Super Mario Bros. Review

Hey, this is Steve Blum, and you are listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. Today on episode

87 of The Cinema Geeks, we launch a brand new

review series for 2016. As we take a closer look

at the world of video game films. All that and

more coming up on episode 87 of The Cinema Geeks.

That's right. It's episode 87 of The Cinema Geeks.

I am one of your cinema geeks, Kevin Optimus

Solo. Joining me today is Hard Candy Mandy. Hello.

What up? What up? And Movie Revolt Dan. Hello.

Hey, how's it going? Not too shabby. And joining

us is Mr. Fridley Sent. Hello, Matt. I finally

made it. You made it back. You're back home.

And like we said in the intro today, we're going

to be kicking off one of a number of, I guess,

special series, you could say, that we'll be

doing over the course of 2016 to kind of change

things up from the regular episodes. Obviously,

one of those as teased last year when we did

our Tarantino retrospective will be our next

director series in which we'll be doing the films

of Miyazaki. And that'll be starting up here

sometime in April. So that'll be one of the series

of episodes that we... have for you that's kind

of outside of the box. We also have something

planned to kind of somewhat coincide with our

100th episode coming up later in the summer which

will have a series of episodes related to that

and then like we said in the intro today we're

starting our other our last of our special series

and that will be a series of podcasts devoted

to the world of video game films and this is

inspired by a couple different things but mostly

based on the release schedule for this year.

We noticed kind of as we were looking over all

different films coming out when we were making

our most anticipated list as well as our box

office predictions that there is a slew of films

coming out this year that are based on video

game franchises. We have Assassin's Creed coming

out in December I believe. We have Warcraft coming

out and then we have a couple actually animated

films coming out in the Angry Birds movie and

a Ratchet and Clank film and then there's a few

more obviously slated for next year as well.

So it seems like there's kind of a rash of video

game films coming out. So we thought it would

be a good idea to take a look back at the history

of video game films because much like the month

of February, Dan, video game films don't necessarily

have the greatest reputation. No, not in the

least. and we're going to find out why very shortly.

So we're gonna look at that and see how much

that is warranted. Is it warranted that video

game films get a bad rap? Because I've heard

a couple different times where there's been a

video game film coming out and people are saying,

you know, well this could easily be the best

video game film ever or it could finally be the

first good video game film. So we'll see if there's

some hidden gems that we've just maybe missed

along the way or if they've all been... Subpar

I guess is one way to put it So we're gonna do

this in the only way for us to kind of handle

this in a way That's not gonna take like a billion

and podcast is we're going to separate these

based on franchise So what I mean by that is

we're gonna give you one episode for each video

game franchise that has had a film made out of

it. So when we get to the likes of something

like Resident Evil, we're not going to give you

a podcast on Resident Evil and Resident Evil

Apocalypse and Resident Evil Extinction and Afterlife

and Retribution. We're just going to give you

one episode on Resident Evil as a whole, probably

just mostly focusing on that first film. And

by doing that, we can narrow the list down to

about 20 video game franchises that have had

films. I won't go over the whole list. You'll

kind of hear them as we go through. And we're

going to, for the most part, I think, do this

in chronological order unless something dictates

that we should do it a little bit different.

So we're going to start off today by looking

at the very first one. And that is from 1993.

And we'll be talking in a little bit about the

Super Mario Brothers live action film. Dan, we're

also basically, I guess... By looking over this

list, we're mainly just talking about the live

action films. I don't know how many animated

films there have been based on video game films.

I don't know if there's a lot or not, but I guess

I didn't consider that when we were making this

list. And we're also not necessarily considering

movies that might have a variety of video game

references or something like a Wreck -It Ralph

or something like pixels that might have different,

you know, nods and references and different characters.

We're talking about something that was basically

supposedly supposed to be... Some type of straight

adaptation of the video game. Yeah, I don't really

know I mean, I know some animated films mostly

like directs video like halo has a few and and

whatnot but yeah, it's mostly just the live -action

Theater release that we're supposed to be, you

know franchise stars in some cases. So that's

that's our main focus Yeah, and we're not looking

at stuff like Pokemon the movie or or anything

like that So we're kind of basically strict strictly

looking at the live -action kind of bigger wider

these films so before we get into the nuts and

bolts of super mario the the way we kind of are

going to do this we're going to bypass our normal

news and uh all that kind of talk and and we're

going to get just basically spend the whole episode

really dissecting these films and kind of for

better or worse getting into the nitty gritty

of them and i think there's two good ways to

to look at these films and we'll get into those

in a second but what I first want to get into

is what is your guys's experience because this

will range it's going to be kind of silly with

Super Mario Brothers I guess because that's kind

of universal and everybody knows that but as

we kind of progress into maybe not as mainstream,

widely known games. We'll start off with everybody's

background and history with that video game franchise.

What kind of knowledge are they coming with?

Are they coming with no knowledge of the video

game or a lot of knowledge, et cetera? So I assume

this one's a pretty easy question, but Dan, where

do you come from when it comes to Super Mario

Bros.? How would you rate your knowledge of that

franchise? I'd probably say I am a moderate.

When it comes to knowledge of the video game

franchise of Super Mario Brothers like you mentioned

like most people I don't know how you could be

our agent not play a Mario Brothers game. I had

a Nintendo I had a 64 played, you know Mario

64 a great deal probably one of my If I never

did a favorite video games list, but it probably

would be up there for sure But haven't really

played like the newer stuff post GameCube, I

guess, or Wii. That's where my knowledge falls

off. I did watch a little bit of the cartoon

as a kid. I don't remember much of it, just Captain

Lou Albano. That is in my brain at all. But yeah,

so I guess, I mean, I would say I'm right there

with the average person when it comes to the

Mario Brothers. Matt, what about you? What would

you say is your experience? Are you an expert

in the Mario Brothers world? Hey, paisanos! I

would say on a scale of one to 10, I'm at least

a hard eight, if not a nine on Mario knowledge.

I'm like a fan fiction level, like fan fiction,

fan fiction writing level of knowledge of Super

Mario. And especially on particular characters,

like there are some characters who I've hunted

down every Mario Brothers episode that they were

in every game. Like. Princess Daisy that you

know the lesser -known princess of the Mario

world like I wanted to know everything about

her once so I actually went on the The Virtual

Council on the DS and bought like her first couple

of games and beat them So like I mean and I've

played you know, maybe not every Mario game But

most of the Mario games all the way from the

NES through the Wii U which I have now Including

like wooly world and Super Mario RPG and all

the little weird ones out to the side Alright,

so you I think are the most knowledgeable then

in the franchise. Maybe I speak too early, but

for me I would say like as far as the Nintendo

Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Gamecube, my knowledge

is pretty good. I'd probably be in like the 8

or 8 range out of 10. Anything after that I'm

pretty ignorant of. I know they exist, but I

haven't. played them, beat them, that type of

stuff. But I have a general feeling for the world

and the characters that are in there. Amanda,

did you play some Mario Brothers back in the

day? I can get it in some Mario Kart. But I wouldn't

say that I'm as... On it as you met but might

be a little bit lower than you Dan lower moderate

and I guess we're gonna say that one So we all

have some obviously knowledge of Mario Brothers

That'll be different as we go through because

there's definitely gonna be some Films that are

coming out on games that I have no knowledge

of so that'll be interesting I thought one of

the best ways to do this guys was to look at

it in two different ways and kind of break it

into two halves and I think in the first half

or the first section I'd like to look at this

as How well is this film or how accurate? do

the films depict the video game they're based

on? You know, is it a good adaptation? Do you

feel like you're watching a version of the video

game and kind of how well do they represent that

world? And then kind of to flip it on the other

half to look at video game aside, how well is

the film as a film? You know, just standing by

itself. from a film aspect, maybe from acting,

directing, visual effects, and that type of stuff,

how well does the film hold up just on its own,

regardless of if it's accurate to the video game

or not. So let's get into the video game part

first. And for those people that don't know what

we're talking about, maybe you have never seen

the film, but this is a 1993 live -action film,

billed as a science fantasy adventure comedy

film. And it stars Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo,

Dennis Hopper, and a few other people, but those

are the main... individuals and to give you guys

a feel for how it did as far as the box office

rotten tomatoes and that type of thing it had

a budget of 48 million and it made 20 .9 million

so if we were doing this in the fantasy film

league this would be a negative three -pointer

because it did not even make half of its budget

so budget -wise not Well, also Box Office Mojo

actually does have a category or a genre for

video game adaptation. Now granted they are going

to be including all of the sequels and the different

versions of one, even the world, and looking

at the first one it does also include stuff like

Pokemon the first movie and stuff like that.

But according to them, and they're ranking it

based on 35 video game films, this would be in

the 21st spot. So it ranked 21 amongst 35. So

not a good showing at the box -off. Even for

its year, it was barely in the top 75. When it

comes to rotten tomatoes, Dan, any guesses? Let's

go with it's got to be like less than 10 % I

would have to assume it's hard because it's before

It's the 90s. So like there's probably like 20

reviews not as many but I'm gonna go like 10

% And I think that's what is helping it a little

bit is that it's only based on 33 reviews So

not a lot of people willing to apparently go

back and watch this and write a review on it.

It currently has a 15 % so Slightly above your

mark, but still pretty awful when it comes to

rotten tomato So bad rotten tomatoes bad box

office will just kind of set the stage with that

a little bit But Matt since you are the most

kind of I guess quote -unquote the most knowledgeable

in the franchise if we're just looking at this

From a video game perspective. Let's start digging

into that a little bit What things do you think

it did well or did it not do well when it comes

to representing the Mario world on the big screen?

Boy things it did well as far as being a Mario.

Do we need to pause for a while to come up with

those? I can't. I mean, we all know, we all remember

how in Super Mario World, like there was a meteor

that killed off the dinosaurs and then created

an alternate dimension. Cause that's how meteors

work. Cause that's how meteors work. And then

also all of those guys are descended from dinosaurs

and hate mammals, but have skin and hair. aren't

really affected by cold like a reptile would

be. Also, I remember that every level your main

goal was to hit somebody with some type of DEVOLVE

or EVOLVE Ray. Yeah, I mean that was how Birdo

happened, I'm sure. I think they got the plumbing,

like that element. They can pull they're good

plumbers like I think they were legit plumbers

I think they I don't know that one in that one

scene leg was almost literally just reaching

for three different like Whatever you want to

call it handles to turn like it's just like what

what can I turn I can turn this? Okay, and I'm

gonna go over this pipe and turn this it was

Spent some time because apparently that's what

everyone loves about Super Mario Brothers is

the plumbing they want to make sure that they

got that hammered down Just like everyone loves

the political aspects of Star Wars. That's why

you need to hammer it home. All right, Matt,

did you have anything that they did well, though,

besides what Dan mentioned with the plumbing?

I think what sums it up perfectly is when we

were watching it the other night, Amy turns to

me and goes, is Mario from Brooklyn? I was like,

I don't know. He's Italian in origin. And that

that about sums it up. It's it kind of looks

like it might be right if you don't know anything

about it. Okay, Dan, they do have some names

of things that did exist in the video game world.

They have Bob -ombs, they have mushrooms, they

have somebody named Big Bertha, Spike, Izzy,

Goombas, they have somebody named Mario, Luigi,

Princess Daisy, and Koopa. Does that give them

any credit? They got some names right? Yeah,

they did. They used names. So they did. That

is an accomplishment there. They got Mario Brothers.

Is Mario's real name in the video game Mario

Mario? Actually, officially his name is Mario

Mario, but that wasn't officially accepted in

the Mario canon until like the last five years.

Oh, wow. It was it was an internet joke, you

know when this movie got popular enough on the

internet for internet jokes to exist But wasn't

officially accepted by Nintendo until sometime

in the last five years I mean trying to think

of what they did. Well, I guess in a sense maybe

like there was an attempt to try to make a mythology

out of Like, Mario, because, I mean, at that

point, there's no story to Mario, really, beyond

just saving the princess. So, I mean, at least

there was an attempt. How great that attempt

was, or if that attempt should have been made,

that's questionable. I guess I did, you know,

try to think of some positives. I at least thought,

though it didn't represent the game at all, or

any way, shape, or form, some of the set designs

or characters were at least interesting, maybe

not... fantastic but they were at least like

I don't know like something about them at least

looked somewhat charming and like a cheap like

midnight movie type of way but yeah I can't really

think of much that really made it feel like that

they were incorporating game usually when they

were trying to it was super forced and really

awkward I will say that you know we if Spike

and Iggy were actually human beings I guess then

I guess maybe they would look like that I could

see part of their character in the actors that

they chose to play that. Amanda, did they get

anything right as far as the video game world?

They had some coins in there. There was coins

that you could collect. There was some pipes.

There was some pipes that they went in. There

were some pipes in an underground thing. I was

worried for the first 15 to 20 minutes. I'm like,

I haven't seen a pipe yet. I need somebody to

actually go into a pipe and come out another

end. They did have some sounds good. Hey, you

hit something there. They did put some video

game sounds in there. I thought the look of the

bombs were pretty cool. I don't know about the

mushrooms. I'm like, eh. week, but at least they

had some true -to -form stuff in there. Okay,

obviously there's gonna be more that we can pick

on, so we've mentioned a few of them. I gotta

say, as far as looking at the bad things, the

things that don't work with the video game, one

of the biggest things that I couldn't get over

for maybe the first half of the film is how do

they somehow overlook the fact that they have

them wearing the wrong colors for the first half?

The whole movie, basically. They're wearing opposite

colors. Yeah, Luigi's in red. Mario's in a green

or a darker color for at least half the film.

Did you guys notice that? Even when they go to

the club, Luigi's the one in the red suit. Right.

It wasn't until they actually got up in their

whole gear that all of a sudden they're in their

right colors. And I'm like, why would you miss

that? Which isn't even their clothes. It's clothes

they stole. Right. Man, I don't know like to

me if you're gonna do this There should be a

ton of video game tie -ins to make you feel like

you're in that world I thought the bomb looked

cool, but was executed terribly the gumas I guess

for that time period. Yeah, I mean that was a

cool like I thought they look scary as shit They

scare me when I was little and they still scare

me now. They are really there's something freaky

about them Yeah, like this just the design I

did like the the little Yoshi like the little

oh, yeah That was decently done. The person who

did that, they did a good job. Now, they showed

up. Maybe not everyone. That was all that they

did on the whole film, though, because at that

time, that would have taken the rest of the time.

It's like, you know what? I'm going to do my

thing. Everything else might be chaotic, but

I'm going to make this Yoshi look badass. I legitimately

forgot that he was even in the film. I forgot

that he was a part of this This movie is based

out of a game for 12 year olds, but is a little

too adult for them Someone gets vaporized and

not like a hundred percent enough that there's

body parts left The amount of care that they

had for some of the things that they were doing

that didn't like obviously I've never seen any

of the Mario games where somebody's Head goes

in like a machine that D evolves them or evolves

them or whatever But but what do you what he

really is gonna be the plot like he can't just

run in a line for an hour Some of that I literally

halfway through was like why are we getting no

running jumping or grabbing onto anything or?

Ducking or like I didn't want it to be like a

side -scroller But I thought there could be some

elements that they could have done with that

Here's the thing. Video games before the PS2

look like they have no story, but some of them

have the most in -depth and rich stories. Everyone

thinks Mario is just a guy who runs from left

to right trying to save a princess. But if you

go into the manuals of Super Mario Bros. and

Super Mario Bros. 2, and I know Super Mario Bros.

2 is just Doki Doki Panic, whatever. But the

storyline that they set down in the instruction

manuals of those games. are intense and not only

dark, like darker than this movie. Like every

brick, every power up is a member of the Mushroom

Kingdom that Koopa had his magician turn into.

And Mario has to crush the people he's trying

to save in order to save their royalty. Like

they could have done a straight adaptation. I

mean some of those video game films had like

the warships and stuff and some different settings

that you could do. Even one of the things that

they did have, they did have the mushroom in

there as like I guess a power -up, but they did

nothing with it. Yeah, I don't think they ever

used it. He like kept being shown these things

that the whatever you want to call the fungus

was holding or trying to give to him, but they

never really did anything with it except for

the babam. Wait Mario was originally named jump

man, and he jumps maybe twice Because they hired

Bob Hoskins Can we get two actors that are at

least somewhat believable as brothers like They

are not at all at the same ethnicity, I think,

in any way she'd perform. And they're definitely

not at the same age, so that just seemed weird

to me. I'm 16 years older than my youngest little

brother. Yeah, but I'm just saying Mario and

Luigi are not necessarily depicted as a big age

difference in the video game. How can you tell?

They're like pixels. They both got mustaches

and stuff. He's Italian. He's really hairy. Have

you ever seen a guido in real life? I have. Yes.

And yeah, I don't know. Anything else you guys

want to bring out that they didn't do well as

far as the actual video game stuff that they

kind of threw in there? I'll give one positive

they they named right. One small hat tip was

that like I think it was a bar was named the

Thwomp bar. Yeah, I saw that. And I liked that.

What about the moon shoes or whatever you want

to call those things? What was like? Mario has

a lot of different power -ups. He gets bigger,

he can throw fireballs, he can fly, he can do

a lot of different things. Is there a video game

in which he has shoes that he puts on that he

can jump real big? If so, he does it right before

the start of the game. Just like I've never seen

that. I wish I would have had those when I was

trying to jump over the flag when I got to the

end of the level because I never had those. But

even like I said, even when they were putting

those heads into the machine to like evolve or

de -evolve, Was it just me or did the first one,

his head was in there for like a good like, I

don't know, 10 seconds maybe? And everybody else

it was like, it wasn't ever even in. It was like,

they dipped it in and then it was done. They

didn't have money to do that effect again, Kevin.

That's how much they cared about that visual

effect. They're like, do I really have to stick

my head in this thing? Just for a second, just

for a second. Like, man, I don't know. The other

thing I didn't necessarily care for was the timeline.

The and I know that goes back to the devolve

and evolve but they had like four different scenes

or Screens that were showing Brooklyn at different

levels or different time periods It's like Brooklyn

billions of years ago Brooklyn a little while

ago Brooklyn now like I didn't need that either

I don't know how that plays into anything and

it's not like they did a whole lot with that

it besides that they were gonna turn people back

into one form or advance them into another form,

but Alright, so if you were giving this a score

on how well it represents the video game it's

based on, Matt, on a 1 through 10, let's say,

how well does it represent the Mario world? Uh,

2 or 3. Dan, what about you? Yeah, I'd say the

same. It's probably about a 2. Amanda? Yeah,

I'd say 3 or 4. 3 or 4 for you? I'll give it

a 3. They named some things, right? They didn't

name some things. Big Bertha wasn't there. I

don't know what the point of that was, but...

The well -known Mario character of Big Bertha.

Wasn't that like a big fish or like a big whale

or something? Slightly bigger version of the

fish character. Oy vey. Alright, and also I never

remember any of the video games that music had

an effect on the... I guess maybe a little bit.

Did the music ever make Goombas dance? In any

of the video games? I don't remember. Maybe if

you played like the flute you could you could

get to a different level But it didn't like put

all everybody in a trance So all right, so not

good scores as far as it goes as far as representing

that world, which I think is somewhat a shame

I think there was some options in the Mario universe

that they could have done. I don't think all

of it I understand, you know, the thought process

might be look We're adapting a video game into

a movie which at this point really hadn't been

done So they might have been limited from their

creativity as far as what they could do. And

coming up with ideas of how to do that But I

think there were some options like you said there

was some material in the instruction manuals

They could have used some of the stuff that Mario

is known for I think could have somehow worked

its way in there I think even in that in that

setting where you have the Street and you have

different sidewalks and different like balconies

and stuff like that There was options for running

and jumping and doing some of the side -scrolling

stuff. So didn't city look like Champion City

from Mystery Mountain? I have to re -watch mystery

man. It reminded me a lot of that. I thought

the look of it. I didn't mind the look of it.

It just seemed like none of the stuff in there

fit from the Mario world. Like there's a ton

of different characters in the Mario universe

that didn't find their way into this film. So

not a good score when it comes to representing

the video game world that's based off of. Dan,

what about as a film, even if it's, regardless

of if it's accurate or not to the video game,

it could still be a good film, right? Oh, definitely.

I think that's certainly impossible, but then

that's not the case here. It's such, in a way,

it's almost though, like I commend it because

at least it fails in a really interesting way

because it's almost like, what am I watching?

And it's like, how did they even? green like

this and think that this would be like how did

this all come together and you can tell though

it's just this just even reading the history

of it how so many people had different ideas

and like this like how it started as one thing

and they had to do reshoots and rewrites and

all over the place. It's so evident in this and

even like the actors at times, I think you can

tell like they realize that what am I doing in

this movie? But in some ways, it is like that

car wreck type of film in a sense, but like,

you know, the plot makes no sense whatsoever.

Things just randomly happen. The characters are...

Like, the acting is questionable. I mean, some

of it's okay. Like, Dennis Hopper is fine. Bob

Hopkins and John Leguizamo are fine. The person

playing Daisy, she was lifeless as could be.

No wonder that she's not done anything really

since then. But, I don't know. As a movie, it's

just... I was like, I don't even know what just

happened. Like, I don't know what that thing

is. I have not seen this film probably since

I was a child. And so I was going in not really

remembering if it was good, bad, or indifferent.

I just remember that Bob Hoskins was in it. I

didn't even remember John Leguizamo was in it,

but I remember Bob Hoskins was in it in little

bits and pieces. But I was not prepared for what

I watched either. I thought it was going to be

at least slightly better than what it was. As

far as the acting goes, I think I like Bob Hoskins

and, like you said, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo

are legit actors. I don't know if they're necessarily

giving their A -game in this. I mean, Dennis

Hopper seems to always do his thing, but... He's

basically the dude from Waterworld in this. Pretty

much. But he's more of a germaphobe. That's basically

the type. Matt, what about you? As a film goes...

Was there overall, did you get any enjoyment

or were you like, Dan, were you confused as to

what you just watched? Oh, that's, I mean, you

know, what text I sent you 15 minutes into it.

I was like, what even is this movie? Because

I still don't know. I mean, there are like just

visually there are there's a lot to take in,

especially in the alternate dimension. Like the

car design is crazy. there's almost like a nonsensical

like our whole our whole dimension the whole

dimension is running out of resources but we're

still gonna build the world's tallest building

in our dimension and cover it in spikes it was

almost as if the world that they created it almost

reminded me of something like almost like the

Dick Tracy live -action film where there's a

lot to look at and there's a lot to kind of take

in but the difference is that seemed like it

had some direction behind it And this one just

seemed to be all over the place. Like I wasn't

ever sure how one thing really tied into the

other. It just seemed like we're accidentally

walking through and stumbling through and finding

ourselves here, finding ourselves there. So it

just seemed like it lacked some type of cohesion

as far as like dance at the plot or anything

like that. Amanda, maybe you're a little bit

higher when it comes to the actual film. I know

you have watched this more times than I have.

Do you find it enjoyable as a film or what works

from just a movie standpoint? I definitely do.

I've seen this a ton of times. I'll revisit this

over and over again. It's a lot of fun. I like

to just kind of turn my brain off and laugh and

have fun or just kind of put it on the background,

whatever. But I think it's a fun ride if you

aren't too attached to the property. I like the

players. I thought they were all really interesting

characters. Besides Daisy, she was kind of flat.

And I was sad that it wasn't Peach, so... Definitely...

had some good points as far as visuals go. I

really, really like the look of it and all the

costuming and the colors. I think it's enjoyable.

Except for the colors that are wrong. I don't

enjoy those. I can't get over that. But Dan,

she mentioned the visuals. And like we said,

this had like a $42 million budget. Do you see

any of that money on the screen? Do you think

it was effective when it comes to Yoshi and the

transformation of the Goombas and some of the

visual effects, or do you think there was some

money wasted here? I mean, some of that set design

is pretty intricate in a way, like what they

had to build, you know, for like the prison and,

you know, the city itself. I think that's probably

where a lot of that money went. Also, I think

it was the budget ended up going over budget

because when I was reading that, the directors

were very like... Control heavy and things went

longer than it should so I don't think originally

it was designed be that much so I don't Is it

it's hard to say cuz like 42 million is Compared

to say back in 1994. I'm not sure like what that

would even Equal film around around that line.

Um, I mean I Think it's on par with most of the

stuff of the time. Like I don't think it's like

special effects wise is Awful compared to you

know, it's not drastic park or anything like

that. Of course, but right I think it's super

super awful when it comes to the special effects

Some of it like I think that their ideas are

bigger than their budget or bigger than what

they can accomplish in some ways I don't know

It's hard to say I guess but when it came to

the whole idea of budget like it doesn't really

seem to I don't think they wasted money on that.

I think it's more so the script and editing and

Those element direction and all that piece that

really is what's causing it to be such a hodgepodge

of different things Yeah, I agree with that.

I think it's a lot a lot of the direction the

story and the cohesiveness from that standpoint

Matt now they did have some sound effects that

were somewhat video game accurate and as far

as the music goes the sound effects and the other

thing we didn't talk about was the introduction

and this is one of my pet peeves is when you

have a universe and granted maybe not as big

a deal with this universe because There's not

a ton of characters at this point, maybe, in

the Mario world, but there's enough. What about

the introduction of characters that didn't exist

in the video game world? Obviously, we have,

on the human side, the capelli aspect, the rival

plumbers, almost like old -school firefighters

back in the 1800s, where the first person on

scene gets to take over the job. We also had

the good -natured guitarist. who got turned into

a goomba halfway through. Do you feel like there

was a need for these additional characters, or

was there people in the Mario World universe

that could have been used, and what were your

thoughts, if any, on the music and the sound

effects? Well, that Good Natured Guitarist was

a Mario character. It was Toad. Oh, that's what

it was supposed to be? Yeah. I think that's why

he had the spiral haircut, was to mimic a mushroom.

Gotcha. I don't know why we had a guy. I even

heard them call him Toad and I did not make that

connection. It's a guy whose name is Toad. His

head is a mushroom. They put his head into a

de -evolve machine that can turn him into a mushroom

and it didn't. Like that's how little they cared

for this source material. Literally a guy got

turned into a mushroom using the de -evolve machine.

A guy who's supposed to be a mushroom got put

into it and didn't even mushroom, even a little.

That's the great, that's probably the movie in

a whole, that's the nutshell. That's what I was

thinking watching it. I'm like, oh, maybe the

fungus was, cause Toad and like, oh no, he's

gonna be, all right. So they met Toad as an actual

Toad, that's how they took that. They didn't

realize what it was actually talking about. It

was all backdoor Battle Toad's pitch. What about,

oh, go ahead, go ahead. The Schipelli's. So I

don't know how the 90s Brooklyn worked, but in

modern day, if I have a plumbing problem, I'm

going to call a plumber. He's going to be like,

I'm going to be here at that time. I'm going

to be like, OK. And then I'm not going to call

every other plumber in the city. And then if

it should be like, oh, you didn't show up first.

You're not getting paid, even though you're a

businessman that came out here and wasted your

time. That's how you order pizza. I guess your

first gets the money. I get what they're doing

because like I said that is that was a thing

but that was a thing in like the 1800s like that

was Not a thing in the time period they're depicting

like I don't understand that at all In going

off of what Amanda just said that she said she

wished it would have been Princess Peach Matt

What did you feel about the inclusion of Daisy?

We've already said that the actress didn't necessarily

do a great job with that character But what did

you think about the choice of including the lesser

-known of the princesses? Well, that's another

one is Daisy, I believe is originally from the

handheld, the Gameboy Mario series. And she's

got an even weirder and richer story where the

King Wart, who is like an alligator man from

another planet, shows up and kidnaps her and

takes over her kingdom. and you have to save

it. So like that one even kind of fits this a

little bit more instead of another dimension

as another planet. Like and they could have done

that. But like they they called her Daisy because

they wanted to give Mario already have an established

love interest, I'm guessing. So the younger kid

is the one who's kind of driving the movie. But

like they they named her Daisy, but then gave

her Peach's hair color and Peach's like clothing

colors. And then she was kidnapped by Bowser

which is more peach than daisy Like I don't know

why they didn't just call her peach and then

be like because they clearly didn't care about

the story originally So just name her peach and

have her get with Luigi Yeah, I could see that

too now getting into some of our kind of maybe

closing thoughts on some of it It wasn't just

that it didn't do well at the box office. It

wasn't just that the critics didn't like it.

Apparently even the people involved did not necessarily

like this film. Quote from Bob Hoskins, the worst

thing I ever did, the whole experience was a

nightmare. Another time he was asked, what is

the worst job you've done? What has been your

biggest disappointment? And if you could edit

your past, what would you change? And his answer

to all three was Super Mario Brothers. John Leguizamo.

apparently disliked his role in the film, dissatisfied

with the film's direction, and the studio wanted

a more family -friendly film, while the directors

wanted it to become more adult -like, so there

was some kind of disharmony there, and that he

seconded the fact that he knew that the Hoskins

was not enjoying it either. And Dennis Hopper,

quote, it was a nightmare. very honestly that

movie it was a husband and wife directing team

were both control freaks and wouldn't talk before

they made decisions anyways I was supposed to

go down there for five weeks and I was there

for 17 it was so over budget so apparently not

even the people there Enjoying it Dan any surprise

from that? Well, no, I also heard to that like,

you know Bob Hoskins cut injured like multiple

times He almost drowned one time he broke his

hand Jolly goes on well, I think also hurt his

foot doing all these different things. So it's

kind of like jumping That's why there wasn't

I guess they guess they got I don't know So yeah,

they got I don't know how they got hurt or when

or where but yeah, so I'm not I'm not too surprised

and The idea that you had the directors who wanted

something more adult in the studio wanting something

more kiddy. You can see that. Because it is so

conflicting like that because you have like a

scene where you set someone on fire to like this

slapstick Like action sequence that straight

out of like, you know Almost like like the Beatles

asked movies back in the day and kind of slapstick

in that way So you do see that constantly conflicting

with one another? In that way and I remember

watching it as a kid being like this doesn't

seem like it should be for me but It's it's interesting.

I am NOT too surprised that people And I think

the other - Even Nintendo, I know, as a tourist,

he does not like this movie. I haven't met too

many people, I guess, that have a lot of any

praises on this film. And I think the other thing

that suffers, too, when you're kind of not on

the same page with the direction you're going

as far as the tone, whether it's for adults,

whether it's kids, is, at least for me, and I

want to get your guys' opinion on this, too,

is it ended up with a product where there was

no humor. Like, it - Well, what about that thug

-ass old lady? Which one Oh, yeah, yeah, I mean

I get that but like I was expecting more laughs

I was expecting more times where at least I chuckled

whether it be from nostalgic reasons or nods

or just Jokes, but I don't know if I laughed

a single time. Did you guys find this humorous

at all Matt? No, that's a no for you Amanda.

What about you? Did you chuckle more than just

the old lady? Maybe the first time, I don't know.

I think the jokes after a while are kind of stale.

Dan, funny movie? Not intentionally. Usually,

I'm not laughing at it when I think it's supposed

to be laughed at. Like the prologue, and I'm

like, wait, that's not how science works in any

shape or form. No. Also. like didn't we know

where I have an idea where the asteroid that

killed the dinosaurs landed by the mid 90s because

like it definitely wasn't brooklyn no it was

an asteroid that killed everything but yet let

no trace except for a few fragments yeah yeah

oh man the fragment I forgot that was a big part

of the video game uh series too I don't understand

this quote though from Miyamoto Mario's creator

um The one thing that I still have some regrets

about is that the movie may have tried to get

a little too close to what the Mario Brothers

video games were, and in that sense it became

a movie that was about a video game rather than

being an entertaining movie in and of itself.

Did he watch a different film? Because outside

of the names, I don't think it was trying too

close to be anything like the video games. That's

still too much. I don't know. Dan... Final thoughts

for you, and then I'll give everybody a chance

to get anything from the notes They took from

the film as far as other things about the film

But do you think it is possible to make a good

live -action film based on Mario Brothers? Or

were they were they fighting the losing battle

no matter what is it possible I guess it might

be I mean I feel like looking at something like

Wreck -It Ralph, you could see what you could

do in a way. I don't know. Would it have to be

more of an animated film, do you think? It could

be. I guess with what Matt was saying, with a

lot of it's like the story that's there that

I wasn't even aware of, maybe there is more there

you could do. I think you'd have to like... You'd

have to go all in, I think. Like, I think this

is, like, either go for it all the way where

you are legitimately in some weird dimension

where you're jumping on boxes and, I don't know,

just, like, go all in or just don't do it at

all, I guess, would be... I don't, I don't think

Mario is the game, or Mario is the template to

how to make, to transfer over to a good movie.

I think you'd be better with an animated show

or something like that than you would with a

live -action film, um, but... I guess we'll never

know because I don't think they're ever going

to try again. Yeah, I don't think they're going

to make this venture either because after this

most of the, I don't know, Nintendo canceled

all their plans for films for a long time as

far as video game films. Amanda, what other notes

do you have about the film that you didn't get

to talk about yet or what else would you like

to chime in on? And then same question for you

as far as do you think it would have been possible

to make a decent film based on this franchise?

I think it's a little early on for me to... to

say what's a good comic book movie and what's

not. I think it's a little too early in our little,

or what did I say? Video game. Video game, yeah.

I'm just so stuck on the comic books. The video

game films, it's too early in our trek across

this for me to really say. I know that I had

fun with this, but it not being so true to the

video game is... little not fair to the video

game if you're gonna do it like Dan said you

probably should do it all the way but as far

as this one goes I think there is some fun laughable

stuff in it too not maybe lol for real kind of

laugh but I mean like Matt said the cars their

designs pretty cool like the retro tech and the

fact that they're making fun of that nobody in

their dimension can can fucking drive like they

have to be stopped. I thought that was pretty

funny, and all the hairdos are cray. I like that,

along with their costumes. And, you know, a pretty

accurate justice system, I would say. Other than

that, yeah. Alright. Matt, what do you think?

Is it possible for them to make a good Mario

Brothers film, or would it have to be animated,

or should they just never go anywhere near this

franchise when it comes to films? Well, first

things... Some weird things we haven't talked

about one when they go out to their fancy dinner,

right? It's like what before they're even know

about the other dimension Everyone's dressed

up except for whatever reason Daisy is still

wearing the dirt covered cargo shorts It's like,

who goes out? Like, I just came straight from

work, even though I got off six hours ago and

I didn't need a shower. That was really weird.

Also, all of the televisions and monitors in

the alternate dimension are controlled by guns,

but not the Nintendo brand light zapper. Why?

Why couldn't you do that? Why would you do a

small detail like that and then mess it up? But

can they make a good Mario movie? Can they make

a good live action Mario movie? I'm gonna say

yes. I don't think they can do a 10 out of 10

perfect film, but they could do something that's

incredibly true to the story that's going to

be interesting for both kids and adults if that

they did just try. If they tried. There seemed

to be a lack of effort, or at least a lack of

cohesive effort on this one. As far as your overall

score out of 10, let's go around and see what

everybody gives us we gave. It was an overall

film one out of ten Dan. Where would you go?

Man? I feel like I need to give keep some room

because we are doing double dragon next week,

so I don't know like I said like I think a movie

like this is good to watch because it does give

you perspective of what a bad movie really is

in a way where like sometimes you You can kind

of misconstrued of what a bad movie can be but

in a sense of at least it was I wasn't bored

by it. I'll give it that like I was never like

I never checked out because I was at least like

like I said just wondering what exactly I was

watching. So because of that, just because this

year of craziness of it, I think I'll give it

a similar score to how it was when it came to

the video game. So I'll give it a three out of

ten. Matt, what about you? OK, so I I I think

if there's two things I'm known for. on this

podcast, it's one, wanting something to be close

to the source material, because if you're gonna

use the name, use the IP. And then two, loving

to watch terrible movies with people in the same

room. If you're watching this alone, it's a two.

You're just going to be grinding your teeth,

be like, this is a setting, there's a couple

of things that are okay but not. If you've got

any other people in the room, easily a four.

Like, I mean, it's great to point things out.

You're gonna notice things if you have someone

else to talk to. Like, there are some really

cool set design pieces like the cars, like almost

everything in the alternate dimension is really

interestingly put, even if it doesn't always

make sense or doesn't always work. But yeah,

it's just, it's a flop of a thing. All right,

Amanda, so we got some low scores across the

board so far. Where do you fall on this one?

A little bit higher? maybe I'll give it a four

I think it's something I'm gonna rewatch I have

fun with and I think people can have fun too

and I think along with what Matt said I definitely

agree it's way more fun with somebody to poke

fun at this while you're going through it I think

I'm gonna carry out my score by saying that the

only way I would ever rewatch this as if it was

with other people I would never rewatch this

alone That's for sure. I'm gonna be right in

line I guess with most of you give myself try

to give myself a little wiggle room to score

films worse than this But I'll go with a three

three out of ten for the overall film I don't

know how many films we do this whole thing that

are gonna be in the positive score. We'll have

to wait and see. I haven't seen some of these

films, so I shouldn't speak out of turn, but

yeah, I'm gonna definitely fall on a 3 out of

10. So not overwhelmingly glowing reviews or

words about Super Mario Brothers, but maybe there

will be as we go through and cover some of these

other films. I didn't mention too many of them

yet, but the next couple that we have coming

out will be Double Dragon, like Dan mentioned,

which came out a year later. And then we also

have the original Street Fighter. which also

came out in 1994. So two 1994 films, Double Dragon

and Street Fighter, will be next up on the docket

for when we do our video game series. Also, like

I said, we do have the Miyazaki spotlight coming

up, and that will start with the 1979 film, The

Castle, Amanda? I can't remember now. Cagliostro?

Cagliostro. Kaliostro. The Castle of Kaliostro,

according to how you pronounce that word. So

that will be the first up on the docket for that.

Dan, real quick though, going back to the video

games, is there one on the list that you're the

most excited to watch, or are you dreading this

whole thing? Well, yeah, I regret a lot of things.

I don't know. Looking at the list though, I realized

I've not seen the vast majority of the video

game movies, really a select few, and the one

I think I'm... probably the most intrigued about

the one I would like to go and see would be Prince

of Persia because like I'm just curiously knowing

what Jake Gyllenhaal has come into as like an

actor like if there was anything redeeming about

that movie at all. Just curious about it. The

one I'm probably least looking forward to actually

is probably next week with Double Dragon. I just

something I watched the trailer of it to get

ready and I'm just like this looks This looks

like it's gonna be painful. We'll see, but that's

probably the one I'm fearing the most. I think,

honestly, because you said you haven't seen a

bunch of these, I think I've only seen two more

the rest of the way. I think all the other ones

are gonna be first -time watches. Amanda, you've

got a lot more, I think, experience with this

genre maybe than... I do or Dan does. Have you

seen a majority of these or is there? I've seen

hella movies on this list. Is there one that

you haven't seen that you're looking forward

to or is there one that you've seen that you

are actually really excited about watching again?

I think what I'm most excited about is to catch

up with the Wing Commander because I I only started

that and it's got my boy, Freddie Prinze, in

it. I'm really excited. So I'm interested to

see that just because of that. That was before

he disappeared from the face of the earth. Yeah,

he's in my basement. What I'm really, really

not looking forward to is rewatching Final Fantasy.

I got sick super bad in Italy and it was playing

on Italian MTV on like a loop. So I was like

forced to watch this because I had seen it before.

I'm like, this is the only thing I can kind of

know what's going on. Um, and I just, I, I'm

probably going to get a little stomach flu just

from watching it. Like I'm like flashbacks from

PTSD from watching that over and over again,

but everything else I'm excited for. Okay. Matt,

anything that you know that you're looking forward

to or anything that you've never seen anything

about that you're intrigued by? I don't have

the list but I am on the box office mojo video

game adaptation page And I got to imagine you're

gonna have the blood rain series on there Yeah,

and I've got a lot of things to say about that

one. All right But Double Dragon, it's funny

to hear Dan say what he's saying because I watched

Double Dragon sometime in the mid to late 90s,

because I grew up playing the Double Dragon games,

and I was like, oh, hey, this is coming out on

the TV guide, the paper TV guide. And I was like,

I'm going to watch that. And I remember loving

it like I was a little confused because there's

like a weird talisman that does something and

it like floats And I don't quite get what that

was about but it's got to have a lot of punching

in it because that's all double dragon is You

thought tomorrow would have some jumping in it

and it didn't have that. Oh, no We'll have to

wait and see about that. But as far as our question

this week We'd like to hear what you're looking

forward to most when it comes to the video games

films that we'll be covering Obviously, like

I said Double Dragon Street Fighter coming out

first and then we'll get into one of the ones

that Amanda was looking forward to Wing Commander

Mortal Kombat and then Lara Croft Tomb Raider

will be the first set of films so let us know

which ones you're looking forward to or which

ones you're regretting or Wishing that we weren't

partaking in and participating in as far as the

review goes Dan anything that we didn't get off

our chest as far as this little spotlight goes

with the video game films Alright, so thanks

for joining us this week for another episode

of The Cinema Geeks. There's several ways for

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My Twitter is at OptimusSolo. Amanda, your Twitter

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is? I am at MovieRevolts. And Matt, your Twitter

is? I'm FritlyScent. Alright, so that is it for

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