Michael's Movie Grade: B+
An excellent feature film adaption of the beloved video game franchise.
It is obvious that those who worked on this movie are major Mario fans, and their love for the source material shows in every second. Not only are there plenty of references to various parts of Mario history for fans of the games to geek out over (as a life long Mario fan, I definitely geeked out a few times), but in simply how the world this movie takes place in is designed. This film in many ways feels like the video games come to life. There is the feeling of joy and unlimited possibilities that make the games so beloved all over the world that this film builds. This movie does exactly what every fantasy movie should do. This is that it makes you want to live in this world and sad when you have to leave it when the end credits start rolling. What is more impressive about this film's world building is that it stays true to the spirit of the games while also feeling cinematic and working in the context of a movie. This movie also does a wonderful job of adapting these characters to film. While none of the characters have especially complex personalities here, these characters are certainly a lot of fun to watch and easy to care about. Even before they enter the Mushroom Kingdom, we already care very much about Mario and Lugi, as it is hard not to. I especially like how Mario is handled throughout this film, as I admittedly related to him, felt for him and cared about him. This movie also has a wonderful sense of humor and I and the audience I watched this with all laughed quite a bit watching this. I excepted to giggle and smile at the jokes but I did not except to laugh out loud as often as I did. Though I love the slapstick of the Minions films, this may be the funniest of all movies from Illumination. The storyline of this movie is very basic but it is effective and the 92 minutes go by incredibly quickly.
This movie does have its flaws though. One of them is that quite a few story points feel really rushed. This is especially true of Mario and Lugi's backstory, Donkey Kong's character arc and the relationship between Mario and Donkey Kong. This can really take you out of the movie at times and make certain scenes lack the emotional connection they should have. The rushing of Donkey Kong's arc can also make him feel undeveloped and underutilized as a character. The story is also incredibly predictable and there are plenty of parts where anybody who has ever seen a movie before can tell just what is going to happen next as this follows the formula of many other animated family movies very closely.
All in all, despite some faults, this movie is a real treat to anyone who loves Mario and even some of those who don't.
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