What do we genuinely want The Super Mario Bros. Movie to accomplish now that the first teaser for it—along with Chris Pratt’s Mario voice—is here?
Today saw the release of the first teaser for Nintendo’s eagerly awaited animation The Super Mario Bros. Movie, marking the character’s first theatrical outing since the ambitious, odd, and commercially unsuccessful live-action Super Mario Bros. movie from 1993.
Unexpectedly, there have been a lot more good responses to the trailer than we had genuinely anticipated. On the one hand, there is no denying that this is the most exquisite piece of animation that the Illumination studio—best renowned for its Minions films—has ever created, with the sight of Koopa King Bowser’s flying flagship emanating a genuine sense of terror. The combination of serious stakes and silly comedy feels just right, and Jack Black appears to be having a great time as the aforementioned bad guy. (Cute cartoon penguins!)
On the other hand, there’s the whole Chris Pratt thing; there’s likely no voice the Guardians of the Galaxy actor could have used in this trailer to live up to all the anticipation/dread, but hearing “Chris Pratt does a very mild Brooklyn accent” come out of Mario’s moustache was undoubtedly a bit of a letdown.
Which brings up the question: What do we actually expect from a Mario film? What criteria could this actually succeed artistically—as opposed to just being a revenue cow to support the franchise—on? Now that the teaser has given us just enough optimism for this thing that we might actually have to live with having it dashed all over again, we’ve written down a few ideas.
