Regardless of how big a fan you are of Chris Pratt’s Mario voice, odds are if you’re into Nintendo games, you’ve been looking forward to watching the Super Mario Bros. Movie for a long time now.
Well, for many fans of the moustachioed plumber around the globe, this wait is now over, meaning that those who’ve been obsessively re-watching bizarre speedruns and that talk show appearance that saw Jack Black’s nether regions have to be censored can finally stop doing so.
Though, as reported by Kotaku, the freshly released blockbuster seems to be dividing opinion among critics, a trend which has now led some Mario stans who are about to go and see it for themselves to debate whether fan service alone will leave them feeling satisfied at the end.
Have you already arranged a cinema trip to see the Super Mario Bros. Movie?
Their Mushroom Kingdom-based musings concerning the fact that the movie currently sits at 55% on Rotten Tomatoes’ critic-fuelled tomatometer and has a Metacritic Metascore of 49 form the subject of a recent thread on the subreddit r/mario, which was kicked off by a post from user jswiss999, who pointed out the former rating at the point it was hovering around 48%.
Many other fans in the thread urged their fellow Nintendo lovers not to let this mixed reception from critics affect their enthusiasm for the film too much, with user King_BowserKoopa suggesting: “(Remember that) that's critics (analysing) the actual meat of the film. Critics don't care too much about fan service or fun, they only care really about the actual quality based on writing and story. That's why (Rotten Tomatoes’) audience score exists, to show whether the audience thought the film was enjoyable and fun.”
Perhaps in line with this sentiment, the film’s early scores from audiences do seem to be much higher, with it currently sitting at a rating of 95%, though this is from a very limited sample of “fewer than 50 verified ratings”, in comparison to the 97 critic reviews that helped form the tomatometer percentage.
Also, many of these reviews, such as the one from Polygon, acknowledged that the film would likely still be enjoyable for “Nintendo faithful”.
Back in the Reddit thread, some users did convey that they would be taking critical perspectives into account when forming their own verdict on the film, with No_Instruction653 saying: “A good film will be enjoyable regardless of pre-existing connections to the brand. If a film can only impress people who are predisposed to liking it, then it's not really a good thing.”
Regardless of whether you’re looking for more than just fan service from the Super Mario Movie, make sure to follow us for guides to all things Mario and Nintendo.