“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is an animated movie based on the extremely popular and successful “Mario” video game franchise. It is produced by Illumination, Universal Pictures, and Nintendo. It was directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic and written by Matthew Fogel. It was released on April 5 and quickly grossed a total of $692.9 million dollars as of April 18, making it the highest-grossing film based on a video game. 

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie “is a very charming movie with a good cast, beautiful animation, and nice details for fans of the games. The film is obviously a family film, made primarily for families and their children. Because of this, the plot is fairly simple and straightforward. However, the plot isn’t what makes this movie so charming. 

The cast of the film did a great job. Chris Pratt does a good job at playing Mario and Anya Taylor-Joy’s performance as Peach was well done. The main standout of the film was Jack Black as Bowser. Jack Black is always entertaining in his roles and this performance is no exception. Keegan-Michael Key also delivers an entertaining performance as Toad. Another voice actor that does an amazing job is Kevin Michael Richardson as Kamek. His interactions with Jack Black’s Bowser are some of the most entertaining interactions in the film.

Two voice actors that I wasn’t too sold on were Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Fred Armison as Cranky Kong. Their performances were acceptable but they didn’t feel like they fit at times, especially Fred Armison. Overall, the voice-acting cast did a good job of bringing charm to these characters.

Another thing that makes this film charming is the original music and the references that are in the film. The original music that was composed for the film is amazing. It takes songs from the games and remakes them to fit the scenes. It was very charming to hear songs from different games in the franchise and how they are remade to fit the film. These references in the music are also all around the world of the film. There are references to other games and franchises that were on the Nintendo Entertainment System, the console that the original Super Mario Bros. released.

There are posters in the background that reference different games. During his journey, Mario passes different locations that are taken from games in the Mario franchise. All these small details add to the charm of this film.

The movie isn’t perfect. The plot is simple. The pacing is breakneck fast, making it feel like each scene needs around two to three more minutes to be fully fleshed out.

The licensed music used in the film, like “Take On Me”, feels out of place and could’ve been replaced with other originally composed music. Even with these flaws, it is a really enjoyable family film that is filled with charm. If you are a fan of the games or are just looking for a fun movie, this would be a good one to check out.