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Super Mario Bros.
(directed by Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton ... and two uncredited people, 1993)
This is the weirdest movie I think I have ever seen. Released in 1993, I was only 9-10 years old when it came out, but I never saw the whole thing until just now. I loved the Super Mario Bros. video games when I was a kid -- Game Genie helped me defeat them all -- well, except Super Mario World on SNS - that I managed to win without any special codes. I'm so proud of myself. Anyway, I can see why I never really bothered to catch the movie version because it totally breaks away from the storylines of the games and "evolves" things, I guess, into a drugged out, trippy philosophical mind-f**k pinball machine of wackiness that does not seem like it was made with kids in mind at all. The story is so strange and I really think it was designed for adults who are all on drugs.
The movie begins by finding Mario and Luigi (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) in 1990's Brooklyn (I say this because the Twin Towers are still standing -- creepily enough, one of the Towers is lated depicted, in another dimension, as having its top portion ripped off, as if by a plane!) Anyway, Luigi falls in love with a young lady named Daisy (Samantha Mathis) who's working on an archeological dig site recovering dinosaur bones. After a 15-20 minute setup of the human characters, everybody ends up in an alternate dimension run by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper) a man who evolved from a Tyrannosaurus rex and is now taking delight in torturing others by "de-evolving" them while he waits to receive Daisy (who's really a princess - she grew up in our dimension having been abandoned and there's a story about all of that related to King Koopa's dimension.) Daisy, you see, has been carrying around a chip from a meteorite (maybe the one that killed the dinosaurs? I forget...) in the form of a necklace and Koopa needs that so that his dimension and the dimension we all live in can merge and he can destroy us all.
First off, why is a porno movie theatre shown in King Koopa's dimension for laughs in the movie version of Super Mario Bros.? I don't remember any porno movie theatres in the background of the video games! There were a couple of other odd things in this film that seemed too adult for Super Mario Bros. but I can't remember them all. Oh, yeah -- Koopa sticks his lizard tongue out seductively at Daisy at one point. The funniest and most random scene to me involved a big black woman called Big Bertha who stole the meteorite necklace from Mario and Luigi and proceeded to jump up in the air while wearing big silver metal boots which caused her to fly across the street so the brothers couldn't catch her and get the necklace back! There's also a little bomb - which I remember from the game - the Bomb-omb - wearing Reebok shoes. There's also a dance club scene where Mario and Luigi shake their groove thing and Mario even dances a little sexily with Big Bertha -- she punches him and (wanting to get the meteorite necklace back) he runs back to her and asks to be punched again. She responds by saying if he dances with her, she'll punch him all he wants. WOW. Mario likes dominatrixes!
I know this film version of Super Mario Bros. has a very bad reputation, but I have to say that, except for some boring pacing problems, I was mostly entertained and intrigued. There's very odd imagery and special effects and I don't think I have ever seen a movie quite like this. I'm also rather impressed with the adaptation of the video game even though I do feel they were out of their minds to take this kind of approach -- however, kudos to them as I think the film is very ballsy, original and I think they took one hell of a risk. I mean, how could you do this to Super Mario Bros.?! I don't care. This ought to be one hell of a cult movie if it isn't already. It's got a lot of 1990's artifacts in it, but it isn't so cheesy and overdone as something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. I felt like I was watching a classic. A very weird classic. Loved Dennis Hopper, loved Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Samantha Mathis. Loved the alternate Koopa universe and all the strange characters. Didn't quite like some of the story devices such as Koopa's henchmen - two dumb, young relatives of his sent to capture Daisy. I did like Koopa's girlfriend/secretary or whatever she was - hilarious scene involving her near the end. I also loved the idea of all these Brooklyn Italian women (one of them being Mario's girlfriend - not Big Bertha) all trapped together in a room for the ridiculous reason that they were mistakenly kidnapped by the guys looking for Daisy. Loved the scene with all of them, Daisy, Mario and Luigi on a mattress riding down a long slide to escape a building.
Strangest movie ever - low class when you consider that they were making a big budget blockbuster movie version of the extremely popular Super Mario Bros. video game - but very original and risky and ridiculously idiotic in a cool, transversive way. I hope it'll one day earn more respect from people. I encourage you to watch this whenever you're in the mood for something light and insane.
(directed by Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton ... and two uncredited people, 1993)
This is the weirdest movie I think I have ever seen. Released in 1993, I was only 9-10 years old when it came out, but I never saw the whole thing until just now. I loved the Super Mario Bros. video games when I was a kid -- Game Genie helped me defeat them all -- well, except Super Mario World on SNS - that I managed to win without any special codes. I'm so proud of myself. Anyway, I can see why I never really bothered to catch the movie version because it totally breaks away from the storylines of the games and "evolves" things, I guess, into a drugged out, trippy philosophical mind-f**k pinball machine of wackiness that does not seem like it was made with kids in mind at all. The story is so strange and I really think it was designed for adults who are all on drugs.
The movie begins by finding Mario and Luigi (Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo) in 1990's Brooklyn (I say this because the Twin Towers are still standing -- creepily enough, one of the Towers is lated depicted, in another dimension, as having its top portion ripped off, as if by a plane!) Anyway, Luigi falls in love with a young lady named Daisy (Samantha Mathis) who's working on an archeological dig site recovering dinosaur bones. After a 15-20 minute setup of the human characters, everybody ends up in an alternate dimension run by King Koopa (Dennis Hopper) a man who evolved from a Tyrannosaurus rex and is now taking delight in torturing others by "de-evolving" them while he waits to receive Daisy (who's really a princess - she grew up in our dimension having been abandoned and there's a story about all of that related to King Koopa's dimension.) Daisy, you see, has been carrying around a chip from a meteorite (maybe the one that killed the dinosaurs? I forget...) in the form of a necklace and Koopa needs that so that his dimension and the dimension we all live in can merge and he can destroy us all.
First off, why is a porno movie theatre shown in King Koopa's dimension for laughs in the movie version of Super Mario Bros.? I don't remember any porno movie theatres in the background of the video games! There were a couple of other odd things in this film that seemed too adult for Super Mario Bros. but I can't remember them all. Oh, yeah -- Koopa sticks his lizard tongue out seductively at Daisy at one point. The funniest and most random scene to me involved a big black woman called Big Bertha who stole the meteorite necklace from Mario and Luigi and proceeded to jump up in the air while wearing big silver metal boots which caused her to fly across the street so the brothers couldn't catch her and get the necklace back! There's also a little bomb - which I remember from the game - the Bomb-omb - wearing Reebok shoes. There's also a dance club scene where Mario and Luigi shake their groove thing and Mario even dances a little sexily with Big Bertha -- she punches him and (wanting to get the meteorite necklace back) he runs back to her and asks to be punched again. She responds by saying if he dances with her, she'll punch him all he wants. WOW. Mario likes dominatrixes!
I know this film version of Super Mario Bros. has a very bad reputation, but I have to say that, except for some boring pacing problems, I was mostly entertained and intrigued. There's very odd imagery and special effects and I don't think I have ever seen a movie quite like this. I'm also rather impressed with the adaptation of the video game even though I do feel they were out of their minds to take this kind of approach -- however, kudos to them as I think the film is very ballsy, original and I think they took one hell of a risk. I mean, how could you do this to Super Mario Bros.?! I don't care. This ought to be one hell of a cult movie if it isn't already. It's got a lot of 1990's artifacts in it, but it isn't so cheesy and overdone as something like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II. I felt like I was watching a classic. A very weird classic. Loved Dennis Hopper, loved Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo and Samantha Mathis. Loved the alternate Koopa universe and all the strange characters. Didn't quite like some of the story devices such as Koopa's henchmen - two dumb, young relatives of his sent to capture Daisy. I did like Koopa's girlfriend/secretary or whatever she was - hilarious scene involving her near the end. I also loved the idea of all these Brooklyn Italian women (one of them being Mario's girlfriend - not Big Bertha) all trapped together in a room for the ridiculous reason that they were mistakenly kidnapped by the guys looking for Daisy. Loved the scene with all of them, Daisy, Mario and Luigi on a mattress riding down a long slide to escape a building.
Strangest movie ever - low class when you consider that they were making a big budget blockbuster movie version of the extremely popular Super Mario Bros. video game - but very original and risky and ridiculously idiotic in a cool, transversive way. I hope it'll one day earn more respect from people. I encourage you to watch this whenever you're in the mood for something light and insane.