CHILD OF THE 80S/90S?...NINTENDO FAN?....PEOPLE WHO DONT FALL INTO THOSE GROUPS TEND TO HATE THE FILM...THOSE WHO FALL WITHIN EITHER HAVE A DIRTY PLEASURE LIKE FOR IT OR OUTRIGHT LOVE IT...I LOVE IT MYSELF.
shareYeah it's bad. To be fair Super Mario Bros. is pretty hard to come up with a story about when the game has you stomping other creatures and use mushrooms grow bigger etc. So for what it is, it's alright. There are lots of easter eggs related to the game and it's got some funny parts. Is it the worst movie? Nah. Worst video game movie? One of them. Bad movie yeah, but it's entertaining.
shareso how is it bad?
shareWell the whole dinosaurs survived the meteors and evolved was weird. The dystopian backdrop was kind of cliched for the time, so many movies were doing this and seemed Mario Bros. jumped right in with no originality. Pre-production and directing was said to be a nightmare. All involved including the actors have said it was not a pleasant shoot and production because they couldn't get along with the director and the many script changes.
The director mentions not being really in to video games or following much source material. To be fair there wasn't much at the time, but he could've played the games and watched the cartoon for at least a little insight. Bowser or "King Koopa" was more of snake man than a fire breathing, spiked turtle creature. Besides some blips and nods, you'd almost never know this was Mario Bros. movie besides the names of the characters.
That all said It isn't the worst movie and I wouldn't say it's the worst video game movie but reasons above and more I probably missed it's a bad movie. I just try to give it the benefit of the doubt.
you've just listed issues with production and have in no way indicated how it is a bad movie, which it isnt
shareI like it, it has a bit of a cyberpunk feel to it as well. Pretty good soundtrack, it’s very cheesy but whatever.
shareI enjoyed it when I was a kid.
shareI remember seeing the movie as a kid & being underwhelmed. Can't remember the plot. Never thought it was poorly made, just weird & not what I expected from Nintendo.
Check out "Console Wars" to get a better idea of why it was a disappointment.
They got Dustin Hoffman to play Mario. Nintendo nixed the choice because he didn't look right. Danny Devito was offered next based on his looks, but he was busy & turned it down. Then Tom Hanks showed an interest & they balked, because he wasn't a big enough star.
The script went through multiple re-writes. Sega Genesis was nipping at their heels with an irreverent advertising campaign. So Nintendo was waffling on their "family friendly" image & experimented with some darker ideas.