I LOVED Toad in this movie! He absolutely deserved more attention in the second act of the movie. Thankfully he still shows up even though he barely gets to participate (did he even fight in the final battle? I hope he did)

And I have some other nitpicks. No Toadsworth L. Not enough powerups get used. Again, not enough Luigi.... Why is Lumalee in it? I assume it's to build up to something in the sequel. But still. Odd. BUT other than that? Man I just gotta sing the praises. There's so much positive to talk about.

Stuff I liked

OKAY! There's a lot I gotta compliment with this movie. For some basic stuff. It looks LOVELY! I love everyone's design! Mario and Luigi are so cute, Toad easily could've been creepy but they make them work fantastically, DK looks cute, BOWSER IS AMAZING! Peach looks a little odd but I still think she's very beautiful to me! And the environments are super stunning. The Mushroom Kingdom looks great, Dark Land looks fantastic, Rainbow Road looked SO GORGEOUS! And the music is AMAZING! So many cues from so many different games and themes. The basic Mario themes, Bowser's various themes, Galaxy stuff, there's even a cut SMRPG song apparently!? The music is amazing and relistening to it now it's blowing me out of the water all over again!

I know it's gonna sound like I'm overhyping it or exaggerating. But this movie is SUPER good with how it handles the source material. It's pretty much exactly what I would want out of a Mario movie at least in terms of how the world is presented. The shots of Mario overlooking the Mushroom Kingdom on the big shroom is AMAZING. All the hills and mushrooms and floating blocks. I adore the way it takes game mechanics like power ups and floating blocks and puts them into a non-game setting in a way that works SO well. In a way I've always envisioned the world to work myself. I LOVE seeing blocks as naturally occurring things in the Mario world. I love when Mario first appears in the world and you see Biddybuds walking around, you see Cheepcheep swimming, you see even a fucking Bramball walking exactly how it does in the games but like, it's not in a game! It's alive! They took how these creatures act and put them in a living world exactly how they would be! It's amazing! They even managed to take traditional Mario levels like the Cheepcheep bridges and turn them into a real area you could visibly see yourself walking in! It's not just in a video game it looks and breathes like it's real! Does this make any sense? I'm blown away by how they put game stuff into it but it doesn't feel like game stuff, it feels how this game stuff would feel irl. I love how they explain the powerups, I didn't think they'd even touch the Super Mushroom! But the idea it makes it you taller and gives you super human jumping is GENIUS! That's perfect! I hadn't even seriously considered how the growing and shrinking works, but this movie does it perfectly!

I think the best example I can give about this is the scene where they are camping in a field of fire flowers. This scene is genuinely amazing to me. This is a setting I've always DREAMED of seeing in a Mario game. But it's just not exactly something you'd ever get to see in a Mario game, but this movie does it. I LOVE seeing the power ups being naturally occurring in nature. Naturally occurring Fire Flowers are something I LOVE thinking about in my own head canon. They look so gorgeous in this movie and the whole scene looks so amazing. I love seeing Peach grab one and the slow transformation sequence and how they turn that into a practical thing and how Peach uses the Fire Flower not as a video game weapon or item, but just as a simple tool to start a campfire. I don't know if I'm describing it well enough but this is stuff I've always DREAMED about the Mario universe working like if you lived there. But somehow this movie just GETS IT. Naturally occurring floating blocks, powerups growing in nature, enemies existing in nature as animals! It's perfect!

And even the crossover between the "real" and "mushroom" worlds are done SO well! I am a pretty staunch "Mario was BORN in the Mushroom World and there is no Real World" kinda guy but this movie brings it back PERFECTLY. I love seeing Mario and Luigi as kind of losers? It's not an angle you ever really see with them, not that I need to have a sad NSMB game where Mario and Luigi are losers, of course lmao. But still it's neat! And seeing them living a normal life is cool! It's something we've gotten from previous Mario projects but never really with the games or something that follows the games so faithfully. But I adored seeing this side of their lives in a way that usually I'm not super die hard into as "canon"? If that makes sense? But I LOVED seeing the Mario family. I audibly GASPED when they showed up!! LIKE WHAT!? OFFICIAL MARIO MOM AND DAD FACE REVEAL!?!? I NEVER WOULD'VE SAW THIS COMING AND I DON'T THINK PEOPLE APPRECIATE HOW INSANE IT IS TO SEE MARIO RELATIVES IN 2023!!! THAT'S NUTS I NEVER THOUGHT THAT WAS GONNA HAPPEN BUT AGAIN THIS MOVIE DOES THE IMPOSSIBLE! And this movie made me really appreciate the whole "real world vs mushroom world" concept in a way I never have before. While I still prefer the idea Mario was born in the Mushroom world I think there's a really good "You Could Wear the Mask" element that comes from him being from the real world. Which is cool! It makes Mario an everyman the same way Spiderman is. Which I like!

And even the characters themselves I think they're all handled super well. Mario being super brave and standing up for himself, but still folding when he's approached by his father. It's interesting, again, something that could never be tackled with a version of Mario in the past. I love how kind Luigi was and how he's cowardly but still has moments of strength. And he's his own person not a Mario clone. And I love how much brotherly love the two genuinely show for each other. It's something you only really get to see in the RPGs and Luigi's Mansion honestly. I love that Princess Peach was still cute and high femme but totally kicked ass and at no point in the movie did they go like "BWAH!? A GIRL DOING BOY THINGS??? HUH?" NO! They just let Peach be a bad ass! I loved it! I loved DK being a showboating super jock type guy who also wants to impress his dad. It's probably not something I ever would've thought to do for DK but it's SO good and it makes such an interesting parallel between Mario and him. I LOVED Mario and DK's rivalry. I wasn't expecting DK to become a main teammate so that was WONDERFUL to see. When they work together in the eel and when they get to the Mushroom Kingdom and when they still bicker and argue I love it it's so cute it's such a good way to interpret this dynamic! And Bowser is done SO well I love how utterly psychotic he is. The way they handle how much he hates Mario without EVER MEETING HIM is so perfectly done! And I love that they don't pull any punches. He's ruthless and cruel like how Bowser is. And they don't waste any time trying to redeem him or make him seem like "oh well he's just a big softie :(" NO, HE'S A MANIPULATIVE FREAK! I'm so glad they actually beat the shit out of him! They make him scary and big and imposing and they take him down! It's SO wonderfully done!

But without a doubt, my favorite part of the movie is the finale. It's straight up amazing. It gives me chills just thinking about it. The whole finale where they end up back in the real world might be one of my favorite Super Mario scenes across the entire franchise. Where Bowser beats the shit out of Mario and sends him running away scared into a pizza parlor. It's scary it's not something you usually see. And when Mario is cowering while Bowser calls him a loser, it's interesting, again you don't usually see this lack of confidence in Mario. He's genuinely bruised and banged up. Like, he has physical damage on him. Not just "OH I'M SHORT NOW!" Damage, but REAL painful injuries you can physically see. Again, this isn't something I'd probably want in a Mario game but for a movie it's daring, it's crazy they were allowed to do it. It's unique. This type of edgy stuff is something I LONG to see in the Mario series in some way and it finally happened. And the whole part where the ad they made at the start plays glitched out and gives Mario the newfound confidence he needs. It's beautiful again it gives me chills. And he gets back up and fights it's so cool. THIS IS THE MARIO I LOVE, AND IT'S JUST SO INTERESTING TO SEE THAT PERSONALITY CHALLENGED! It's a similar reason I love the Sonic movies so far, he's different he's more childish he's not always 100% on his game like in the games. It's cool to see them do these things with these characters. But then, the best part. Is when Luigi takes a stand and saves Mario from Bowser's breath. "As long as we're together, everything will be okay" it's beautiful. I'm actually getting a little emotional writing it up. It's perfect. Mario and Luigi are a TEAM. They are a DUO, I WANT TO SEE THEM WORK TOGETHER TO FIGHT! AND THEY DO! I LOVE WHEN BOWSER TRIES TO KICK THEM AND THEY STAND TALL WHILE THE ROAD BREAKS BEHIND THEM!! SEEING THEM KICK THE SHIT OUT OF THE WHOLE KOOPA TROOP WITH THE STARMAN THEME PLAYING IS GENUINELY BREATHTAKING I LOVE THIS WHOLE FUCKING FINALE! AND SEEING THEM SWING BOWSER AROUND AND THEN STOMP HIM THROUGH THE FLAMES IS SO COOL! IT'S AN AMAZING FINALE THAT'S DONE SO RIGHT WITH SO MANY LITTLE CHARACTER BEATS BETWEEN MARIO AND LUIGI AND EVEN BOWSER JUST SO PERFECTLY I'M UTTERLY BLOWN AWAY BY HOW GOOD THIS FINALE IS!

I just fucking love this movie man. Sure it is a lot of references, it's not perfect, but it's a genuinely good Mario movie. And more than that, I'd go as far as to say it is a genuinely good movie straight up. I don't watch a lot of them, but I've seen enough to say I love this movie as a movie.

Responding to Criticisms

I've seen some criticisms of the movie I'd like to address. Some of these are from friends, so if you see something you said here PLEASE do not take it as an insult! No hard feelings what so ever I just wanna give my two cents! Please understand it is COMPLETELY fine to have not liked this movie, but in the same vein it's totally okay for me to give my peace on what I think about other people's toughts.

For one, a big one, "it's just an hour of Mario references." Yeah? I mean kinda. But a lot of those references are just... World building or the Mario world as it is? Like... Were you mad when the Chaos Emeralds showed up in Sonic 2? That's a reference, but it's a part of the world. In my opinion I think most of the big references are in the background anyway, so it's okay if they're laid on a little thick. Plus, again, a lot of the references are just to how the Mario world would work. Plus there's a TON of original stuff and original interpretation on these concepts.

"Ah it's just a kids movie there's nothing interesting in it" Again I could not agree less. Sure it is a kids movie. But there's still some good themes in it, some fantastic concepts and interpretations on the characters. Some kinda edgy stuff in it. iirc they actually say stuff like "Hell Hound" and Kill and stuff you wouldn't expect from a Mario thing. And again, you see Mario bruised up! THAT'S CRAZY!! DOES NO ONE ELSE THINK THAT'S NUTS!?

"It's probably canon so it's not doing anything interesting" I'm sorry, no. For a fanbase that's so intense on Mario lore and going insane any time Mario isn't some sort of bible lore heavy series. I think people are seriously overlooking fascinating elements and mysteries present in this movie. Such as how do the real world and the mushroom world relate? How are they combined after the first movie? Where does Peach come from? Where did the star come from? What's gonna happen with Bowser going forward? This movie, while following the Mario world closer than say, the Sonic movies. It is absolutely doing its own thing. And I'm sure more and more unique things will come from future sequels. It's an interesting movie in of itself.

"Princess Peach is so bad in it" I don't agree! I don't think she's perfect but again she's a total bad ass while still wearing cute dresses and being high femme like I said. And like I said, they never are like "WOW GIRLS CAN'T DO BOY STUFF HOW SHE DO THAT!?" They just let it happen, they just let Peach be cool. But also it's neat to see her doing princess stuff and they still show her having weakness, I LOVE when Bowser manipulates her by torturing toad (that's such a fucked sentence) because it shows she really cares and she has to make hard choices but she still fights through them! And again, it's not like she's the only competent character. She lived in that world I would hope she's better at it than Mario lmao. But the other characters absolutely hold their own and are just as strong as she is! She's works perfectly.

"Bowser doesn't even know Mario why does he hate him?" That's the idea! I can't find the post now but someone explained it SO well! The whole concept is that he has this idea of Mario built up in his head. Bowser is totally delusional. Peach not loving him has NOTHING to do with Mario and everything to do with Bowser being a psycho! And again in my opinion that is such a good interpretation of the character and even Mario and Bowser's relationship!

"It's not as good as the live action Mario Movie" This is a matter of opinion of course but I gotta be honest. This movie is way better. And I want to make it clear: I LOVE the live action Mario Movie. I liked it before you did. I'm gonna be up my own ass about this one cause I know it's true cause for YEARS y'all were saying it sucked until suddenly it became popular to like it out of nowhere. I ran a President Koopa RP tumblr for a while and had seen the movie multiple times before it became the cool thing everyone liked. And while I still love that movie, I just gotta say as a Mario fan I appreciate how this one handles Mario and Luigi's relationships more and I appreciate the more close to canon look at the world. Live Action Mario is certainly more unique, but doesn't fill me with the same sense of child like wonder that makes me feel like the Mario franchise still has magic worth holding onto even nowadays.

But again, this is all a matter of opinion. You are ABSOLUTELY allowed to not like this movie. That's fine. But similarly, I should be allowed to absolutely gush about how amazing the movie was to me and how much it means to me as a Mario fan who had their whole life changed by this series.

Final Thoughts

Man.

That was a lot. I can't contain myself sometimes. But I'm glad I finally got to at least in some way gush about this movie. Cause I really did love it and writing my thoughts on it really makes me wanna watch it again. So I probably will this weekend as a birthday gift to myself.

I find it a little difficult to be so plainly honest about Mario things I love. For multiple reasons. I think this fanbase is a little poisoned. And I feel like being genuine and enjoying what you like about the series can be kind of met fairly negatively a lot of the times. And again with how teetering-tottering I am with my love of the series lately it can only make it more difficult. So I hope I don't come off as annoying about this movie. But Mario whether I like it or not means a lot to me and I have a lot to say about this movie.

I had a friend tell me I couldn't possibly give a non-biased take on the movie. And maybe that's fair. But honestly I don't think it's entirely fair to write off why I love the movie because of that. I genuinely love this movie, not only as a Mario fan but just as a casual movie watcher. I thought it was good. And yeah maybe I wouldn't like it as much if I wasn't so insane about the series for so long. But I do genuinely hope you can understand after seeing all this why it means so much to me and why I think people are being a little unfair to it. I genuinely think it's being nitpicked too hard. It's a truly incredible Mario experience that I loved.

From the way game mechanics are translated to a living world, to the way characters are reinterpreted, to yeah, even just the little references. I flipped when a small part of the Luigi's Mansion theme played, so what? I like Mario, man. So what!?

So yeah. I'm sure I could say more but I'm getting a little embarrassed. So I think I'll wrap it up now.

===

Thanks for reading, if you somehow actually made it through that whole ramble. You are an absolute hero. I waiting a long time to talk about this (still not as long as I took to talk about Sonic 2 though lmao) but I hope in any small way I could convey why this movie really hit home for me in a way I honestly didn't think it could.

I'm genuinely interested to see where the Mario movies go from here and I'll gladly watch them all. I'll be there day 1 to watch the sequel, the DKC movie, the Luigi's Mansion movie. I don't care if it makes me a sheep you've got me hook line and sinker. I'm so blown away by how well it got the series down and I cannot wait to see where it goes from here.

Thank you again for putting up with my insane ramblings. Please follow me on twitter if you wanna... idk see me be a crazy person more.

That's all from me, go out and watch a movie that really makes you emotional!

[quillsmora]

Hopefully it's okay to ask you a question because I'm wondering do you know why Gamora hasn't been included in the vol 3 merch? I ran across some stuff a while ago and when she wasn't included I assumed it was just a one off incident. But I just ran across some other merch and she's still absent. So I'm not sure if they are waiting for the movie to create merch for her or what

Firstly, it's always okay to ask me questions about this stuff! I love talking about film marketing (I did study this stuff for 2 years after all). Always feel free to send me asks about anything!

As for your question here's my honest answer: I'm not entirely sure. There are a few logical conclusions though.

Spoilers. Historically the first wave of MCU merch is very clean when it comes to the events of the movie, only featuring characters we know will be in it and vague aesthetics that align with the plot. So far the main advertisements and merch for Vol 3 have featured the Guardians in their comic-accurate group suits, which we haven't seen Gamora in. She might end up getting that suit in the movie, but we have no idea and that would be a major spoiler, so it's easier to leave her out of cereal box promotions and toy box art to keep that unified aesthetic.

Along the same lines as spoilers but deserving of their own point is the LEGO sets. LEGO sets are 50/50 when it comes to being accurate to the events of the movie because again, spoilers. The Endgame sets they released to go along with the movie had absolutely nothing to do with the actual plot because sets get leaked so often and Disney didn't want the plot of their biggest superhero movie ever to be ruined. The Wakanda Forever and Multiverse of Madness sets were also pretty vague if I remember correctly. It's easiest to leave Gamora out of sets like the Guardians HQ or the Bowie because while she might actually be in those scenes, we won't know until the movie comes out (we can assume she'll be on the Bowie at one point based on that shot of her pulling out a knife but it's not official). Since the LEGO sets and toy lines release weeks before the movies, it's again easier to exclude Gamora from these first waves of merch.

The historically bad representation of Gamora on merch already. Outside of figures like Funko Pops and Marvel Legends, it's always been nearly impossible to find officially licensed merch of just Gamora, especially cute good looking merch. This has also been an issue with most of the MCU's female heroes but it's definitely gotten better these past few years. Unfortunately due to Gamora's role in Vol 3 being pretty secretive, that positive change doesn't get to apply to her this first wave.

So basically TL;DR, don't stress about this too much. We're still 2 months out from the movie's release and a month away from promo and press starting. Yes, it sucks that so far Gamora isn't being featured in anything outside of posters and trailers, and yes it's valid to be upset and frustrated with that. But remember that there's still a whole other wave of merch to come after the movie's release, and Zoe Saldaña is still second-billed. She and Chris Pratt were the last two (humans) to wrap the movie. James Gunn wouldn't have brought Gamora back if he didn't want to. If you're still feeling uneasy or worried (which I totally get!) @enigma731 has some great posts about why Gamora will be fine.

Sorry this is so damn long, I kinda got carried away lol. But yeah I do wish there was at least like a Funko Pop or something and find it ridiculous that Kraglin of all people is getting more merch than the female lead, but I'm personally not getting too worried right now because we still have two months until the movie. It's not looking completely terrible right now. (Trust me, I was a Star Wars sequels stan during 2019 TROS press. That movie's plot was leaked via an official German Burger King ad. If it ever gets that bad for Vol 3 you will definitely hear about it from me lol).

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

I'm genuinely upset that this visual actually looks nice, especially the detail in the world itself. Even character design changes like Toad pants still feel faithful to the original design while just allowing a bit more movement for an animated feature. Like it looks really solid! It shows a level of care that I didn't want the Chris Pratt as Mario movie to have. And that sucks. Because if the movie was a complete fucking disaster like who'd really care but instead there's stuff of value there but also Chris Pratt. Very sad

[sidneypoindexter]

I was sure that if I could handle Anton Yelchin as Clumsy Smurf, I could handle Chris Pratt as Mario.

But... at least Anton Yelchin actually tried to have his voice fit the character. He may have gotten rid of the southern accent, but he at least tried to sound like the cute and naive hero.

Chris Pratt didn't even fucking try, he just used his normal voice. It fucking sucks. I hate it.

RIP Anton Yelchin, I can't believe I'm actually appreciating your Clumsy Smurf voice.

[dans-den]

The Super Mario Bros. Movie Review

Hey everyone Dan here and today I'll be reviewing the very much hyped and anticipated Super Mario Bros. Movie!

Warning!: may contain spoilers!

This movie has been hyped to hell and back as everyone thinks this is the second coming of Jesus, that may sound like an exaggeration but people were extremely excited to see this film thinking this would be like movie of the year, to which I say "cool your jets" because this movie might be great but it's definitely got its flaws. I'll be going over the Mario movies strengths and weaknesses and how they can improve if they go through with a sequel.

I want to start off by giving props to Nintendo, specifically Shigeru Miyamoto who made sure the movie was of good quality rather than a shameless cash grab. Let's be real, if Illumination was left to their own devices, they would have made this movie like the Lorax or the Minions which would have sucked for the brand. I'm glad the Nintendo team worked directly with Illumination to make sure we get the best Mario movie experience we can get. Nintendo seems to have learned from the old Mario movie from the 90's making sure this one is fully animated which I think looks great and has kept faithful to the source material the best they can in this medium. Miyamoto has been busy these last couple years in collaboration with Universal bringing Nintendo to the theme parks and to the big screen. I understand because of this he hasn't been involved with the Nintendo games as much but honestly that's not too bad considering the new products we've gotten now. I'm glad he was directly involved with this movie making it as great as it is and I do hope this leads to future Nintendo movie endeavors for stuff like Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Captain Falcon, etc. Who knows? maybe this is the start of the Super Smash Bros. Cinematic Universe.

Now this is the biggest criticism I've seen about this movie and that is, the plot. Now the plot isn't anything complex or story driven to the max, it's a simple story about two bros discovering a new world and fighting an evil threat. This movie is taking the Sonic Movie approach where they're not trying to make it exactly like the games in terms of story, they're just treading the waters and seeing how it goes. Sonic did this and did this well enough to get a sequel where they were able to expand on the lore and bring out more characters from the Sonic universe. Mario has its atmosphere, but hasn't gone deep into its stories and lore just yet. I think the story is good for what it is, though it does seem messy at times like its about rescuing Luigi then its about rescuing the Mushroom Kingdom/Peach, it's like they couldn't decide on a plot so they merge two plots together. It's not even done like a plot A and plot B, it is done like merging two plots as one which can get messy at times. Now my major complaint with the story/plot is its pacing. Everything happens so fast that I can't really take it all in or process what's happening. I felt the movie was (much like the games) rushed to meet a deadline and the pacing is barely done well enough to make it comprehendible. Now I see why the movie came out so soon, the pacing is just too fast like this was made for kids with ADHD (though I also have that too but even I could barely follow). I felt they should have made the movie at least a solid 2 hours so that the pacing would be better and we can take it all in better.

The cast was another concern for this film was the cast, specifically Chris Pratt as Mario. I was also concerned about it and after seeing his performance, he actually didn't do too bad of a job. His Mario reminds me of the Super Mario show accent where they sound like they're Italians from Brooklyn rather than just straight up Italians like in the games. I was afraid it would be Chris Pratt being himself as a character but he did manage to give his Mario personality which is good. the weakest performance came from Seth Rogens Donkey Kong. That one was just Seth phoning it in and did not give enough personality to Donkey Kong which is a shame since I love Donkey Kong. Everyone else did a good job at playing the characters especially Jack Black as Bowser. Jack Black killed it as Bowser and I'm here for it! Peaches is a hilarious song and I expected no less for the Tenacious one himself.

I will say, the Mario movie did one thing well above all and that's the references/cameos. The movie did an excellent job paying homage to the Mario games as well as other beloved Nintendo games such as Donkey Kong and even the Jump Man game that Mario originated from. My personal favorite is the DK Rap from Donkey Kong 64, I played that game all the time when I was little on my cousins N 64 back in the day and I couldn't help but sing along a bit. I know Nintendo tries to tap in on your nostalgia, but there is a reason it works. Nintendo is a powerful brand and even though I'm not a fan of the current stuff they're doing in the gaming industry, but I still enjoy the Nintendo history especially as someone who has owned the SNES, N64, GameCube, Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS/DSi, Nintendo Wii and even the Switch (that I rarely use). I've had a lot of good memories with their games and systems and I felt all those memories when I saw the references and cameos in this film.

Overall it was a fun movie and definitely a great video game adaptation of our favorite plumbing duo. I will say that I do think this is one of the better video game movies in recent memory. I hope we get more animated video game movies like this from Nintendo and this can be another gold standard when adapting a video game into a movie or even a television show.

Rating this I'd give it:

8/10

I do think this is better than the first sonic movie or detective pikachu, but not quite up there with something like Sonic 2 and that's only because Sonic 2 had a chance to explore the lore of the Sonic universe. Hopefully the Mario movie gets a sequel to do the same thing which may be even better than Sonic 2 along with ironing out the kinks in terms of pacing and story telling. That's all I got for you guys.

See ya!

[jacscorner]

My Thoughts On The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Oh boy. :)

Well, 2022 sucked for me so far, but maybe 2023 will be greener.

I've wanted to talk about this before the trailer dropped yesterday, but was too slow.

I went into that direct with low expectations. I've been just...burned too many times to have high hopes.

Visually? It's gorgeous, but that's kind of expected. Not only has animation technology and skill advanced since 1985, but this is Nintendo. Mario is their Mickey Mouse. It'd be unrealistic to think this would look cheap.

Bowser sounds fine. Hell, he sounds better than fine. I didn't expect Jack Black to sound this good, but I guess that goes to show Jack Black's experience since he has a handful of VA roles and he really put his all into this role. I expected him to sound...IDK, MORE like Jack Black, since has a pretty distinct voice. And it's still there, but he REALLY sells me as the King of Koopas.

Also, just, RIP The Club Penguins. I can forgive Bowser kidnapping Peach for almost 40 years now, but I draw the line at him invading Club Penguin.

Meanwhile, while the Mario Bros. look fine-amazing even, their voices...I'm still not sold.

Chris Pratt is such a let down. He's not here cause of his acting ability or skill, if he brought any of that here. He's here cause he's Chris Pratt and Nintendo's trying to bank off the star power-lol. He's not doing Mario, he's doing Chris Pratt with a slight accent. I can ONLY assume he was going for a Lou Albano sort of interpretation as opposed to the high and flighty Charles Martinet.

But, like, no, it doesn't work. It's just Chris sounding vaguely like a Italian-American from New York. It's no different from your friend doing an Italian accent, except that maybe it's so subtle that he might as well not bother. And, I'm sorry, but this is fucking Mario Bros., subtlety should've been thrown out the window! Nintendo Voice Coaches my ass!

Plus, he was totally reading from a script during the direct.

Meanwhile, Luigi mostly screamed, so no comment on how he sounded.

In spite of the Bros. and their potentially poor voice work, I have high hopes for this movie. I am actually excited to see it. I hope this leads to a series of movies based on Nintendo's IP. A Metroid Space Opera, a swashbuckling adventure with Zelda, maybe a Rated R F-Zero flick (okay, that last one is wishful thinking, lol).

[yakityyaku]

The animation of the new Mario movie is STUNNING and Nintendo clearly made sure Illumination actually put money and effort in for once. Jack Black was obviously gonna crush as Bowser bc he's got such panache.

I don't even hate Charlie Day as Luigi. I mean I'm disappointed they totally just fucking gave up on the accents but at least Charlie's nasally voice fits Luigi, albeit a bit loud and harsh.

Chris Pratt just sounds ridiculous. Didn't change his voice at all, no voice effects, no accent.

Ben Schwartz gets away with being Sonic with a mostly normal speaking voice because he already sounds like what Sonic has traditionally (or most popularly) sounded like and doesn't suck.

Chris Pratt sucks. He's just Chris Pratt. They may as well have designed a little animated Pratt and made him the main character in the Mario universe. Absolutely nonsensical choice.

[dlinarts245-03]

ARTS 245 Blog 1 (8/30)

Reading:

It was very interesting to read about the development of lettering and typography throughout the years, from the creation of the printing press in Europe to modern times. I also liked the examples of different typefaces throughout the chapters to physically see the similarities and differences between each typeface and the history of typefaces in general.

The section on the creation of italics was interesting too, as I didn't know the origins of italics to be a casual cursive writing system and is cheaper to produced, but it does make sense. Creation of the grid-based typography is from trying to linking letters to the anatomy of man, which I think is funny as the two ideas is vastly different.

I also like the "revolution" and change of ideas on typography throughout the years, like Baskerville abandoning mechanical typography and towards manual typography, or avant-garde typographers fleshing out and pushing typography to its limits. This have been an interesting read in understanding the development of type and lettering.

Progress:

I printed out a picture of Chris Pratt, did the line drawing and negative drawing of him last weekend, and it was pretty fun to do. I choose Christ Pratt as the person I am doing for this project because the picture I am using is so funny to me as he is glistening in the photo with light in his eyes and it is also the same picture that was used when it was announced that Chris Pratt would be Mario in the Mario Movie.

The things that sucked this week is that the picture I printed out of Chris Pratt was not 4x4 in., it was like 3.8x3.8 in. It probably because I used a Word Document to print out four 4x4 in. images of Chris Pratt, and I added some spacing between the pictures so the pictures aren't so close together. My guess is that Word shrink down the images when printing because the images probably didn't fit on the page because of all the spacing between each images, even though digitally there was two 4x4 images on each page.

I found that out the problem when cutting one of the pictures I had, so I printed out another one that was 4.19x4.19, because I thought the images would shrink again, but it actually came out 4.19x4.19, which I could just cut off the excess part of the images (as I cut myself when I finished with it). I redid my negative drawing with the new dimension and combined aspects like the eye, eyebrow and nose together so that I am not working with too much small parts when cutting up cardstock. I learned a lot of what to do and what not to do this week.

[the-wolfbats]

boy I hope they don't hire anyone I like to be in Jurassic World 4 because those movies suck (the first was actually enjoyable back when we didn't all hate chris pratt).

that would suck!

[bearpillowmonster]

Sixteen 2023 Movies Ranked

I didn't say top, because I only saw 16 movies that actually released this year. There are some really good ones that technically released at the end of last year (like Puss in Boots) that I didn't see until this year but I guess I won't count those. But I will include Suzume because it released in the US this year.

16. The Boogeyman - This one wasn't even my choice, it was my dad's and I told him it was going to be stupid and it was yet it has great reviews. I just can't get into horror movies though, it's very rare there will be one that spikes my interest.

15. Rebel Moon - Ugh, yuck, regurgitated Star Wars.

14. Shazam - It wasn't as horrible as some people make it out to be and I wasn't that big of a fan of the first one but it just didn't make the villains all that interesting, except Anthea, felt like it did some things right and other things wrong, never really "improving".

13. Ladybug and Chat Noir - It's really just how you like your burger done, because it does a lot of what the series already did and then recontextualizes it, adds cruddy music, and a few new scenes and ending. It's an origin but also an ending, it's a franchise all in one movie. Really weird how it's set up, the animation is good but really best suited for the Youtube clips.

12. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts - Mindless, doesn't really accomplish anything, becomes really cheesy.

11. The Marvels - Wow, this is weird putting this so high but once again, not as bad as they say, the villain is pretty bad though despite a cool set-up. It has the gimmick too but doesn't make as much fun with it as I would've liked. Ms. Marvel is the highlight, the ending sucks and really I'm just reiterating popular opinion.

10. No Hard Feelings - Another one I'm surprised is this high. The premise could've been better as well as the twist but I can't say it wasn't memorable or a fun time.

9. Five Nights at Freddy's - Not a horror movie, more a kids movie. Some changes I liked, most I didn't. Cool to see all this on screen though.

8. The Flash - The CGI is horrendous but it has Supergirl, it has Flash, I don't care much for Michael Keaton's Batman, I just really like the fast scenes and the ending.

7. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - Yeah, it wasn't the end all be all like everyone was saying for me. I look back at the others and think how great they are, even during the film I questioned myself. Rocket's story is really the only thing I liked about it, cut away way too much from what you actually want to see and replaced it with goofy stuff you don't care for. Even the music was weak for the most part.

6. Suzume - I was invested with the chair and the doors and cats were cool but it switched to a different movie for the second half and tried focusing on her relationship with her aunt where it didn't seem earned, needed more conflict in that area where not everyone is the good guy.

5. Super Mario Bros. - Mario and Luigi and a Donkey Kong too, A thousand troops of Koopas couldn't keep me from you- I just really wanted this movie. It was fun but for one, Chris Pratt did a really good voice in the beginning then it just became Chris Pratt. The whole dad thing was shoehorned and was unneeded, they could've had some characters be actual characters when they were stock NPCs and very generic music choice, would've been better to just keep it all score.

4. Barbie - Already? Wow, this was one of the highlights too. Great music. Great style and personality, smart dialogue and plot.

3. TMNT Mutant Mayhem - I saw this in theaters and I just couldn't stop laughing because of how it's a kid's movie and all Superfly ever says is "What the hell?" It got my sister to be a fan of the franchise, the animation was excellent, we have some of the best versions of these characters (I said some). Really fun.

2. Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - I'm a fan of Ghost Protocol but the rest are just action flicks to me, I just really like the setpieces of some of them is all but this one actually gave me a run because it kept my attention steady and on the edge of my seat despite the strange plot. This is where I actually felt it could be matched up against the likes of any other spy thriller like James Bond.

Across the Spider-Verse - As if it could've been anything else but in all seriousness one of my favorites of all time and really stepped up the game. I haven't stopped thinking about it and it was summer when I went to go see it in theaters. I didn't think I would experience something like that again and here's to hoping its sequel is just as good or dare I say that it's even possible to be better.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

I watched The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

I'm so glad this wasn't the 1993 version.

Classic video game characters, Mario and Luigi, are plumbers in New York who get sucked into another dimension. When Luigi ends up in the clutches of Bowser, Mario must help Princess Peach save the mushroom kingdom to get his brother back.

I want to thank The Super Mario Bros. Movie for two things.

1. Thanks for being a kids movie that did not have the cliche break up moment, where inevitably the heroes have a falling out before the climax. It's an awful and lazy device.

2. Thank you for being an animated kids movie that didn't try too hard to pull at my heart strings. Almost every kids movie or animated feature nowadays feels the need to make it's audience cry and I'm sick of it. When Pixar started making "kids" movies that could bring us to tears, it was new and exciting. But, not every kids movie needs to do this and I'm glad this one didn't push the idea. Sometimes cartoons can just be cartoons. This is Super Mario, and the world Super Mario inhabits is a cartoonish fun world. This movie is fun, nothing more, and I'm glad for it.

Now, all that being said, this movie does lack a small amount of emotion. The characters are fun and nostalgic, but never really feel like more than cartoon characters. It never feels like anyone is any actual danger or that there are any stakes. Everyone is gonna get saved and everything is going to be ok. Mine as well have some laughs along the way.

The good side is that the voice cast (yes, even Chris Pratt) does a great job, the film has a really nice sense of humor and the action scenes are pretty beautiful. In fact, the whole movie is gorgeous. The animation is top notch and the worlds Mario and his pals live in are just brilliant looking. Along with a ton of references from the games, there really isn't too much to complain about here.

I was born in 1986. I grew up with the original Mario Bros. And then Super Mario World and so forth. My view of this massive franchise is of a world that isn't full of drama and emotion. It's a world of crazy characters and strange worlds and some funny stuff throughout. I'm not here to see Bowser wrestle with his emotions because he's been suppressing his inner child. I'm here to see bright colors, hear a joke or two and see some fast paced action.

Is this movie gonna win any Oscars? No. The plot is pretty basic and we're going through the motions. But it's pretty and funny.

Good enough.