Super Mario Bros. (film): Difference between revisions

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[[File:SuperMarioBros-TheMovie.jpg|frame|It's Mario and Luigi as they have never been seen before (and will never be seen again).]]

In 1993, Lightmotive made a [[Live Action Adaptation]] out of [[Super Mario Bros]], which was later bought by [[Disney]] under Jeffrey Katzenberg's (now of [[Dream Works]]) direction. [[Love It or Hate It|To many]], it either [[Video Game Movies Suck|sucks]] big-time, or it's [[So Bad ~~Its~~ Good|the quirkiest "adaptation" of the Mario canon]].

In 1993, Lightmotive made a [[Live Action Adaptation]] out of [[Super Mario Bros]], which was later bought by [[Disney]] under Jeffrey Katzenberg's (now of [[Dream Works]]) direction. [[Love It or Hate It|To many]], it either [[Video Game Movies Suck|sucks]] big-time, or it's [[So Bad It's Good|the quirkiest "adaptation" of the Mario canon]].

Mario Mario (Bob Hoskins) and his younger brother Luigi Mario (John Leguizamo) are Italian-American plumbers trying hard to earn a living in Brooklyn. A run-in with Daisy, an archeology student in her 20s, has Luigi very interested and the two quickly bond. However, all their lives are turned upside-down when Daisy, as well as Mario's girlfriend Daniella, are kidnapped and taken through a mysterious portal in Daisy's dig site after it's sabotaged by rival plumbers from the Scarpelli corporation, which is looking to build there.

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* [[All There in The Script]]: Various scripted plot points were likely never shot, including the reason why Daisy is the only one that can merge the dimensions: she is the sole survivor of the Portal-Keepers, an esoteric society mutated by the meteorite's radiation.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: The King apparently spent around twenty years as a formless mass of fungus, but was still sentient and conscious through it all.

* [[Animated Credits Opening]]: Partially. The movie opens with a weird, pixelated artstyle that shifts into live-action after the dinosaurs express their contentment with life. This was due to [[Executive Meddling]] as the producers felt test audiences weren't getting the concept of the parallel dimensions and [[Viewers ~~Are~~ Morons|needed it spelled out]]. The idea was to have graphics reminiscent of the games but they opted for a cheaper and faster route.

* [[Animated Credits Opening]]: Partially. The movie opens with a weird, pixelated artstyle that shifts into live-action after the dinosaurs express their contentment with life. This was due to [[Executive Meddling]] as the producers felt test audiences weren't getting the concept of the parallel dimensions and [[Viewers are Morons|needed it spelled out]]. The idea was to have graphics reminiscent of the games but they opted for a cheaper and faster route.

* [[Bait and Switch]]: The movie opens with the iconic overworld theme from the original, but then shows scenes very different from the games's art style, establishing the [[In Name Only]] feeling.

* [[Big Applesauce]]: Mario & Luigi live in New York.

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** And Toad, who is forcibly turned into a Goomba.

* [[Brooklyn Rage]]: From Mario. Luigi is considerably more mellow.

* [[Card Carrying Villain]] / [[Exact Words]]: When Mario and Luigi meet up with their "attorney," the attorney tells them that they don't want to meet Koopa, as "one evil, egg-sucking son of a snake." When it is revealed that Koopa was the person who acted as their attorney, Luigi expresses shock, to which Koopa then repeats the above description, and then says "Did I lie?"

* [[Card-Carrying Villain]] / [[Exact Words]]: When Mario and Luigi meet up with their "attorney," the attorney tells them that they don't want to meet Koopa, as "one evil, egg-sucking son of a snake." When it is revealed that Koopa was the person who acted as their attorney, Luigi expresses shock, to which Koopa then repeats the above description, and then says "Did I lie?"

* [[The Cameo]]: Lance Henriksen ''loves'' those plumbers, man.

* [[Canon Foreigner]]: Anthony Scarpelli and Lena. And Mario's girlfriend Daniella (who was based on [[Donkey Kong|Pauline]].)

* [[Composite Character]]: Princess Peach's personality and looks with Daisy's name, done because the writers felt "Toadstool" (the only other name available at the time) was "just weird".

* [[Clipped Wing Angel]]: Koopa {{spoiler|is de-evolved into a T-rex near the end, but easily de-evolved further into primordial slime.}}

* [[Clipped-Wing Angel]]: Koopa {{spoiler|is de-evolved into a T-rex near the end, but easily de-evolved further into primordial slime.}}

* [[Crapsack World]]: This is what happens when Blade Runner's setting is on shrooms.

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: The "Mushroom Kingdom" is a ''[[Blade Runner]]''-esque dystopia being slowly overtaken by sentient fungus. Goombas and Koopas are seven-foot-tall reptilian humanoids with tiny heads, and industrial-looking guns that shoot huge balls of fire are the film's answer to the Fire Flower.

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* [[Devolution Device]]: Koopa's Devo-Chamber, which he uses to create his Goombas. Near the end of the film, portable gun versions were created, which Koopa tests on Scarpelli, turning him into a monkey.

* [[Disaster Dominoes]]: Minor example. When the Goombas are distracted by Toad's harmonica playing, a frustrated Koopa punches one, causing the expected chain reaction.

* [[Door ~~Stop~~ Baby]]: Daisy.

* [[Door Step Baby]]: Daisy.

* [[Dull Surprise]]: "Bob-omb!?"

* [[~~Everythings~~ Better With Dinosaurs]]: Dinosaurs popularity with children in the '90s is thought to be the reason they were so integrated into the setting.

* [[Everything's Better With Dinosaurs]]: Dinosaurs popularity with children in the '90s is thought to be the reason they were so integrated into the setting.

* [[~~Everythings~~ Better With Monkeys]]: Koopa turns minor antagonist Anthony Scarpelli into one.

* [[Everything's Better With Monkeys]]: Koopa turns minor antagonist Anthony Scarpelli into one.

* [[Evil Brit]]: Lena. At the very least, she's portrayed by a Brit.

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** Interestingly, the shooting script for the movie avoids this by explaining that the technology doesn't reverse the evolutionary process , it's just a standard [[Transformation Ray]] that forcibly mutated (or, ''evolved'') beings by triggering latent genes. Separate settings were meant to effect either an organism's physical or intellectual state.

* [[Expy]]: Daniella is based on Mario's first girlfriend [[Donkey Kong|Pauline]], which is made even more obvious in the script, which reveals that Daniella's full name is "Daniella Pauline Verducci".

* [[Fakin MacGuffin]]: Mario decides to bluff Koopa into thinking he has the meteorite necklace so Luigi has time to get the real one.

* [[Fakin' MacGuffin]]: Mario decides to bluff Koopa into thinking he has the meteorite necklace so Luigi has time to get the real one.

* [[Fantastic Racism]]: Man, Koopa just ''cannot'' let that mammal thing go.

* [[Foe Yay]]: It's possible to see some between Lena and Daisy.

* [[Fungus Humongous]]: Taken to a literal level.

* [[Green Eyed Monster]]: Lena.

* [[Green-Eyed Monster]]: Lena.

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Iggy and Spike}}.

** {{spoiler|They claimed to have always been the royal family's "loyal supporters", but who knows if it's true.}}

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* [[Hoist By His Own Petard]]: Koopa is defeated with his own devo guns.

** Also, Lena ends up literally fossilized by the very power she tried to use to merge dimensions.

* [[I Have You Now My Pretty]]: Between Koopa and Daisy, though Lena gets in on it a bit as well.

* [[I Have You Now, My Pretty]]: Between Koopa and Daisy, though Lena gets in on it a bit as well.

* [[If Jesus Then Aliens]]

* [[In Name Only]]

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* [[Two Words Obvious Trope]]: Mario uses this trope to emphasize "IM-POSSIBLE."

* [[Vanilla Edition]]: The movie has only had three releases in the United States: one on VHS and two on DVD. The first DVD was released in 2003 and features nothing other than the movie and a horrible transfer that touts widescreen, but is actually a chopped fullscreen. The second DVD release came in 2010 and is the ''same exact movie'', just with the logos re-arranged on the packaging.

* [[The Villain Sucks Song]]: Toad gets himself arrested for singing one.

* [["The Villain Sucks" Song]]: Toad gets himself arrested for singing one.

* [[Well Intentioned Extremist]]: Koopa

* [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]]: Koopa

{{quote| '''Koopa:''' What ''I'' care about, is the future of our species!}}

* [[What Happened to The Mouse]]: Quite a few important plot threads are left unresolved and would have been [[Left Hanging]] had they not been put on the sidelines by numerous script rewrites and reshoots. Namely, the [[Alternate Universe|parallel world]] is still slowly dying from lack of clean, renewable resources, Toad and innumerable prisoners are still de-evolved, and rival plumbers Mike and Doug never get their comeuppance. The King remaining a citywide fungus ''would'' have been this had [[Lance Henriksen]] not cameoed in a reshoot where his character returns to human form after Koopa's defeat.

* [[What Happened to The Mouse?]]: Quite a few important plot threads are left unresolved and would have been [[Left Hanging]] had they not been put on the sidelines by numerous script rewrites and reshoots. Namely, the [[Alternate Universe|parallel world]] is still slowly dying from lack of clean, renewable resources, Toad and innumerable prisoners are still de-evolved, and rival plumbers Mike and Doug never get their comeuppance. The King remaining a citywide fungus ''would'' have been this had [[Lance Henriksen]] not cameoed in a reshoot where his character returns to human form after Koopa's defeat.

** Never revealed whether or not Scapelli changed back to human.

* [[Who Would Want to Watch Us]]: In [[The Stinger]].

* [[Who Would Want to Watch Us?]]: In [[The Stinger]].

* [[~~Woodys~~ Finest Hour]]: The film obviously left room for a sequel in the ending. Unfortunately, any plans for a sequel were all but cancelled due to the bad reviews and sales for the movie.

* [[Woody's Finest Hour]]: The film obviously left room for a sequel in the ending. Unfortunately, any plans for a sequel were all but cancelled due to the bad reviews and sales for the movie.

* [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl]]: Despite Luigi, Daisy, and the Brooklyn girls chasing Lena, none of them do a thing to stop her from trying to merge the dimensions.