DVD : Super Mario Bros.

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starring: Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Samantha Mathis, Fisher Stevens
directed by: Annabel Jankel, Dean Semler, Rocky Morton, Roland Joffé

: Super Mario Bros.

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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Nintendo
EAN: 0786936209389
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Label: Walt Disney Video
Manufacturer: Walt Disney Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Walt Disney Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: June 03, 2003
Running Time: 104 minutes
Sales Rank: 1537
Studio: Walt Disney Video
Theatrical Release Date: May 28, 1993



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Editorial Review:

Description:
Buckle up and hang on tight -- the discovery of a parallel universe launches you into the adventure of a lifetime! Mario and Luigi, two wacky plumbers, undertake a daring quest to save a princess in "Dinohattan" -- a hidden world where the inhabitants evolved from dinosaurs! Mario (Bob Hoskins -- WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT) and Luigi (John Leguizamo -- REGARDING HENRY) face deadly challenges from a diaboloical lizard king (Dennis Hopper -- HOOSIERS) and must battle giant reptilian goombas, outwit misfit thugs, and undermine a sinister scheme to take over the world! Blast off for nonstop excitement with SUPER MARIO BROS., the live-action thrill ride that dazzled moviegoers everywhere!



Customer Reviews
Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars - An OK social satire based on the popular Nintendo characters
The meteorite which hit the Earth some billions of years ago and seemingly caused extinction for the Dinosaurs, actually exiled them to an alternate Earth by creating a dimensional fissure: in one dimension the reptiles thrived and evolved into a race of intelligent humanoid beings and in a parallel dimension mammals evolved into humans. Unfortunately their world has depreciated much faster and only a small bit of land (enough for a large city) remains hospitable. A small remaining piece of this meteorite is the key to linking the two dimensions and is the only thing keeping the despotic King Koopa from conquering Earth. The Mushroom Kingdom, the holders of the meteor, have fallen to Koopa and send the baby heir to the throne to our Earth, along with the meteor. 20 years later, the Mario Bros., while fixing a large underground leak at an archaeological dig, follow the kidnapped Daisy, who works at the site, through a dimensional portal and find themselves in a world resembling "Total Recall" and "Escacpe From New York." Here they must confront Koopa, who plots to use his inexplicable De-Evolution technology to transform the habitants of Earth into their earliest form (monkeys) and usurp their resources. He frequently uses this technology to turn his own people into savage reptilian creatures called Goombas, who are curiously servile.

An odd, quirky little film (not necessarily a bad thing) that doesn't have much to do with the video game series from Nintendo. Film ends up being an inspired, if not always logical, combination of Ghostbusters, Total Recall, Escape From New York and Masters of Universe. Both amusing and somewhat disgusting at turns and a bit too dark for the Bros. Some charm and wit in the lead performances to be sure (esp. Hopper), but story is ultimately hopeless nonsense.


Rating: 5 out of 5 stars - Greatest Movie of All Time? You decide!
Here's the reality: This film is both totally weird and incredibly awesome simultaneously.

Pros
-Great actors: Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo all in the starring roles
-Many references to the games (albeit loose references)
-Family friendly
-Solid one-liners, decent script (not Oscar-worthy but above average)
-Special effects way ahead of their time.
-Cheesey, but not in comparison to TMNT movies
-Awesome dinosaurs, weird goombas

Cons
-Little to do with the Mario universe of the games
-Some story inconsistencies
-Ridiculous story (but come on, who cares?)

People have cited this movie as an early example of why video games don't make good live action movies... I disagree totally, in fact I think it's an early triumph for video game movies. To compare to other movies released in that era, I challenge you to watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 and then watch this movie and you tell me which movie is better. The set in SMB is incredible... varying from night clubs, to Brooklyn, to a totalitarian dino-city (no CG, mind you, totally constructed set like in Dark City or Blade Runner), to an endless desert. Lots of thought went into this movie's design.
Costumes are interesting and clearly 90's inspired.
The holes in this movie in terms of science are numerous, as in any Sci Fi flick. The most amusing error is when Scapelli is de-evolved into a Chimpanzee. Anyone who knows anything about evolution knows that humans did not descend from chimps. Also, there is an apparently semi-sentient fungus in the movie...
The acting is great, the story is crazy but fun and entertaining, there's some good humor that is family friendly but not stupid or cheesy, and there's some great visuals. There is nothing gapingly wrong with this movie except how ridiculous much of its premise is, or the fact that it is basically loosely about the Mario brothers.
It makes me wonder how the script-writers approached this project. OK, so here we have two plumbers who jump a lot and travel through pipes... And a dinosaur king... Beyond that the story is mystery. I'd say they did what they could with what they had and, you know what, if they weren't bound by the Mario name, this movie probably would've been even better.

I give it 5/5 stars partly to balance the unfairly negative reviews, but mostly because I really love this movie. I actually was the first person in the country to order it... I preordered it months before its release date on DVD (my birthday). I still watch it probably monthly, sometimes weekly... occasionally daily.

I recommend it. For sure. Give it a look if you haven't seen it yet.



Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - Mario Mario, His Brother Luigi and the Parallel World
I saw this when I was a kid, and though I wasn't exactly a huge fan of it, I did collect quite a few of the trading cards. Saw it again just recently. Though it augments a couple of the ideas from the Super Mario series (Thwomp Stompers, Goombas, etc), Super Mario Bros is nothing like those early Nintendo games. Rather than being a colourful, cute and varied fantasy, the world of the "Mushroom Kingdom" is trashy and dirty, full of crime, cars, cages and sci-fi explanations. Still, I found it entertaining enough, I loved Bob Hoskins as Mario, particularly his scenes in New York as a plumber and his banter with Luigi. Plus, the film captures a style and an era that is thoroughly interesting.

Mario and his kid brother Luigi are plumbers, and after finishing a job run into Daisy, a student archaeologist who is digging up a site in Brooklyn which may be where the meteor that wiped the dinosaurs out is buried. Luigi falls for Daisy, and takes her on a double date with Mario and his own girlfriend. But things go wrong that night when Mario's date is kidnapped and the site where Daisy and her team are digging is sabotaged. While fixing up the damage with Mario and Luigi, Daisy is also kidnapped. Mario and Luigi follow the echoes of her screams down a tunnel and find a gateway into a parallel dimension, where dinosaurs evolved into human beings, and live on a world short of resources and all desert, save for a city run by a man named Koopa...

If you're after a more accurate adaption, I'd recommend checking out the cartoon series, or the old "choose your own adventure" style books that were made of the Mario series, if you can manage to find them.


Rating: 4 out of 5 stars - A Twist to the Classic Video Game!!!
When I was a kid, I liked this movie. Now that I'm older, I still like it! The movie is very different from the game! It was cool that they played the Mario music at the beginning of the movie! Bob Hoskins made an awesome Mario, but I'm not sure John Legiuzamo was right for Luigi. Mario and Luigi meet a girl named Daisy (Princess Toadstool) Luigi starts to fall in love with her. Later two guys take Daisy back to another dimension. Mario and Luigi follow and come to a world where dinosaurs look like real people and live in a world where King Koopa rules. Mario and Luigi try to save Princess Daisy from Koopa's castle! If you love the game, you might like the film version of SUPER MARIO BROTHERS!!!


Rating: 2 out of 5 stars - Thank You, But Our Brains Are In Another Castle...
The Good Things
*Some very slick special effects.
*Some fun actions scenes (the police car chase was cool).
*Some funny moments too (although much of it is quite corny. I still think the elevator scene was great, though).
*Pretty good production design. Lots of scummy futuristic settings, props, and costumes (although nothing really resembles the original computer game).
*The story idea is not bad (especially since the computer game was so surreal to begin with). They did a good job incorporating modern ideas about alternate universes, explaining what may have happened to dinosaurs, and describing the evolution of life. Well, much of this is BS, but it's good enough.
*Good soundtrack (I still like the "Walk the Dinosaur" song).

The Bad Things
*The production design resembles something out of "Blade Runner," so it lacks the bright and fantastic settings and atmosphere of the original computer games. I think it would have worked better as a "Narnia" sort of thing instead of this far-out sci-fi. All around, it resembles surprisingly little of the original game, except for all of the names.
*Also missing out on a whole bunch of the creatures from the original games (I guess they didn't have the time or money).
*Wow, the opening is pretty dumb.
*Some parts are just plain weird. Mario and Bowser appear in the middle of a huge crowd and throw some magic around, and nobody seems concerned. They even laugh when the mobster is turned into a monkey. This is kind of funny, but seriously, nobody cares that the world is coming to an end?!

The Questionable Things
*Extremely corny and goofy. Great for kids or people who don't like seriousness. Bad for most others.
*Acting can be seen as terrible or acceptable.
*Seriously, is this guy really named "Mario Mario?"

As a movie, it stinks royally. But we got to consider that the original computer game was extremely strange and silly to begin with (what with a pair of plummers jumping on things, eating mushrooms to grow bigger, and eating flowers to spit fireballs; were they on drugs when they made these games?!), and translating it into a movie was bound to be disasterous. In that respect, the movie does okay. If you ignore the impossibilities and accept the goofiness, this is actually pretty fun and possibly nostalgic. Otherwise, it stinks royally.

The DVD has okay video and sound quality. It's in widescreen, but is not anamorphic. Disc has no special features other than a trailer.

If this review has not been helpful, feel free to leave a comment, telling me how I can improve.

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