I took my son to see the new Mario movie, his first in the theater. We were so excited that we dressed up in blue and red, listening to Mario music on a Spotify playlist before the show. Then to see his glossy eyes in the dark room as it was starting was a wish come true. This movie couldn't have come out at a more perfect time. Since it coincided with his first trip to the movie theater, I find it poetic that it took a studio 40 years to come up with something on this level, even after the tremendous flop of the original live action film in 1993 (but one of my favorites as a kid!).
The movie itself was spectacular. It was visually exceptional, with a lot of action albeit minimal character development. Most of it was based around Mario, which I hoped wouldn't happen because the side characters are interesting too. Knowing it was only an hour and a half long, I didn't expect much in the realm of deep moments, though surprisingly there were a few of them anyway. The creators kept it simple and didn't overthink the story. Peach really shines in this movie, more than in any of the games. Toad was cute as always, but I would have liked to see more development of his story. Luigi had a great character arc, and Bowser was shone to have a human side which came as a relief. Yoshi and Wario were sadly absent, probably because they didn't show up until later in the video games. The whole Donkey Kong sequence was my favorite part, from entering the beach city to the kart races on rainbow road. Cranky Kong was a surprisingly focal part the story.
Elements of the comic book, the original live action movie, and the games all tied in together nicely to explain how these curious plumbers got to be in the Mushroom Kingdom. I recognized some of the music from the games, though these were short snippets among a broader score. Overall it was a brilliant homage to the greatest franchise of my youth, far better than The Last Airbender in 2010, which failed to capture the magic of Aang's world the way this did. Hopefully there will be more Mario movies made by these same creators, and at the rate this movie is breaking records at the Box Office, there is no need to worry about that! Not since Cloud Atlas have I been so moved by a theatrical experience. This is what happens when great artists successfully interpret a revolutionary story. Because let's face it, the story of Mario made video games mainstream, whether we knew all the details or not.
It was such a special moment for my son and I. He may not remember this as one of the highlights of the year, or even our lives together, but that's not important; the moment will live in us forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment