Genre of Hidden Gems Pt. 1 Underrated Adventures

Today marks the beginning of my first and probably not last Theme Month. Just to shake things up around here and keep me interested I’m going to spend an entire month on a misunderstood subset of movies. Before we begin I want to make it clear that I am 100% serious with this I really do like these movies, but I totally understand most of the hate for them, so here we go.

                Since film was first used to convey a narrative films have adapted narratives from other mediums, such as books, live theater, graphic novels, and of course videogames. It is the last one that has interested me the most in recent years. I’m sure most of you reading this have heard downright horror stories about movies based upon video games, but I find most of those stories are over exaggerated to the point of almost being outright lies. I think it’s time to set the record straight, and what better movie to start with then the movie that started this whole video game adaptation thing: Super Mario Bros. The Movie.

                For those who lived in some kinda internet, tv, radio, and paper proof bunker for the past 30 or so years Super Mario Bros. is a 1985 videogame for the Nintendo Entertainment System about 2 plumbers (Mario and Luigi) who rescue a princess from the mushroom kingdom and defeat the evil King Koopa (the name Bowser is an American creation as far as I can tell). Naturally as this was the BIGGEST thing in gaming since ATARI in the 70’s the “geniuses” producing movies in Hollywood saw dollar signs and the film rights to Super Mario Bros. were bought. The movie that came out in 1993 confused a lot of people, and undoubtedly confuses people to this day: a dark, almost adult, scifi comedy adventure featuring dinosaurs, alternate dimensions, and of course a misunderstanding of evolution, but is that all bad? Now I have A LOT to talk about with this one, so let’s get started.

                Let’s start with a brief synopsis: Mario and Luigi (played perfectly by Bob Hoskins, and Jon Leguizamo) are down on their luck plumbers living in Brooklyn, New York, and they meet paleontology student Daisy (Samantha Mathis). Who, bizarrely, turns out to be a princess from an alternate dimension created by the meteorite that destroyed the dinosaurs…but not all of them. The dinosaurs that survived lived on in the alternate dimension and became the dominant species; much like us in our dimension. Well anyway as princess of this alternate dimension she holds a meteor fragment that is capable of reuniting the two dimensions. King Koopa (the glorious Dennis Hopper) sends his cousins Iggy and Spike to get both the princess and the meteor fragment so he can reunite the worlds, because his dimension (the dinosaur dimension) is running out of resources. What follows is an incredibly entertaining, and surprisingly dark, sci-fi action comedy as the Mario Brothers chase after both the princess and the rock through the Blade Runner esque city of Dinohatten in order to avert the destruction of both dimensions, and end King Koopa’s tyrannical rule.

                What I think bothers a lot of people about this movie is the last bit of what I said: surprisingly dark, sci- fi action comedy. People don’t expect a Mario movie to be neither dark nor sci-fi, and often cite how not-Mario this supposed Mario movie is. But I don’t think the dark sci-fi tone and setting of Mario is that much of a problem, and also it’s not as far from Mario as people seem to think, But I’m going to tackle the problem of the dark tone first. One of the things I think people fail to do when judging movies is put them in their proper social/historical context. Super Mario Bros. The Movie came out at the beginning of the 90’s, and judging by the numerous stories of script problems and rewrites I would imagine that the movie was initially developed in the late 80’s; coincidentally when children’s films were much darker in tone. Movies like Gremlins, Return to Oz, The Neverending Story, The Dark Crystal, and The Secret of NIMH all demonstrate that movies in the 80’s treated young audiences with an understanding that fear and other negative emotions are not only an integral part of growing up, but of being human. The Super Mario Bros. movie was definitely made with an oppressively dark atmosphere in mind; something children’s films are sorely lacking these days.

                Now onto a matter of direct adaptation: how does the Blade Runner esque industrialized city, and the dimension hopping sci-fi meteor subplot fit with Mario? Quite simply very little was changed from the original concept. Let me explain: from the very start Mario and Luigi were Italian plumbers from New York who travel to the Mushroom Kingdom to save a princess. The movie has Mario and Luigi, Italian plumbers from New York, travel to an alternate dimension to save a princess. The only real difference is the alternate dimension which was built not only to divide the fantastical world of princesses and reptilian kidnappers from our New York, but also, brilliantly, serves to give King Koopa a motivation to kidnap the princess. And not just any motivation, but a believable one: He is trying to save his kingdom. Remember King Koopa wants to reunite the two dimensions because his world is running out of resources. Sure he is undoubtedly evil he repeatedly talks of taking over our world, but I think that is because he believes all mammals are inferior (much in the same way we believe all reptiles to be inferior). Not trying to justify his actions, but I can understand where he’s coming from here. As for the industrialized look of Dinohatten I believe this was done because 1993 filmmaking technology had not progressed to the point where an accurate depiction of the Mushroom Kingdom would have looked unbelievably cheap and silly, so they went in a far more realistic and believable direction.

                So as for my opinions on Super Mario Bros. The Movie’s quality, I’m sure you've guessed by now that I think this movie is pretty good, not great but pretty good. It is also important to note that I don’t call myself a Mario fan I never grew up with the franchise and I largely could care less about the franchise as a whole. The things I want to focus on for this are: casting, visual effects, and writing/story. So first the casting.

                The movie stars Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively, and Bob Hoskins is the absolute PERFECT choice for Mario. While not especially Italian Bob Hoskins has the look and demeanor of a blue collar worker, such as a plumber. He just looks, acts, and sounds just like the Brooklyn plumber that personifies the Mario people probably imagined back in 1993. As for John Leguizamo: while also not Italian either he plays the young protogè role this version of Super Mario Bros. requires AMAZINGLY well. But of course many movies are nothing without a great villain and this brings me to my absolute favorite part of the movie: Dennis Hopper. Dennis Hopper is the amazing ham who plays King Koopa; delivering lines like: “You know what I love about mud? It’s dirty and it’s clean at the same time.” And “MONKEY!” with the utmost enthusiasm and entertainment value. Plus it’s all the little touches he adds to the character; such as slightly extending the “s” sounds of his dialogue, and occasionally holds his arms up close to his chest like a T-Rex (the dinosaur which he specifically is descended from). Small details like this really demonstrate the care and attention Dennis put into this movie, and shows just how much fun he had with the character as a whole.  Well that’s all that really needs to be said about the characters, on to the effects.

                The effects in Super Mario Bros. The Movie are outdated to say the least the 20 years have not been kind to this movie…when it comes to the CGI. There is plenty of CGI to be sure (this is early 90’s afterall), but where the movie truly shines are its sets and practical effects. The entirety of Dinohattan was constructed in an old Cement factory for what was probably a ridiculous amount of money. But the truly AMAZING effect in the movie is unquestionably Yoshi. People seem to forget that Yoshi was in this movie, perhaps because he appeared more brown then green, and had more realistic proportions. All of that aside the Yoshi puppet was a 3 ft. technical marvel capable of 64 separate movements controlled by no less than 9 puppeteers. The puppet was so amazing that the effects crew for Jurassic Park made visits to the set of Super Mario Bros. to study the puppet.

                As for the plot and writing of the movie they are both far better than I ever expected out of the movie. There is a lot more here than I mentioned in the synopsis: there’s a subplot about the previous King being devolved into a mushroom, a subplot about King Koopa’s wife’s dislike of her husband, Luigi and Daisy’s romance (yes Luigi. He actually is allowed to do stuff in this movie. For once). Also Mario has his own subplot about believing in the fantastic, which, while overdone, really does work in the movie’s favor. Other subplots I didn’t mention include Iggy and Spike’s transformation (or evolution as this movie would have you believe) from dumb bumbling sidekicks to smart bumbling sidekicks. One more thing I’d like to draw attention to is the fact that Luigi is given equal if not more attention and relevance then Mario. It really feels like a Mario BROTHERS movie not a solo outing for the red hatted plumber.