Families worldwide gathered to watch a beloved videogame come to life in theaters on April 5th. Many walked in without clear expectations of what they were going to see. Movies based on video games are either very good or very bad, as it is easy to make them predictable and boring. “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” was neither predictable nor boring, as it left many viewers content leaving the theater.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, follows the story of two brothers, Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day), as they look to establish a well-known plumbing business that everyone can confide in. One night, they notice a massive flood that Mario believes they can fix. In one bold action, Mario throws himself with Luigi following him into the pipes so they can fix the flood and become heroes. Instead of achieving this goal, they are both sucked into a tunnel that leads them to another world. Mario falls on one side of their new discovery, where he meets Toad (Keegan-Michael Key) and Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy). Luigi is not so lucky, as he falls face-to-face with the villain, Bowser (Jack Black) who wants to take over the world. Mario’s mission throughout the movie is to save Luigi and stop Bowser’s evil plan, accompanied by Toad and Peach.

To start off, the plot of this movie was not at all what I initially expected. Going into this movie, I thought it would be slightly boring, following the common outline of the video game, but I was proven wrong. The shift from one world to another in the movie was a creative take on the story and made the main characters more relatable to the viewers. Mario and Luigi start off as two regular guys who are struggling to achieve their life dream, something a fair amount of people around the world can relate to. This approach is a way to get viewers to feel more connected to the protagonists.

The visuals of the movie are colorful and fun. The characters are well-animated and true to their original forms. The setting is beautiful and pleasant. When a movie has good visuals, it is more attention-grabbing and enjoyable to watch, like this movie is.

The main critique I have with this film is the presentation of certain characters. Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as Princess Peach was a performance I did not particularly enjoy. I was very surprised by this because I usually enjoy Taylor-Joy’s performances, as she is a very talented actress. Her portrayal of Peach was very one-dimensional. She did not really have a personality or add to the storyline in any way. I do not think this was entirely her fault, as the lines given to Peach were quite dull. It felt like the writers were trying too hard to make her a strong lead because her lines seemed forced at times and were not very meaningful to the story.

I also did not like the presentation of Bowser. I thought Jack Black did an excellent job and was hilarious, but the character itself was not unique in any way. He was a common villain with no real motive to take over the world. His only simple explanation was being in love with Peach and wanting to marry her so that they could rule the world together. We got no real backstory for Bowser, which I believe would have been interesting to see and made the film stand out more.

All in all, I liked this movie and I think that it is a good choice for families to see because it is a fun watch. The plot and the setting are excellent, and for the most part, the characters are portrayed well with some minor errors that would improve the whole performance if fixed. It was refreshing to see a movie inspired by a video game that was not fully predictable.

Grade: A-