Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Yesterday (Easter Tuesday, as I’d like to call it 😀 ), I saw ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ at the cinema when on a trip to town. I enjoyed checking out the latest ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’ on the big screen. Whilst I’m not a huge ‘Mario’ fan, I found this a really fun-filled film experience to check out.

I’ve played the ‘Mario’ racing games at an arcade in the Atlantic Wharf when on trips to Cardiff Bay. Whilst I’ve enjoyed those arcade racing games, I can’t claim to know a lot about the franchise, apart from knowing there are colourful characters, including two plumbers who dress up in red and green.

The ‘Mario’ video game franchise was created by Nintendo, a video game company like SEGA, who created Sonic the Hedgehog. The main story is about Mario and Luigi, who are two Italian-American plumbers that get transported to an alternate world and they embark on some amazing adventures.

That’s essentially what ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ is about, as Mario and Luigi get entangled in a battle between the Mushroom Kingdom, led by Princess Peach, and the Koopas, led by Bowser. Unlike the two ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movies that are mostly live-action, this film is full-on animation.

Computer animation, that is. Apparently, there is a live-action ‘Mario’ film that was made in 1993, but I’ve never seen it and I know there are lots of fans out there who don’t like it. I hope there are fans who like this latest ‘Super Mario Bros. Movie’, as it keeps in check with the spirit of the games. 🙂

Throughout the film, there are clearly lots of references to the video games, including video game music that you may recognise from playing the games. The film itself does feel like you’re playing a video game, especially with the power-ups Mario gets when he tackles bosses and is in a racing kart.

There is a moment in the film when Mario eats a blue mushroom instead of a red mushroom, and instead of growing tall, he becomes miniscule. I couldn’t help laugh at that. 😀 There are also power-ups where Mario gets to be in a Cat Suit as well as a Tanooki Suit when he tackles bosses in the film.

The voice cast for the film is mostly good. Mario is voiced by Chris Pratt (who’s been in ‘The LEGO Movies’, ‘The Guardians of the Galaxy’ films and the ‘Jurassic World’ films). I was expecting Mario to sound more Italian from the video games compared to how Chris Pratt voices him in his usual voice.

Princess Peach, the ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, is voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy (who I’ve seen in ‘Emma.’ and ‘The New Mutants’). Luigi, Mario’s brother, is voiced by Charlie Day, and Bowser, the King of the Koopas, is voiced by Jack Black (who I’ve seen and heard in many films over the years 🙂 ).

There’s Toad, a Mushroom Kingdom resident, voiced by Keegan-Michael Key; Donkey Kong, who is a powerful talking gorilla, voiced by Seth Rogen (who voiced Pumbaa in 2019’s ‘The Lion King’); and King Cranky Kong, ruler of the Jungle Kingdom and Donkey Kong’s father (voiced by Fred Armisen). 🙂

The film also features Spike, Mario and Luigi’s former boss from the Wrecking Crew (voiced by Sebastian Maniscalco), and Kamek, a Koopa sorcerer and Bowser’s advisor and informant (voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson). I found some main Earth characters less memorable than the others.

Incidentally, there is a mid-credits scene and a post-credits scene at the end of the film to watch out for. I’m guessing that by how successful the film is, this will lead to a sequel movie in the near future. Not that I mind that, and I’m sure plenty of ‘Mario’ fans will be looking forward to a sequel. 🙂

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ was fun to check out at the cinema recently. I don’t think this is a film I would see again and again and I’m glad I saw it on a whim. As an introduction to the ‘Mario’ franchise, it does a good job and I feel like I know these characters a lot more compared to before. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂