Jumping onto the silver screen with a super star-powered cast, The Super Mario Brothers Movie can do for Shigeru Miyamoto’s games what The Lego Movie has done for tiny plastic bricks.
Gamers who grew up alongside the mustachioed plumber will find more than nostalgia in this adaptation of the Super Mario Brothers platformer franchise.
Same Story, New Ideas
Filmmakers Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic focus on cultural identities and resilience, pushing characters who might have once played supporting parts into more central roles.
This adaptation comes nearly three decades after the poorly-received Super Mario Brothers. While that film eventually built a niche following, the video game franchise upon which it’s based has remained popular throughout its evolution over multiple console generations.
Most of the NES, SNES, and N64-era Super Mario Brothers games are available through the Nintendo Online service offered on the Nintendo Switch, letting subscribers jump across chasms, stomp on goombas, and glide over levels.
A Super Mario For Every Generation Of Gamer
But titles from the GameCube, the Wii, and the Wii-U aren’t on the service, leaving an entire generation of players missing out on the franchise’s post-millennial evolution.
The film’s commercial success could help to bridge that generational gap between those gamers who first watched Mario smashing 8-bit bricks on a 19-inch cathode television and players who grew up steering Mario across a colorful galaxy with their Wii remotes.
Horvath and Jelenic’s adaptation could also invigorate the franchise’s popularity, prompting Nintendo to release additional titles on their service.
A Super Mario Film for All Audiences
Films like Top Gun: Maverick, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, or Avatar: The Way of the Water prove that there’s an appetite for nostalgia, and the last decade has seen a growing interest in retro-themed and remastered games.
The Super Mario Brothers Movie can satisfy that appetite while introducing themes that will continue to be relevant for all audiences in generations to come.
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