‘THE SUPER MARIO BROS. MOVIE’ (ANIMATION; DUBBED) REVIEW | 7 April, 2023

(from left) Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) in Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic.

Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie (animation; dubbed from the Hollywood film of the same name) is the story of a plumber who wants to save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa.

Mario is a plumber from Brooklyn. He travels through the Mushroom kingdom in search of his brother, Luigi. Mario first has to save princess Peach from Bowser. How Mario and Luigi unite and how Peach is saved from getting married to Bowser form the crux of the drama.

Based on Nintendo’s Mario video game, the film is written by Matthew Fogel. Since the game is not popular in India, it is unlikely that a film based on the game, that too an animation film, would make much entertainment sense to the Indian audience. In that sense, the comedy and the drama don’t hold interest for the audience. Dialogues are average.

The voice acting of the computer-generated characters is fairly good.

Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s direction is good for lovers of animation films but it doesn’t hold appeal for the Hindi-speaking Indian audience. Brian Tyler and Koji Kondo’s music is nothing to shout about. Eric Osmond’s editing could’ve been sharper. Dubbing is good.

On the whole, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is a flop fare for the Indian audience in general and the Hindi-speaking viewers in particular.

Released on 7-4-’23 at Jai Hind Mukta A2 (3D; in daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Warner Bros. Pictures (India) Pvt. Ltd. Publicity & opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was weak everywhere.