SPOILER ALERT- I saw the new Mario Brothers movie and I am going to spill the beans about it- it was fun!
It really was a good family movie, about on the level of Pixar (before it went woke). This animated movie is not woke (like “Buzz Lightyear”) or ironically meta (like “The Lego Movie”)- it just keeps it simple and true to the Nintendo video games. In that regard, it’s alot like like the goofy 1980s cartoon/live action Mario show:
The 2023 movie was the same way, focusing mainly on delighting the audience. The children in the movie theater I attended were laughing and clapping at the end, which is what movies should usually do. They made great choices with the voice actors- especially Jack Black as the silly bully villain, Bowser. How can you not laugh at this?!
So the key here was, they did not try to do too much. That was one of several problems with the odd and dark 1993 Super Mario Bros movie, which was a total disaster Nintendo movies are just now recovering from (I see it as basically an attempt to rip off Tim Burton):
If I had to make one complaint about the 2023 movie overextending itself, it would have to do with the inclusion of Donkey Kong. It is true that Mario started out as part of Donkey Kong game:
But Donkey Kong really came into its own with the SNES Donkey Kong Country (1994). He’s a much more fleshed out character than the old one associated with Mario, which seems like an ode to the old black and white movie, King Kong (1933).
The Donkey Kong of the 2023 Mario movie is who we see in DK Country, which is a compelling character. DK almost stole the show in this movie! But all told, the movie had lots of not so selective nostalgia, and fun- I am A-OK with that. “Let’s a go!” with more Mario movies.
I'd say this is what happens when parents surrender to kids. I agree it's better than the recent moralistic & somewhat miserable animations like Lightyear &c. But that's all I can really say for it.
A broader source of relief is, Mario is bringing people back to theaters. The whole cinematic enterprise goes on for another couple of years...