Boss Rush Banter: Did The Super Mario Bros. Movie By Illumination and Nintendo Deliver?

**This banter is spoiler free** Stay tuned for a Boss Rush review!

Illumination and Nintendo partnered together to craft an animated movie after the beloved plumber. As Nintendo’s number one mascot, Mario is a household name–even for those that aren’t gamers. After The Super Mario Bros. Movie was announced, we’ve seen one delay and a lot of controversy over Chris Pratt voicing Mario. The stakes for this movie is pretty high for Nintendo is fiercely protective of their IP–rarely letting any third party touch them, let alone make a movie. Now that it has launched for public consumption, did Nintendo and Illumination deliver?

The initial Rotten Tomato “Tomatometer”, the score given by critics, was a sad 54%. I was disheartened by it, but after reading some of those critic reviews, I felt that it may be not representative of how the general public would feel. And as you can see in the below Audience Score, the public LOVED it.

*Image Credit:* Rotten Tomatoes as of 4/5/2023

After seeing The Super Mario Bros. Movie with my seven-year-old son, I agree with the 95% audience score. I went at 5:20 PM EST on opening night, and it was packed with adults and kids alike. What this movie delivers is nostalgia to the gamers that grew up with this franchise and non-stop entertainment (and laughter) for the kids.

The music and graphics are on point–something we see Illumination excel in. The plot nods to the franchise as a whole, chalk full of Easter Eggs. (I won’t dissect it too much–stay tuned for a movie review from Boss Rush!). I could also see the “Nintendo touch”, and I feel that this bleeds through in the quality.

The voice acting also blew me away. While Chris Pratt ruffled some feathers, I was curious to see how he could embody Mario. In my personal opinion, he rocked it alongside his colleagues Charlie Day, Jack Black, Seth Rogan, and more.

However, I alone cannot answer if The Super Mario Bros. Movie delivered. Let me explain what happened when the movie ended: as soon as the screen faded into black and credits rolled, the entire room burst into applause. So, yes, I would say The Super Mario Bros. Movie delivered.

Have you seen the movie yet? What did you think? Please share your thoughts with us on our Boss Rush Facebook Group or our Boss Rush Discord.

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Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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